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The Council of Ministers has recently approved a royal decree that establishes the mandatory use of electronic invoices between companies and professionals, a B2B system. With this measure, the Executive advances in the development of the Crea i Crece Law, giving definitive form to one of the most relevant changes in recent years in the administrative and financial management of companies.
We will tell you the latest news about this measure.
Terms
The entry into force of this regulation will be staggered to facilitate the adaptation of all companies. Thus, companies with a turnover exceeding eight million euros will have one year to adapt to it, while the rest of companies and self-employed people will have two years. In any case, these deadlines will begin to count from the publication of the ministerial order, which will develop the technical aspects of the regulation. The forecast is that this will occur before July 1, 2026.
This new regulation establishes the basis for implementing a mandatory electronic invoicing model in commercial relations, with the aim of strengthening transparency, reducing late payments, allowing companies to collect earlier and with more foresight and accelerating the digitalization of the business fabric.
What is an electronic invoice?
The royal decree defines the electronic invoice as a structured file for automated reading, which replaces traditional formats such as PDF, Excel or paper.
It introduces the obligation to report on the status of each invoice throughout its life cycle, including its acceptance and the effective payment date.
This complete traceability is one of the key elements of the model, as it allows greater control over payment terms and directly contributes to reducing delinquency.
For the exchange of electronic invoices, companies will be able to choose between two options. The first, through private platforms, which must guarantee compatibility between them. This implies that no company will be obliged to operate within the client or supplier's platform, ensuring the free choice of technological solution.
And the second will be a public and free solution, developed by the State Tax Administration Agency, AEAT. This option will be available to any company or professional, including self-employed people with a reduced turnover volume, thus guaranteeing universal access to the system.
Differences with VeriFactu
It is important to differentiate this regulation from another project of the Ministry of Finance that has coincided in time: the royal decree for the implementation of VeriFactu, which has already entered into force, but its mandatory nature has been delayed until 2027.
Although both initiatives are part of the billing system modernization process, their approach is different and the purpose is not the same, but it is complementary.
VeriFactu establishes the requirements that invoicing systems must meet to guarantee the integrity and traceability of records from a tax point of view, while the B2B electronic invoice regulates the exchange of invoices between companies and professionals, also incorporating monitoring mechanisms for their status and payment, with the aim of improving efficiency and reducing delinquency.
In practice, companies will have to adapt their systems to comply with both regulations, which implies a significant evolution in their billing processes.
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