Invoice fields to review
Use this checklist to compare your draft with the local guidance. Applicability can depend on the parties, transaction, tax status, and document type.
- A full invoice should carry a sequential number and, where appropriate, a separate series. Issue date and supply or advance-payment date must both be shown when they differ. Corrective invoices use the required separate series and identify the invoice being corrected.
- Identify the issuer and recipient by full name or company name and address. Include the supplier's Spanish tax identification number (NIF); the customer's NIF is required in specified cases, including relevant domestic, reverse-charge and intra-Community transactions. VAT identification numbers apply where required for cross-border EU supplies.
- Give a precise description of each good or service, quantity or extent, unit price excluding VAT, and discounts or rebates that reduce the taxable base. State the taxable base, VAT rate and separately itemized VAT amount for each applicable rate.
- Show exemption or reverse-charge references when applicable, including the required indication that the recipient is liable for the tax (inversión del sujeto pasivo). Include required wording for self-billing, travel-agent or used-goods margin schemes, and other special regimes where they apply.
- A simplified invoice may generally be issued for totals up to €400 including VAT, or up to €3,000 including VAT for specified retail and other listed operations. To support a customer's VAT deduction, it must include the customer's NIF and address and separately show VAT charged; simplified invoices are not permitted for some cross-border and reverse-charge transactions.
Tax notes
Businesses and professionals generally invoice other businesses; defined consumer transactions also require full or simplified invoices. Ordinary retail may use a simplified document where allowed.
Exemption, zero-rating, reverse charge and outside-scope treatment are distinct. Customer status and place of supply determine whether Spanish VAT belongs on the invoice.
Tax records generally follow a four-year tax limitation period, but commercial accounting, VAT-asset adjustments, audits or disputes can extend retention. Invoice deadlines and numbering series vary by type.
Electronic invoicing
Spain's public-administration e-invoicing duties remain separate from B2B. Royal Decree 238/2026 was effective 20 April 2026, but practical application and the statutory rollout clock await the ministerial order for the public solution; the 2026 tax-control plan still described that order as to be processed. Thus the broad B2B mandate was not yet operational on 4 October 2026. Veri*Factu software-record rules are separate and have revised 2027 deadlines.
Record retention
Keep invoices and VAT-supporting records for the applicable tax period, generally four years, in a form preserving authenticity, integrity, legibility and access. Other commercial or open-case duties may last longer.
Important cautions
- Recheck BOE and AEAT for the pending B2B implementation order. Veri*Factu obligations and SII exceptions vary by taxpayer and are not the same as invoice-content rules.
Official references
Rules change. Check the current source text and any updates before relying on a field or process.
- BOE: Royal Decree 1619/2012, invoicing obligations
- AEAT: Types of invoice and simplified invoices
- BOE: Royal Decree 238/2026 on mandatory B2B e-invoicing
- AEAT: Veri*Factu adaptation deadline extension
- AEAT: Obligation to retain invoices
- BOE: 2026 Annual Tax and Customs Control Plan
Reviewed against the references above on .