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VAT invoicing

Invoicing obligation, exceptions, types of invoices and contents

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Rectification invoices

When is it mandatory to issue them?

  • In the event that the invoice does not meet one or more of the requirements laid down as mandatory in Articles 6 and 7 of the Regulation governing invoicing duties.

  • When the circumstances have occurred that give rise to the modification of the taxable base of VAT established in article 80 of Law 37/1992 (return of containers or packaging, discounts, resolution of operations, alteration in prices or provisional prices, non-payments). See "Related Content." 

  • When the Value Added Tax amounts applied have been determined incorrectly.

However, rectification of the tax amounts applied will not be appropriate:

  • When the rectification is not motivated by the causes laid down in article 80 of the Law 37/1992, and implies an increase of the amounts applied and the recipients of the operations do not act as employers or professionals of the Tax, except in cases of legal rise of the tax rates, when the rectification can be carried out within the month in which the new tax rates come into force and in the next.

  • When it is the tax authorities that, through the corresponding liquidations, reveals accrued and unreturned tax amounts greater than those declared by the entrepreneur and the latter has participated in a fraud or knew or should have known that he was carrying out an operation that was part of a fraud.

When must they be issued?

The rectification will be carried out as soon as the person obliged to issue the invoice is aware of the circumstances that require its issuance, provided that four years have not elapsed from the moment in which the tax was accrued or, where applicable, from the date on which that the circumstances regulated in article 80 of Law 37/1992 have occurred, which give rise to the modification of the VAT tax base.

What requirements should rectification invoices comply with?

All corrective invoices must state their corrective status and the description of the reason for the correction, the identifying data of the corrected invoice or invoices (it will be sufficient to indicate the period to which they refer in the case of discounts for volume of operations and when authorized by the Tax Management Department of the AEAT ) and the correction made and they must comply with the requirements that are established as mandatory in general.

The Tax Administration Department of the AEAT may authorise other invoice rectification procedures, upon request of the interested parties, when justified by the commercial or administrative practices of the sector.