Treasury postpones Verifactu to coordinate it with electronic invoicing

A common timeline, still to be specified

The Treasury has announced that it will postpone the implementation of Verifactu and align its timeline with that of mandatory electronic invoicing for businesses. According to information released about the announcement, the target date for Verifactu is October 2028. The Ministry justifies the decision on the grounds that it would be advisable to bring both systems closer together from a technical and regulatory perspective.

The date should be treated with caution: the Treasury has also indicated that it will address changes to coordinate their scopes of application and certain technical aspects. Therefore, the announcement of alignment does not in itself mean that all the new deadlines and requirements have already been approved. Businesses will need to refer to the provisions that are published to find out which final timeline applies to them.

The decision comes as regulation of electronic invoicing moves forward. The publication of the ministerial order detailing the requirements for the Tax Agency’s public solution is one step in that process, but it does not turn the two systems into a single obligation.

Two regulations with different functions

Verifactu sets requirements for invoicing computer systems, with the aim of strengthening the integrity and traceability of records and making them harder to alter. The elements described for these systems include generating records with a digital fingerprint and adding a QR code to invoices.

Mandatory electronic invoicing, by contrast, regulates the exchange of invoices between businesses and aims to ensure that transactions are communicated in an interoperable format. In statements reported by elDiario.es, Raquel Jurado, head of the Consultation Service of the Registry of Tax Advisors of the General Council of Economists, summed up the difference: Verifactu focuses on the security and internal traceability of invoicing, while electronic invoicing addresses interoperability and commercial oversight between businesses.

Consequently, adapting to one of the systems does not automatically replace the obligation to comply with the other. Coordinating the timelines may facilitate a joint transition, but it does not eliminate the need to check which requirements apply to each business.

The rationale: reducing consecutive changes

The Treasury presents the adjustment as a way to promote convergence and prevent businesses from having to adapt their systems within very short time frames. The Spanish Association of Tax Advisors (AEDAF) has welcomed the coordination and noted that it could provide stability and avoid successive adaptations over a short period. This is the association’s position, not a guarantee that implementation will be straightforward for all companies.

Future developments at the European level also form part of the context. AEDAF argues that coordinating Spain’s transition would bring it closer to the digital reporting model planned in the European Union from 2030. This reference helps explain the debate about convergence, but it does not replace national obligations or, by itself, allow anyone to predict what the Spanish regulations will ultimately provide.

What businesses should monitor

For businesses, the announcement changes the timeline for Verifactu, but does not confirm that its requirements will disappear or that electronic invoicing will be covered by the same adaptation. Technology planning will need to take the functions of each system into account separately and be updated when the pending regulatory changes are published.

In particular, businesses will need to monitor the provisions that specify the new deadlines, the parties affected and the technical requirements, as well as the rules that apply to electronic invoicing and its public solution. Until then, it is advisable to distinguish between the announced postponement and obligations that have already been formally defined: the final dates and conditions depend on the regulations that are ultimately approved.