There is less left forelectronic invoicing to be mandatory for all Spanish companies. According to the preliminary draft of the Create and Grow Law, approved by the Council of Ministers in November 2021, companies with a turnover of more than 8 million euros will have 12 months to start applying the regulations. For firms whose billing is lower, the execution schedule will be extended to three years.
The objective of the law is to fight against delinquency and “guarantee the traceability and control of payments between companies and self-employed workers.”So that small and medium-sized companies can digitize all their processes, including invoicing, the Government has already launched theDigital Kitprogram . The first call, aimed at SMEs with between 10 and 49 employees, opened on March 15 and will be open for 6 months or until the funds are exhausted (500 million euros).
The self-employed without a staff or who only have up to a maximum of 9 employees will be able to request the kit in a second phase that will take place between June and September. To do this, they must carry out the self-diagnosis test between the months of March and May. They will have the opportunity to digitize their activities with avoucher of up to 2,000 euros.
The advantages of electronic invoicing for companies
The electronic invoice has the same legal effects as the traditional ones made on paper. Through it, the delivery of goods or the provision of services is justified.
All invoices must guarantee the principles of legibility, authenticity and integrity. In the case of electronics, these last two principles are guaranteed in various ways :
- Through an advanced electronic signature based on a recognized certificate.
- With EDI electronic data interchange.
- By other means previously communicated to the State Tax Administration Agency.
- Through the usual management controls of the business or professional activity of the taxpayer, provided that they allow the creation of a reliable audit trail that establishes the necessary connection between the invoice and the delivery of goods or provision of services that it documents.
What benefits does electronic invoicing bring to companies?
- Economic: with electronic invoicing, the costs of printing and postage of the paper invoice are saved.
- The processing cycles are shorter: both the management and the sending of the invoice is much faster.
- Facilitates the fight against fraud: by not allowing the manipulation of the document.
- Less environmental impact: due to saving paper and energy derived from printing and transporting documents.
- Reduces human errors: since it is an automated system.
- Less storage space– Digital invoices can be stored in the system without taking up physical space.
- Accessing them is faster: in addition to being easier to order them properly.
- More security at the time of sending: since by using digital means and having an electronic certificate, there is less chance of the invoices being lost. In addition, the document does not have to pass through the hands of intermediaries.
Types of electronic invoice
From the Ministry of Finance they speak of two fundamental types of electronic invoices: those that have a structured format and those that do not. The main difference is that the first facilitates its automated processing.
Electronic invoices in structured format. They can be generated automatically by the issuer’s billing computer systems and be processed in an equally automated manner by the recipient’s payment and accounting computer systems. Examples of structured formats are those that use the XML language (such as UBL or Facturae), EDIFACT, etc.
Electronic invoices in structured format. They consist of an image and in order to be entered into computer systems, a manual investment is required. Among these we have scanned paper invoices and PDF files.
