How to invoice in Spain with Cord

In Spain an invoice has to come from a verifiable invoicing system (Verifactu): each invoice creates a record chained to the previous one that is sent to the AEAT. Cord registers your invoices with Verifactu, in beta: with Starter or above and your electronic certificate uploaded, each invoice goes out with a chained hash and the AEAT verification QR code, and the status of its submission to the AEAT shows on the invoice detail. Without a certificate, or on the Free plan, Cord issues pro formas (series PRO), which do not replace an invoice.

In short:

• With Verifactu (beta): from Starter and with your certificate uploaded, each invoice is registered with the AEAT. Under Settings › Invoicing › Tax profile, the Verifactu section reads Verifactu active.
• Without a certificate or on Free: pro forma with series PRO (10 per month on Free, unlimited from Starter). It has no hash, QR code or AEAT record, and its PDF says so.
• What you will need: Starter or above, your NIF and an electronic certificate (.p12 or .pfx). The FNMT issues the individual certificate for free; a company representative certificate has a cost set by the provider.
• Legal deadlines: Verifactu is mandatory from 1 January 2027 for corporate income tax payers and from 1 July 2027 for everyone else. Business-to-business e-invoicing (coming soon in Cord), from 6 October 2027 if you invoice more than 8 million euros a year and from 6 October 2028 for everyone else.
• Correct: a chained record is not edited. It is corrected with a new record (correction or cancellation) or with a corrective invoice.
• Collect: card through Cord Payments in EUR, SEPA transfer with a reference, SEPA Direct Debit and automatic payments (new features being rolled out: they may not be available on your account yet). The transfer goes to each client’s own French IBAN, because the payment processor does not issue Spanish IBANs, and your client must type the account holder exactly as shown.

Which document Cord issues

A pro forma has no e-invoice version: Facturae, Factur-X, XRechnung and Peppol are generated from invoices, so in Spain they come from the ones issued with Verifactu. See European e-invoicing.

What you will need

• Starter or above. Integrated fiscal issuance starts on Starter.
• Your NIF under Invoice identity. Cord validates NIF, NIE and CIF with their check digit.
• Your business’s electronic certificate as .p12 or .pfx, with its password. If the certificate belongs to a representative, Cord accepts it with a warning: that representative needs authority from your business.
• The AEAT does not charge for receiving Verifactu records, and the public solution for business-to-business invoices is free.

Set up your account

1. Under Settings › Invoicing › Tax profile › Invoice identity, enter Legal name, NIF / CIF, Address, City, State or region, Postal code and your Invoice prefix. Spain numbers by series and fiscal year: the year is attached to the prefix.
2. In the Verifactu section, choose your electronic certificate, enter the Certificate password and click Upload certificate. Cord checks the password, reads the expiry date and confirms “Certificate uploaded. Invoices now chain into the Verifactu registry.” From then on the section reads Verifactu active, with Certificate valid until its date, and links the Responsible declaration of the invoicing system.
3. Under Settings › Quotes › Taxes, review your catalog. Your account starts with IVA 21%, 10% and 4%, Exempt, the exemption causes Exportación (art. 21), Entrega intracomunitaria (art. 25), Exenta art. 20 and Inversión del sujeto pasivo, and the withholdings Retención IRPF 15% and Retención IRPF 7% (nuevo autónomo). If your business is in the Canary Islands, the catalog seeds IGIC; in Ceuta and Melilla, only exempt options.
4. If you invoice companies that process invoices automatically, complete the European e-invoicing section (contact, electronic address and what to attach to the email).

Exemption causes

A 0% line carries its cause: the one you chose in the catalog (export, intra-community supply, exempt under art. 20 or reverse charge) is frozen on the line and travels to the record and the PDF, which cites the legal provision. With the generic Exempt, Cord derives the cause from the client: a business client in the EU with a VAT number, or a client outside the EU, is reported as not subject; a client in Spain, as exempt.

How you see the status (with Verifactu active)

The invoice detail has a Verifactu panel:

• Waiting to be sent to the AEAT: the record is already chained. Sending happens after issuance, without blocking the invoice.
• Registered with the AEAT.
• Registered with errors, Rejected by the AEAT or Could not be sent to the AEAT: with the AEAT code and reason, and the Correct and resend button.

Settings › Invoicing › Tax profile lists the Invoices to correct. The PDF carries the tax verification QR code at the top of the first page.

Collect

• Card from the invoice link, through Cord Payments.
• SEPA bank transfer with a reference in EUR, if you turn on Automatic SEPA transfer under Settings › Payments › Payment methods: your client transfers to an IBAN of their own (a French IBAN: the payment processor does not issue Spanish IBANs), the same for all their invoices, with each payment’s reference in the transfer details, and Cord records the payment on its own. They must enter the account holder exactly as shown: if it doesn’t match, their bank may hold the transfer. Without a reference, the money goes to that client’s open payment with the exact amount; anything that doesn’t match a payment stays in their favor and, if nobody applies it, the payment processor tries to return it after 75 days. It is offered on the invoice link and on the quote’s payment page, when the document has a linked client. See Bank transfer with a reference in the documentation.
• SEPA Direct Debit in EUR, if you turn it on under Settings › Payments › Payment methods: your client authorizes the debit from their account on the invoice link or in their portal. It takes up to 6 business days to confirm and the account holder can ask for a refund for 8 weeks. See Bank debit.
• Client portal to pay several invoices at once, and automatic payments on the due date. See Client portal and Automatic payments.
• Cord charges no fee of its own per transaction outside Mexican pesos.

Bank transfer with a reference, SEPA Direct Debit and automatic payments are new and may not be enabled on your account yet. If you don’t see them, write to us.

Void or correct

• Void a pro forma: More actions › Void, if it has no payments.
• With Verifactu: voiding creates a cancellation record added to the chain; the previous one is neither deleted nor edited.
• Correct: More actions › Credit note issues a corrective invoice by differences, with its own record.
• Rejected record: Correct and resend creates a correction record; there you can set the exemption cause of 0% items. Amounts never change.

Business-to-business e-invoicing

The law will require businesses and professionals to issue and receive e-invoices between them, sent through the AEAT public solution. Cord has it built, but it reads Coming soon under Settings › Invoicing › Tax profile › E-invoicing between businesses (AEAT): the AEAT has not yet published the technical specification of its service. When it does, Cord will turn it on with the same Verifactu certificate and will report each invoice’s payments. Invoices with IRPF will be sent once the AEAT publishes how they are declared; until then, download them as Facturae.

Common issues

• I uploaded my certificate and I still issue pro formas. Check your plan (Starter or above), that the section reads Verifactu active, and that VERI*FACTU, not Pro forma, is selected in Document type.
• The certificate is not accepted. Check that it is .p12 or .pfx, that the password is the file’s and that it has not expired.
• “Disconnect” is not allowed. With unsent records or records from the current fiscal year, Cord does not let you remove it.
• Invoice with IRPF. Factur-X, XRechnung and Peppol have nowhere to declare a withholding: that invoice is only available as Facturae.

Not covered yet

• Business-to-business e-invoicing: coming soon.
• IGIC, IPSI and the equivalence surcharge in the Verifactu record: rejected at issuance.
• The Basque Country and Navarre (TicketBAI and the foral systems).
• Submitting the Facturae to FACe and the DIR3 codes of public administrations.

Related

• European e-invoicing
• Bank debit
• Bank transfer with a reference in the documentation
• Set up tax withholdings
• European e-invoicing in the documentation