For almost four years, mandatory electronic invoicing between businesses and professionals was an obligation without a date. The law existed, the implementing regulation followed, but the actual timetable depended on a ministerial order that never came. That order has now been published: Order HAC/1028/2026, of 2 October, appeared in the Spanish Official Gazette (BOE) on 5 October 2026 and entered into force on 6 October 2026. From that date, the clock is ticking on when your company will be required to issue and receive electronic invoices in its transactions with other businesses.
The two dates that are now set
The obligation stems from Law 18/2022, of 28 September, on the creation and growth of companies. Its implementing regulation is Royal Decree 238/2026, of 25 March, published on 31 March 2026 and in force from 20 April 2026.
The key lies in its fourth final provision. That provision does not count the deadlines from the date the regulation itself was published, but from the date the ministerial order referred to in its third final provision entered into force. Until that order existed, no one could say with any certainty when the obligation would actually begin. Now they can.
The order entered into force on 6 October 2026. From that date, the regulation allows twelve months for those whose transaction volume in the immediately preceding calendar year, calculated in accordance with Article 121 of Law 37/1992 on VAT, exceeded €8 million. And twenty-four months for all other businesses and professionals. In other words: 6 October 2027 for the first group, and 6 October 2028 for everyone else.
Dates confirmed from 6 October 2026
Order HAC/1028/2026 entered into force on 6 October 2026 and triggered the countdown under the fourth final provision of Royal Decree 238/2026: 6 October 2027 for businesses whose transaction volume exceeded eight million euros in the immediately preceding calendar year, calculated in accordance with Article 121 of Law 37/1992, and 6 October 2028 for all other traders and professionals.
It is worth paying close attention to the threshold criterion. It is not accounting turnover or profit, it is the transaction volume under Article 121 of the VAT Act, calculated by reference to the immediately preceding calendar year. A company whose figures hover around the threshold must review this figure year on year, as it determines which implementation tranche applies.
The PDF accompaniment requirement during the first year
Royal Decree 238/2026 includes a transitional rule that often goes unnoticed but has immediate practical consequences. Its second transitional provision establishes that, during the first twelve months of application to businesses with a transaction volume exceeding eight million euros, electronic invoices must be accompanied by a PDF document to ensure legibility, unless the recipient voluntarily and expressly agrees to waive this requirement.
This has two implications. For large issuers, their systems must generate both a structured electronic invoice and a readable PDF simultaneously. For smaller recipients, during this period they will continue to receive a document they can read without any specialist tools. Waiving the PDF requirement demands the recipient's voluntary and express consent, so it is advisable to document this in writing should it need to be relied upon at a later stage.
The free public solution provided by the Spanish Tax Agency (AEAT)
The first additional provision of the same regulation requires the Spanish State Tax Administration Agency to develop a free application or form enabling the issuance of electronic invoices and the communication of their status through the public e-invoicing platform. For a self-employed professional issuing only a handful of invoices each month, this may well be sufficient. For a company operating at scale, integrating with an ERP system, or dealing with clients who require their own designated channel, it will not be. The choice of tool is not a neutral one: it has direct implications for implementation timelines, cost, and dependency on the chosen provider.
What the regulation provides beyond the timetable
- During the first twelve months of application to companies with turnover above €8 million, electronic invoices must be accompanied by a PDF to ensure readability (second transitional provision of RD 238/2026).
- The recipient may dispense with that PDF only if they voluntarily and expressly agree to do so, it is advisable to record this in writing.
- The Spanish Tax Agency (AEAT) will develop a free application or form for issuing electronic invoices and reporting their status through the public solution (first additional provision of RD 238/2026).
- Already invoicing public authorities via the general entry point, as required under Article 4 of Law 25/2013, does not mean you are ready for the business-to-business electronic invoicing system.
VeriFactu is a separate matter, and has not been postponed yet
This is the most common misconception of recent weeks. Many headlines have taken it as read that everything is being pushed back to October 2028. That is not the case, and conflating the two timetables could prove costly.
VeriFactu refers to the requirements applicable to computerised invoicing systems, set out in the regulation approved by Royal Decree 1007/2023, of 5 December. The deadlines currently in force are those established by Royal Decree-Law 15/2025, of 2 December: 1 January 2027 for Corporate Income Tax payers, and 1 July 2027 for all other taxpayers.
On 5 October 2026, the Ministry of the Spanish Tax Authority published a press release announcing its intention to defer until October 2028 the VeriFactu obligations not yet in effect, so as to align them with the mandatory electronic invoicing deadline. A press release is not a legally binding instrument. Unless and until Royal Decree 1007/2023 is formally amended, the deadlines set by Royal Decree-Law 15/2025 remain in force. Anyone planning on the basis of the announcement rather than the regulation does so at their own risk.
The prudent reading is straightforward: prepare for VeriFactu with the 2027 dates in mind, and if the postponement is eventually published in the Spanish Official Gazette (BOE), you will have gained extra time. The reverse approach does not work.
| B2B Electronic Invoicing | VeriFactu | |
|---|---|---|
| Governing legislation | Law 18/2022 and Royal Decree 238/2026, together with Ministerial Order HAC/1028/2026 | Regulations under Royal Decree 1007/2023, with deadlines set by Royal Decree-Law 15/2025 |
| Currently applicable deadlines | 6 October 2027 for businesses whose turnover in the previous year exceeded €8 million; 6 October 2028 for all others | 1 January 2027 for Corporate Income Tax taxpayers; 1 July 2027 for all others |
| Status of the proposed postponement to 2028 | Not applicable: the timetable has just been confirmed by the ministerial order | Announced only in a note issued by the Ministry of the Spanish Tax Authority on 5 October 2026; the regulations have not yet been amended |
| Recommended action | Identify which deadline block applies and prepare for invoice issuance, receipt, and status tracking | Plan around the 2027 dates until the amendment is published in the Spanish Official Gazette (BOE) |
What happens if you fail to comply
Failure to meet invoicing obligations is subject to a general penalty regime under Article 201 of the Law 58/2003, General Tax Act. That provision classifies as an infringement any failure to issue, transmit, rectify or retain invoices or substitute documents.
The infringement is classified as serious where the requirements of the invoicing regulations are not met, carrying a proportional fine of 1% of the total value of the transactions giving rise to the infringement. Where the failure consists of not issuing or not retaining invoices, the fine rises to 2%; where the value of the transactions cannot be determined, the penalty is €300 per invoice not issued or not retained. Issuing invoices containing false or falsified data constitutes a very serious infringement, attracting a fine of 75%. Article 201 itself further provides that penalties may be increased by 100% where there is a material breach of those obligations.
These are percentages applied to the total value of transactions, not fixed flat amounts. For a company with even a modest transaction volume, systematic format errors or retention failures can quickly add up to a significant figure. That is why implementation is not purely an IT department matter.
Do not confuse this with e-invoicing in the public sector
If your company invoices a public authority, you will already be familiar with electronic invoicing. Article 4 of the Law 25/2013 on the promotion of electronic invoicing has for some years required public limited companies, limited liability companies, legal persons and entities without legal personality that are not of Spanish nationality, permanent establishments and branches of non-residents, temporary joint ventures, and certain funds and groupings, to issue electronic invoices and submit them through the relevant general entry point. That same provision allows public authorities to exempt by regulation invoices of up to €5,000 from the obligation.
Having resolved the channel with the Public Administration does not mean you are ready for B2B. These are entirely separate circuits, with private recipients, invoice statuses that must be communicated, and a far more heterogeneous client base.
What to do before the deadline
The real work does not begin the month before. It begins with knowing which block of the rollout calendar your company falls into, and identifying which client and supplier data are incomplete. Experience with previous invoicing changes is consistent: what fails is not the software, it is the client master data, format agreements with major buyers, and the archiving of issued invoices.
Calculate your volume of transactions
Take the volume of transactions for the immediately preceding calendar year in accordance with Article 121 of Law 37/1992 on VAT, and check whether it exceeds eight million euros. This determines whether your deadline falls in October 2027 or October 2028.
Clean up your client and supplier master data
Tax Identification Number (NIF), exact legal name, registered address, and preferred delivery channel. Incomplete data is the most common reason for structured invoice rejection.
Choose your tool
The free public solution provided by the Spanish Tax Agency (AEAT) under the first additional provision of RD 238/2026, a private platform, or integration with your ERP. Weigh up transaction volume, the requirements of your large clients, and ongoing maintenance costs.
Prepare for the dual-format requirement in the first year
If your turnover exceeds €8 million, your system must issue both an electronic invoice and a human-readable PDF during the first twelve months, unless the recipient expressly and voluntarily waives this requirement, which should be documented.
Set up your status reporting and document retention processes
Define who is responsible for reporting the status of each invoice and where issued and received invoices are to be stored. Failure to retain invoices is a sanctionable offence under Article 201 of the General Tax Act.
Review VeriFactu in parallel
Check whether your invoicing software meets the requirements of the regulations under RD 1007/2023, and plan for either 1 January or 1 July 2027 as applicable, without relying on the announced deferral.
One further point of practical relevance. The invoicing regulations adopted by Royal Decree 1619/2012 provide, in Article 2, that expenses and deductions relating to transactions carried out by credit institutions may be supported by the document, statement, or debit note issued by the institution, provided it contains the data required of an invoice, with the exception of an invoice number and series. This is a useful reminder that not every expense document is an invoice in the strict legal sense, and it is worth clarifying that classification before migrating your invoicing workflow, to avoid attempting to convert into an electronic invoice something that does not qualify as one.
The collateral effect: proof of non-payment
There is one aspect of the new system that is of particular interest to those who are paid late. Mandatory e-invoicing comes with the requirement to communicate invoice status, and the first additional provision of Royal Decree 238/2026 expressly states that the Spanish Tax Agency (AEAT)'s free application will allow electronic invoices to be issued and their status reported through the public platform.
For a creditor, having a full audit trail of invoice issuance, delivery and acceptance is precisely the kind of material that underpins a court claim. A document recorded as issued, delivered and accepted leaves very little room for dispute over whether the client actually received the charge. This translates into cleaner case files when preparing a claim or when enforcement proceedings are reached.
For smaller, well-documented debts involving a client who is simply experiencing cash flow difficulties, it often makes sense to pursue recovery through a lighter-touch approach before initiating formal proceedings, for example, setting up a payment schedule that creates a written record of the debt being acknowledged. Where the amount is significant, the debtor denies receipt, or several invoices are linked in a chain, a different approach is needed, and it is advisable to engage a lawyer to structure the claim from the outset.
What you can rely on today
A straightforward summary of what is currently in force and applicable law: Law 18/2022, Royal Decree 238/2026 (in force from 20 April 2026), and Order HAC/1028/2026 (in force from 6 October 2026), which sets 6 October 2027 and 6 October 2028 as the effective compliance dates depending on transaction volume. Also in force is the VeriFactu timetable under Royal Decree-Law 15/2025, with key dates of 1 January 2027 and 1 July 2027.
However widely it has been repeated, the postponement of VeriFactu to October 2028 is not applicable law. A note issued by the Ministry of the Spanish Tax Authority on 5 October 2026 announced that intention, and nothing more. Until the regulatory amendment is published in the Spanish Official Gazette (BOE), planning on the basis of that note means accepting a risk that no company should be taking.
If you are unsure which phase of the rollout calendar applies to your company, how to document a recipient's waiver of the accompanying PDF, or how to reconcile all of this with your current system, it is worth reviewing these points in good time and in writing.
