The new Create and Grow Law, as Law 18/2022, of September 28, on the creation and growth of companies, is colloquially known, has introduced novelties in electronic invoicing. The most important is that electronic invoicing is going to become widespread in operations between businessmen or professionals. In addition to progress in the digitization of invoicing, accounting and taxes, this reform aims to achieve other objectives, including Control of supplier payment terms.
In this sense, all businessmen and professionals will be affected for the following conditions:
- They will be obliged to issue, send and receive electronic invoices in their business relationships with other businessmen and professionals.
- They will have the obligation to provide information on the states of the invoice, whether they are recipients or issuers of the invoice.
- The technological solutions and platforms used must guarantee free interconnection and interoperability. And it does not matter if these are owned or offered by electronic billing service companies.
- They may not be forced by the recipient of the invoice to use a predetermined electronic invoicing solution, platform or service provider.
- During a term of four years From the issuance of electronic invoices, recipients may request a copy without incurring additional costs. In addition, they will be able to continue consulting their electronic invoices, even if they have terminated their contract with the company or revoked their consent to receive electronic invoices. Nor does your right to access previously issued invoices expire for this reason.
- In the future, electronic invoicing will be mandatory in business relationships between businessmen or professionals.
How should electronic invoicing be?
On the one hand, electronic invoicing will be subject to the anti-fraud software requirements introduced in the article 29.2.j) of the General Tax Law. This will require having certified software according to the conditions that are established by regulation. The main characteristics that we can highlight of these programs and systems should be:
You can rectify an invoice, but not erase or alter your computer record.
The software must allow the possibility that you voluntarily send the records to the Tax Agency automatically. If you do so, the invoices will include the phrase “Verifiable invoice in the electronic headquarters of the AEAT” or “VERI*FACTU”
The system must calculate the fingerprint or hash of the records, as well as include a QR code with which, if you communicate the invoices to the Tax Agency, customers will be able to verify that your invoices have actually been sent to it.
The integration of billing records in the VAT and IRPF record books will be facilitated.
The requirements of the specific billing regulations must also be complied with. This establishes that an invoice can only be considered electronic when it is issued and received in electronic format. Therefore, it is not worth printing on paper what is generated through a billing software.
In addition, billing regulations require that you use means that guarantee the authenticity and integrity of the electronic invoice. Although the Tax agency You can validate other means, the most common are the electronic signature and electronic data interchange.
However, it is very likely that future regulatory developments will reform these protocols. Likewise, the occasion could also be used to introduce novelties in the content of the invoice and in the procedures for issuing, receiving, storing, etc.
When will the new obligations come into force?
The first thing will be to approve the regulations that will establish the conditions of the interconnection accreditation procedure and the interoperability of the platforms. Once these regulations are approved, companies with a turnover of more than eight million euros per year will be given a period of one year. If you have less than that turnover, you will have two years to adapt.
Will there be sanctions?
Yes, there may be warnings or penalties of up to 10,000 euros for those who, being obliged to do so, do not offer users the possibility of receiving electronic invoices or do not allow people who have ceased to be customers to access their invoices. And the same goes for companies that provide services to the general public of special economic significance that do not meet their additional obligations.
What aids exist to adapt to electronic invoicing?
The main help is the Digital Kit program. In it, the electronic invoice is included as one of the categories of eligible digitalization solution.
The path is marked, the digitization of invoicing is unstoppable and electronic invoicing between companies is one of its next stops.
