In Spain, an issued invoice can't be deleted or edited. If it has a mistake, or if what you invoiced changes afterwards, you fix it with another invoice: a corrective invoice (factura rectificativa). The rules are in article 15 of the invoicing regulation (Royal Decree 1619/2012).
When you have to issue one
The regulation requires a corrective invoice in three cases:
- Mandatory details are missing or wrong. A wrong tax ID, a date, the description, your client's address.
- The VAT is wrong. You applied the wrong rate, or the VAT amount doesn't add up.
- The taxable amount changes after invoicing. These are the circumstances in article 80 of the VAT Act: goods are returned, you grant a later discount, the transaction is cancelled, or the client doesn't pay and the conditions to recover the VAT are met.
When you don't need one
- Returns settled in a later order. If your client returns goods or packaging and you supply them again, you can subtract the return on the next invoice, with no corrective invoice. This only works if all the transactions carry the same VAT rate.
- Swapping a simplified invoice for a full one. If your client asks for a full invoice for a receipt that was correct, the new invoice isn't a corrective invoice.
Deadline
You have to issue it as soon as you know a correction is needed. The limit is four years, counted from when the VAT on the transaction became due or from when the circumstance that changes the amount occurred.
What it must include
A corrective invoice is an invoice, so it carries everything any other invoice does. On top of that:
- It goes in its own series. The regulation requires a specific series for corrective invoices.
- It identifies the invoice it corrects.
- It states what is being corrected.
You can correct several invoices with a single corrective invoice, as long as you identify them all. For volume discounts you don't need to list them: stating the period the discount refers to is enough.
Two ways to state the amounts
The regulation allows two methods, and both are valid:
| By difference | By substitution | |
|---|---|---|
| Which amounts it shows | Only what changes, with its sign | The amounts as they stand after the correction |
| What else it must state | Nothing else | The difference from the original invoice |
Example
You invoiced €1,000 plus 21% VAT: €1,210. Later you agree a €100 discount with your client.
- By difference: the corrective invoice shows a taxable amount of −€100 and VAT of −€21. Total: −€121.
- By substitution: the corrective invoice shows a taxable amount of €900 and VAT of €189, and states that the difference from the original is −€100 of taxable amount and −€21 of VAT.
Either way, your client ends up owing €1,089.
Correcting isn't cancelling
They are two different things:
- You cancel an invoice that should never have existed: you issued it by mistake, or the transaction never took place. The invoice keeps its number and stops counting.
- You correct an invoice that does reflect a real transaction but has a wrong detail or an amount that has changed.
And the VAT
The corrective invoice goes into your book of issued invoices, and your client's copy into their book of received invoices. How and when the VAT is adjusted depends on the reason: article 89 of the VAT Act sets the rules. If the correction increases the VAT you charged, or affects a quarter you've already filed, check with your accountant before filing your next form 303.
With Verifactu
Under Verifactu, a corrective invoice leaves its own invoicing record, chained to the previous ones, and that record cites the invoice it corrects. The original is left untouched. We explain it in What is Verifactu and when does it become mandatory.
How Factuly does it
In Factuly an issued invoice can't be edited. From the invoice itself you have both routes:
- Cancel it. It keeps its number and stops counting.
- Correct it. Factuly creates a corrective draft with the lines in negative, in a corrective series, with the reason and the cause: error, return or discount, client insolvency, bad debt or other. You adjust it and issue it.
It's all in Invoices. And to review what an invoice must contain to be right from the start, see How to make a valid invoice in Spain.
