In September 2022, Law 18/2022, of September 28, on the creation and growth of companies or Crea y Crece Law, was published in the Official State Gazette. This new legislation, which came into force on October 19, 2022, has the fundamental objective of boosting the creation of companies and facilitating their growth and expansion, while pursuing the increase of their productivity and their digitalization.
Some of the most significant measures included in this law are the possibility of creating a company with an initial capital of one euro, when the current regulations until now required 3,000 euros, and the adoption of the electronic invoice in Spain, which is mandatory for all self-employed workers and companies. In other words, from now on they will have to issue and send invoices using digital tools, which guarantees greater traceability and better control over payments.
The main objective of electronic invoicing is to promote the digital transition of the Spanish business fabric and to control and reduce delinquency in commercial transactions. For this reason, the obligation of electronic invoicing is accompanied by an aid and incentive program for digital transformation, endowed with 3,000 million euros in subsidies and integrated in the Digital Agenda 2025 and in the Recovery, Transformation and Resilience Plan. It will be necessary for companies to use electronic invoicing management in order to qualify for subsidies and public contracts.
In order to invoice as required by the new law, companies and freelancers must use specialized and efficient software solutions that allow the recipients of the invoices to access, view, download and print the electronic invoices. In addition, a period of four years is set for maintaining this access, even in the event that customers have ceased to be customers.
Advantages offered by the use of mandatory electronic invoicing in Spain
Mandatory electronic invoicing in Spain offers a wide range of advantages for both companies and the self-employed. Some of the most significant ones are:
As mentioned above, the new law extends the obligation to issue and send electronic invoices to all companies and self-employed workers in their commercial relations, in order to avoid late payments and to have a greater fiscal control by the Tax Authorities and in real time of the invoices issued.
The obligation to invoice electronically also implies, both for companies and self-employed, the following:
From September 2023 for companies with a turnover of more than 8 million euros per year and from September 2025 for the rest of companies and self-employed, it will be necessary to have a software that allows to generate electronic invoices automatically according to the parameters that we have established.
Thanks to this electronic invoicing management program we will be able to issue the electronic invoice with all the data required by law and save the document. It is advisable to include an electronic signature to guarantee its authenticity. The electronic invoice can be sent by e-mail or uploaded to a website where each customer can download it by accessing it with personal passwords.
The electronic invoice must always be issued at the time the operation is carried out, although it may be the case that periodic work is carried out and several operations carried out in a given period of time for the same client are included in the same invoice, these invoices being called recapitulative invoices.
Some of the most significant measures included in this law are the possibility of creating a company with an initial capital of one euro, when the current regulations until now required 3,000 euros, and the adoption of the electronic invoice in Spain, which is mandatory for all self-employed workers and companies. In other words, from now on they will have to issue and send invoices using digital tools, which guarantees greater traceability and better control over payments.
The main objective of electronic invoicing is to promote the digital transition of the Spanish business fabric and to control and reduce delinquency in commercial transactions. For this reason, the obligation of electronic invoicing is accompanied by an aid and incentive program for digital transformation, endowed with 3,000 million euros in subsidies and integrated in the Digital Agenda 2025 and in the Recovery, Transformation and Resilience Plan. It will be necessary for companies to use electronic invoicing management in order to qualify for subsidies and public contracts.
In order to invoice as required by the new law, companies and freelancers must use specialized and efficient software solutions that allow the recipients of the invoices to access, view, download and print the electronic invoices. In addition, a period of four years is set for maintaining this access, even in the event that customers have ceased to be customers.
Advantages offered by the use of mandatory electronic invoicing in Spain
Mandatory electronic invoicing in Spain offers a wide range of advantages for both companies and the self-employed. Some of the most significant ones are:
- Savings of up to 60% in costs derived from the issuance of invoices. Which in the annual computation means a significant saving by reducing costs per transaction. Paper storage costs are reduced while at the same time the visibility of invoices is improved in real time.
- Increased productivity. Electronic invoicing allows the Administration Department of a company to free itself from tedious tasks, reduce errors, speed up the invoicing process and be able to dedicate more time to higher value-added tasks.
- Improved security. Electronic invoicing provides new security conditions to avoid possible fraud.
- Triple bottom line. The digitalization of invoices can be used with customers, suppliers and public administration.
- Improved customer satisfaction. Thanks to the centralization of the production of invoices, speeding up their dispatch and optimizing traceability.
- Increased traceability and payment control. Reliable and agile information is obtained, improving transparency and helping to know the effective payment terms, which helps to reduce delinquency in commercial operations.
- Streamlining of collections and payments through a more precise and automated control.
- Possibility of generating and filing taxes.
As mentioned above, the new law extends the obligation to issue and send electronic invoices to all companies and self-employed workers in their commercial relations, in order to avoid late payments and to have a greater fiscal control by the Tax Authorities and in real time of the invoices issued.
The obligation to invoice electronically also implies, both for companies and self-employed, the following:
- Obligation to issue a structured electronic invoice.
- Recipients must be able to receive and process electronic invoices.
- Issuers must make invoices available to their customers for at least 4 years.
- Penalties of up to 10,000 euros are established for non-compliance with the regulations.
- The PDF format is not valid, being necessary to generate invoice formats Facturae, UBL and others with XML formats.
From September 2023 for companies with a turnover of more than 8 million euros per year and from September 2025 for the rest of companies and self-employed, it will be necessary to have a software that allows to generate electronic invoices automatically according to the parameters that we have established.
Thanks to this electronic invoicing management program we will be able to issue the electronic invoice with all the data required by law and save the document. It is advisable to include an electronic signature to guarantee its authenticity. The electronic invoice can be sent by e-mail or uploaded to a website where each customer can download it by accessing it with personal passwords.
The electronic invoice must always be issued at the time the operation is carried out, although it may be the case that periodic work is carried out and several operations carried out in a given period of time for the same client are included in the same invoice, these invoices being called recapitulative invoices.