VeriFactu: what a service company in Mallorca actually has to do
The VeriFactu deadline has moved three times, and that has done more damage than the rule itself: plenty of people have stopped paying attention. Here is what binds today, what has only been announced, and the four things worth doing now even if the date moves again.
What is binding today, and what is only an announcement?
Two things get mixed up constantly, in conversation and in the odd headline.
What is published and binds. The invoicing systems regulation (Royal Decree 1007/2023) has applied to software makers since 29 July 2025: the programs they sell have to comply. For those who issue invoices, Royal Decree-Law 15/2025 set 1 January 2027 for companies paying corporate income tax and 1 July 2027 for the self-employed and other taxpayers.
What has been announced and does not bind yet. On 5 October 2026 the Spanish Ministry of Finance announced moving the obligation to October 2028 for anyone invoicing under eight million euros. That postponement has not appeared in the official gazette.
Why this distinction is not legal nit-picking
An announcement that never gets published can come to nothing, can come back worded differently, or can come late. Until it is in the gazette, the date that binds you is still the 2027 one.
And even if it is published exactly as announced, you would gain eighteen months to do the same work. It does not change what has to be done: it changes when it catches up with you.
What actually changes in your invoices?
This is the part almost nobody explains, and the only one worth understanding. VeriFactu is not about sending a file to the tax agency once a year. It is about how your invoicing software behaves.
At the moment each invoice is issued, the software has to produce an invoicing record: an entry with that invoice's essential data and a digital fingerprint calculated from them and from the previous record's fingerprint. Every record is hooked to the one before it, like links in a chain.
That chain is the whole idea. If somebody deletes an invoice or changes an amount, the next link stops fitting and it shows. That is why the regulation forbids software from allowing anything to be deleted or altered without a trace: a cancelled invoice is cancelled with another entry, not by disappearing.
The invoice also carries a QR code and, if you are in the mode that submits records, a note saying it can be verified on the tax agency's site.
Which of the two modes suits a small company?
The regulation lets you choose between two ways of complying:
- VERI*FACTU: every invoicing record is sent to the tax agency as the invoice is issued. In exchange, you do not have to sign the records electronically or keep anything special: the agency has them.
- Non-verifiable system: the records stay in your system, electronically signed and chained, available to the agency on request. You have to keep them and answer for them.
For a service company of ten or fifteen people, the first is usually less work. The second makes sense when there is a real reason not to submit in real time — poor connectivity on site, for example — and somebody who takes responsibility for keeping the records.
The part that really hurts: typing the same invoice twice
This is where the rule stops being paperwork and becomes a decision about how you work.
In most of the maintenance, cleaning, HVAC and pool companies in Mallorca we talk to, the sequence goes like this: the technician writes hours and materials on a paper job sheet or in a WhatsApp message, somebody in the office copies it into a spreadsheet, and from there somebody types it again into the invoicing program. The same data, three times.
Job sheets that arrive on Friday. Monday's work gets invoiced eight days later, if anyone remembers.
Materials that never get charged. The technician used them, but they never reached the invoice because nobody copied them.
Invoices corrected by hand. And correcting by hand is exactly what VeriFactu stops allowing.
The invoicing program, off on its own. It knows nothing about the jobs, so everything gets typed in.
If your invoicing program is an island, making it VeriFactu-compliant fixes none of that: it just adds a digital fingerprint to a process that still has three manual copies. The real opportunity is the opposite one: the invoice coming out of the job report the technician has already closed and the customer has already signed, with hours and materials already on it.
What should you do now, and in what order?
First, ask your current provider. In writing, with two specific questions: will you issue the declaration of compliance, and on what date will the ready version be available? A clear answer with a date saves you the rest of this article. Silence, or an "we're working on it" from six months ago, is the sign to start looking at alternatives.
Second, look at where your invoices originate. Not which program: which moment. If they come out of a job report, a delivery note or a maintenance contract, that is where to start, because that is where the duplicated work is.
Third, decide the mode. It is one configuration setting, but it is worth deciding knowingly rather than by default.
Fourth, test it with real invoices before the deadline. A month before, not the week of. The change touches numbering, cancellations and credit notes, which is where the surprises live.
What not to do
Do not buy in a hurry the month before the deadline. That is exactly when the worst migrations get sold, and at the worst prices, because the seller knows you have no time to compare.
And do not assume your program will adapt because it is expensive or because it has been around for years. Several makers have announced they will not adapt their older versions: the compliance arrives in a new version, charged separately. Ask first.
Frequently asked questions
When does VeriFactu become mandatory?
For companies paying Spanish corporate income tax, on 1 January 2027; for the self-employed and other taxpayers, on 1 July 2027, under Royal Decree-Law 15/2025. On 5 October 2026 the Spanish Ministry of Finance announced a delay to October 2028 for those invoicing under eight million euros, but that postponement has not been published in the official gazette: until it is, the 2027 dates are the ones that bind.
Does VeriFactu mean sending every invoice to the tax agency?
Only if you choose that mode. The regulation (RD 1007/2023) allows two: sending each invoicing record to the tax agency as it is issued, which is the mode called VERI*FACTU, or keeping it signed and chained within your own system, available to the agency on request. The second also requires the records to be electronically signed.
Can I keep using the spreadsheet I invoice with now?
No. The regulation requires the software to generate an invoicing record for every invoice, chain it to the previous one with a digital fingerprint, and make it impossible to delete or alter anything without leaving a trace. A spreadsheet does none of that, and the software maker also has to issue a formal declaration of compliance, which nobody can issue about a spreadsheet of your own.
What if I only issue a few invoices a year?
The obligation does not depend on how many invoices you issue. It depends on who the taxpayer is and which date applies to them. A sole trader issuing twelve invoices a year is as bound as a company issuing a thousand, with exactly the same deadline.
Do I have to change invoicing software?
Only if the one you use is not going to adapt. The first step is to ask your current provider, in writing, whether they will issue the declaration of compliance and when the ready version will be available. If the answer is clear and credible, there is nothing to do. If they do not reply, or reply vaguely, that is when it is worth looking at alternatives, with time to spare.
What is an invoice registration record?
It is the entry the software creates the moment an invoice is issued, holding its essential data together with the digital fingerprint that links it to the previous record. That chain is what proves no invoice has been deleted or altered along the way: a missing link shows.
Want the invoice to come out of the job report, without typing it again?
Tell us what you invoice with today and how job reports reach you from the field. We will tell you whether your program adapts, whether it needs replacing, or whether the right move is connecting it to what you already have.
If the answer is that an update from your provider covers you, we will tell you that too.
If you want to see what an invoice looks like with its registration record and chained fingerprint, it is on the VeriFactu invoicing page, with the legal calendar kept up to date and the demo opening on that module.
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