Electronic invoicing, mandatory for all self-employed workers and business owners.

Both companies and self-employed workers will have to implement electronic invoicing in their businesses. Electronic invoicing is already mandatory when a company has to invoice a public authority. Now, however, the obligation is being extended to invoices issued to other companies or self-employed workers, though not to invoices issued to the end customer.

An electronic invoice is, first and foremost, an invoice, but in this case it is issued and received in electronic format. It has the same legal effects as a conventional paper invoice, the difference being that the digital version is subject to the recipient’s consent.
There are two types of electronic invoices
• In structured format: containing data generated automatically by invoicing systems, generally in XML.
• In unstructured format: these are usually issued directly in PDF format, although they may also be scanned from paper.
The advantage of opting for a structured electronic invoice is that it simplifies the invoicing process even further and reduces costs.
Requirements that an electronic invoice must meet
For legal purposes, the content of an electronic invoice must be the same as that of a traditional invoice and must comply with the invoicing regulations currently in force. Nothing changes here: no new fields are added or removed.
In the case of electronic invoices, however, we must guarantee the authenticity of their origin and the integrity of their content. This can be done using the same procedures as for a paper invoice, that is, through management controls that make it possible to create a reliable audit trail guaranteeing the link between the invoice and the delivery of goods or provision of services it documents.
In addition, for electronic invoices the legislation allows three specific alternative procedures that likewise guarantee the authenticity of origin and the integrity of content:
• By electronic signature, the most widely used and best-known method. It is enough to generate an invoice with our invoicing program, generate a PDF, and sign it electronically to have an electronic invoice.
• By electronic data interchange (EDI).
• By means validated by the Spanish Tax Agency (AEAT).
Access to electronic invoices issued and created
In addition, the law provides that companies:
• Must give recipients access so that they can view, download, and print the invoices free of charge.
• Must maintain access to the electronic invoices for four years, even after the contractual relationship between the parties has ended.
Main benefits of using B2B electronic invoicing
The use of electronic invoicing brings major advantages to companies’ day-to-day operations:
• Digitalization and optimization of business relationships
• Reduced time and costs
• Increased productivity
• Greater security and reliability of electronic transactions
• Reduced late payment in commercial transactions
• Traceability and control of payments between companies and self-employed workers
• Fewer human errors thanks to process automation
Electronic invoicing implementation timeline
The legislation provides for a period of 6 months from the publication of the law for the authorities involved to determine the technical and information requirements to be included in electronic invoices.
Payment-related aspects (recording of dates and average payment periods), the requirements to be met by technology solution providers so as to ensure interoperability among them, and issues relating to the security, control, or standardization of IT devices and systems will be the pillars on which the project’s technical specifications are developed.
Once these specifications have been published, companies will have different implementation periods depending on their turnover:
• For companies whose annual turnover exceeds €8 million, the implementation period is 1 year from the publication in the Official State Gazette (BOE) of the “Create and Grow” Law (Ley “Crea y Crece”).
• For all other companies, whose turnover is below €8 million, the implementation period is extended to 2 years after the publication of the Law in the BOE.
Penalties for self-employed workers who fail to comply with the e-invoicing rules
If you are self-employed, you will have enough time to adapt to the new reality of electronic invoicing (until 2025, unless your invoicing exceeds €8 million).
Self-employed workers who do not implement this system may face penalties of between €10,000 and €40,000.