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Spotlight PEPPOL BIS Billing 3.0 The EU e-invoicing mandate is here — France Sept 2026, Belgium Jan 2026, Germany 2025.

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Foundations

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Standards

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Flagship messages

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Tools

Spain — Crea y Crece and the Facturae ecosystem

Spain already runs a mature B2G stack (FACe + Facturae), a near-real-time tax reporting system (SII) for large taxpayers, and the 2022 Crea y Crece law that lays down a B2B mandate awaiting its implementing decree.

Regulatory timeline

  • Law 25/2013 of 27 December 2013 — electronic invoicing in the public sector. Establishes the B2G obligation, Facturae format, FACe platform and mandatory XAdES electronic signature.
  • 15 January 2015. Go-live of B2G for suppliers to central, autonomous and local administrations (invoices above €5,000 first, then with no threshold).
  • Royal Decree 596/2016 of 2 December 2016. Creates the Suministro Inmediato de Información (SII): submission of VAT books to AEAT in near-real time (within 4 days), in force since 1 July 2017 for large taxpayers and VAT groups.
  • Law 18/2022 of 28 September 2022 (Crea y Crece), article 12. Establishes a B2B obligation for VAT-registered taxpayers in Spain. Planned timeline: one year after the regulation is published for enterprises > €8M, two years for the rest.
  • Draft Royal Decree 2023. TRIS notification to the European Commission in June 2023 (number 2023/0337/ES), with observations pointing to EN 16931 alignment and PEPPOL interoperability.
  • 2024-2026. The implementing decree is not yet published in the BOE (Boletín Oficial del Estado) at the time of writing. The effective entry into force of the B2B mandate therefore remains pending.
  • SII 2024. Updates to the 2024 version (added fields for Verifactu — unique invoice identification system against VAT fraud, in force since 1 July 2025).

Deep dives — 10 dedicated pages

Ten dedicated pages drill into every dimension of the Spanish e-invoicing landscape — Verifactu, TicketBAI, SII, the upcoming Crea y Crece B2B mandate, the Facturae format and FACe B2G hub, and the EDIFACT-heavy real-world B2B that pre-dates and survives the reform.

Reform and reporting

Technical specifications

  • Facturae 3.2.x — official XML format · XML format signed XAdES-Bes-Long, published by administracionelectronica.gob.es. Versions 3.2 / 3.2.1 / 3.2.2 (current). Spanish CIUS for EN 16931.
  • FACe — Spanish B2G hub · Ley 25/2013, mandatory since 15 January 2015 for invoices > EUR 5,000. 8,000+ public entities, DIR3 codes, SOAP + REST APIs, FACeB2B voluntary B2B counterpart.
  • Sectoral tax submissions · AEAT protocols for regulated operators: Modelo 159 electricity, 161 gas, 165 telecom, 196 movable capital, 296 non-residents. XML / JSON, articulation with SII + Verifactu.

Real-world B2B usage

  • Retail EDIFACT · Mercadona, Carrefour Spain, El Corte Ingles, Dia, Eroski, Lidl Spain, Aldi, Consum, Alcampo. AECOC EANCOM 2002 S4/S5 subset, FRESCO + NEXUS standards.
  • Automotive EDIFACT · SEAT Martorell, Stellantis Vigo/Madrid, Ford Almussafes, Renault Valladolid/Palencia, Mercedes-Benz Vitoria. SEMI/AENOR + Galia + Odette + VDA, OFTP2 over ENX. Gestamp global tier-1.
  • Spanish IVA regimes · General regime (21%), Simplified, Recargo de Equivalencia (+0.5 / 1.4 / 5.2%), Canary IGIC (rates 0/3/7/9.5/13.5/20%), Ceuta y Melilla IPSI, reverse charge LIVA art. 84.

Technical schema

The reference format is Facturae, the Spanish national XML defined and maintained by the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Digital Transformation. Current versions are 3.2.x (3.2.1 and 3.2.2). XAdES signature (XML-DSig Enveloped Signature) is mandatory for B2G flows. For post-Crea y Crece B2B, the draft decree accepts four syntaxes:

  • Facturae 3.2.2
  • UBL 2.1 (PEPPOL CIUS or plain EN 16931)
  • UN/CEFACT CII 16B
  • EDIFACT D.96A INVOIC (for industrial back-compatibility)

Minimal example of a B2G Facturae 3.2.2 (the XAdES signature is omitted from the snippet for readability):

xmlfacturae-322.xml
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<fe:Facturae xmlns:fe="http://www.facturae.es/Facturae/2014/v3.2.2/Facturae"
             xmlns:ds="http://www.w3.org/2000/09/xmldsig#">
  <FileHeader>
    <SchemaVersion>3.2.2</SchemaVersion>
    <Modality>I</Modality>
    <InvoiceIssuerType>EM</InvoiceIssuerType>
    <Batch>
      <BatchIdentifier>ESB12345678201605160001</BatchIdentifier>
      <InvoicesCount>1</InvoicesCount>
      <TotalInvoicesAmount><TotalAmount>1210.00</TotalAmount></TotalInvoicesAmount>
      <TotalOutstandingAmount><TotalAmount>1210.00</TotalAmount></TotalOutstandingAmount>
      <TotalExecutableAmount><TotalAmount>1210.00</TotalAmount></TotalExecutableAmount>
      <InvoiceCurrencyCode>EUR</InvoiceCurrencyCode>
    </Batch>
  </FileHeader>
  <Parties>
    <SellerParty>
      <TaxIdentification>
        <PersonTypeCode>J</PersonTypeCode>
        <ResidenceTypeCode>R</ResidenceTypeCode>
        <TaxIdentificationNumber>B12345678</TaxIdentificationNumber>
      </TaxIdentification>
      <LegalEntity>
        <CorporateName>Taller Madrid SL</CorporateName>
      </LegalEntity>
    </SellerParty>
    <BuyerParty>
      <TaxIdentification>
        <PersonTypeCode>J</PersonTypeCode>
        <ResidenceTypeCode>R</ResidenceTypeCode>
        <TaxIdentificationNumber>A87654321</TaxIdentificationNumber>
      </TaxIdentification>
      <LegalEntity>
        <CorporateName>Cooperativa Barcelona SA</CorporateName>
      </LegalEntity>
    </BuyerParty>
  </Parties>
  <Invoices>
    <Invoice>
      <InvoiceHeader>
        <InvoiceNumber>2026/00187</InvoiceNumber>
        <InvoiceDocumentType>FC</InvoiceDocumentType>
        <InvoiceClass>OO</InvoiceClass>
      </InvoiceHeader>
    </Invoice>
  </Invoices>
</fe:Facturae>

Submission flow

For B2G, transmission goes through the FACe platform (face.gob.es), a centralised hub that forwards the invoice to the processing unit identified by DIR3 codes. For Crea y Crece B2B, the draft decree foresees a mixed architecture: a public platform operated by AEAT alongside accredited private platforms with mandatory interoperability. In parallel, the SII compels large taxpayers and VAT groups to submit their VAT books (invoices issued and received, capital goods, intra-community operations) within 4 calendar days.

textspain-flow.txt
┌────────────┐   ┌──────────────┐   ┌────────────┐
│ ES Seller  │──>│  FACe (B2G)  │──>│ Public adm │
│ (ERP)      │   │ or private   │   │ (B2G)      │
└────────────┘   │  portal (B2B)│   └────────────┘
                 └──────────────┘
                       │
                       ▼
                 ┌──────────────┐
                 │ SII (AEAT)   │  ← near-real-time reporting
                 │ 4 days max   │     for large taxpayers
                 └──────────────┘

Validation

Common pitfalls

  1. Mandatory XAdES signature for B2G. The most frequent FACe rejection is a non-conforming XAdES-EPES or XAdES-T signature missing a signature policy. The expected policy is facturae 3.1 or higher.
  2. Wrongly populated DIR3 codes. The triplet órgano gestor / unidad tramitadora / oficina contable identifies the destination administrative unit. A typo (non-existent or inactive DIR3) triggers an immediate rejection with error code 1018 or 1019.
  3. SII and the 4-day deadline. Large taxpayers and VAT groups must send each invoice to AEAT within 4 calendar days (weekends and bank holidays do not count). A month-end batch is enough to trigger extemporaneidad penalties.
  4. Verifactu (since 2025). The Verifactu regulation requires a chain of billing records (digital fingerprints) linked by hash, for invoicing systems used in Spain. Any Facturae issuance architecture must plan for the extension to integrate the chained hash and the optional upload to Verifactu.
  5. Confusion between Crea y Crece in principle and the regulation. The law has been in force since 2022 but the technical obligation is not yet applicable: the Royal Decree is missing. Vendors that claim Crea y Crece compliance before its publication are selling an unclear perimeter.