If you invoice from Spain, you will keep hearing about Verifactu. It is the short name for the rules the Spanish Tax Agency (AEAT) has set for invoicing software. The goal: once an invoice is issued, nobody can delete or quietly edit it, and the tax authority can check it.
The rules live in Royal Decree 1007/2023, the regulation on invoicing software systems. The technical details (record format, QR code, how records reach the AEAT) are in Order HAC/1177/2024.
It applies to you whether you are a freelancer (autónomo) or run a company. Your software is what has to comply, and you are the one responsible for using software that does.
What changes on your invoices
Every time you issue or cancel an invoice, compliant software creates an invoicing record. Each record carries a digital fingerprint (a hash) built partly from the previous record. That makes a chain: change an old invoice and the chain no longer adds up.
Every invoice, full or simplified, also carries a QR code. Your client can scan it and check on the AEAT website that the invoice was registered.
Two ways to comply
The regulation allows two modes. Both chain the records and print the QR. The difference is what happens to the records.
| VERI\*FACTU mode | "Non-VERI\*FACTU" mode | |
|---|---|---|
| What happens to the records | Sent to the AEAT automatically as you invoice | Kept in your own system |
| Electronic signature of records | Not required | Required |
| System event log | Not required | Required |
In VERI\FACTU mode the invoice also shows the wording "Factura verificable en la sede electrónica de la AEAT" or "VERI\FACTU".
If you choose VERI\*FACTU mode, the AEAT says you must stay in it at least until the end of the calendar year in which you first sent records.
A dropped connection doesn't stop you from invoicing. The record can be sent later, once you are back online.
Who it applies to
According to the AEAT, the rules cover businesses and professionals, individuals or companies, who pay:
- personal income tax (IRPF) on business income, which covers freelancers;
- corporate income tax (Impuesto sobre Sociedades);
- non-resident income tax through a permanent establishment in Spain.
They must be based in the common tax territory, which leaves out residents of the Basque Country and Navarre.
The two main exceptions:
- Businesses that keep their VAT books through the Immediate Supply of Information system (SII). A business that joins the SII stops sending Verifactu records and stops printing the QR once it actually complies with the SII.
- Transactions that, under the invoicing rules, don't need an invoice at all.
When it becomes mandatory
The deadlines have already moved more than once. Royal Decree 254/2025 and Royal Decree-law 15/2025 both rewrote them. The latest, published in the Official State Gazette (BOE) on 3 December 2025, is the one in force today:
| Who | Software must be compliant |
|---|---|
| Companies paying corporate income tax | Before 1 January 2027 |
| Everyone else in scope, freelancers included | Before 1 July 2027 |
The AEAT gives the same dates in its notice on the extension. Until then there is a testing period: you can send test records in VERI\*FACTU mode, stop sending them, and keep invoicing with another system.
The October 2028 announcement
On 5 October 2026 the Ministry of Finance published an information note. It says the ministry plans to postpone the regulation's pending obligations until October 2028, to line them up with mandatory e-invoicing for businesses and professionals with annual turnover up to €8 million.
That is a plan, not law. As of 10 November 2026, the consolidated text of Royal Decree 1007/2023 in the BOE still says 1 January and 1 July 2027, and the AEAT still shows those dates. Until a new rule is published in the BOE, those are the binding deadlines.
We will update this article as soon as that changes.
What happens if your software doesn't comply
Spain's General Tax Law has a specific article for this, 201 bis. The fines are flat amounts:
- €50,000 per tax year for having invoicing software that doesn't meet the requirements, or that has been tampered with.
- €150,000 per tax year and per type of software for whoever makes or sells it.
They don't depend on how much you invoice, which is a good reason to check early.
What you should do
- Ask your software provider which mode it uses and whether it complies with the regulation. Spreadsheets and word processors don't produce chained records or QR codes.
- Check your date. Companies get the first deadline, freelancers the second.
- If you only issue a few invoices, the AEAT is preparing a simplified invoicing tool on its website. It has limits: full invoices only, and no invoices with several recipients.
- Don't confuse Verifactu with e-invoicing. They are separate obligations. The ministry's note talks about aligning their timelines, not about one replacing the other.
How Factuly handles it
If you invoice from Spain with Factuly, every invoice you issue or cancel leaves its record, chained to the previous one, and the PDF carries the QR code your client can check with the AEAT. Each invoice shows the status of its record: pending, accepted, accepted with warnings or rejected. If the AEAT rejects one, you can register it again from the same screen.
An issued invoice can't be edited. You cancel it or issue a corrective invoice, and both leave their own record. There is more in Verifactu in Factuly and, for the rest of invoicing, in Invoices.
The dates in this article are the ones in force on 10 November 2026. If they change, the update date above will tell you.
