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Module 1 of 5 · Electronic invoicing · Block 1

What an electronic invoice is and is not

Almost everyone believes they already issue electronic invoices because they email a PDF. The rule means something else, and the difference is not a technicality: it decides who has to retype the data at the other end.

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A PDF by email is not enough

An electronic invoice is one issued and received in a structured format that allows automated processing. A PDF is a picture of the document: a person can read it, but a system cannot without interpreting it.

A PDF is still a valid invoice if everything else is in order, but it does not count as an electronic invoice for the obligation introduced by article 12 of Law 18/2022.

The formats that do qualify

In the Spanish public sector the format is Facturae, electronically signed. In the European one, standard EN 16931 with its UBL and CII syntaxes. In specific industries EDIFACT still survives.

What they share is that every value sits in a named field: taxable base, VAT rate, recipient tax number. That is why the receiver can post it without retyping it.

Where it is already mandatory

Towards Spanish public administrations it has been since Law 25/2013, for invoices above five thousand euros, submitted through the FACe general entry point.

Between businesses, the obligation comes from article 12 of Law 18/2022, and its timetable starts once the implementing regulation is published.

What an auditor usually asks for

  • Telling apart a PDF, an electronic invoice and an invoicing record
  • Format agreed with each customer and each supplier
  • Registration on FACe if you invoice public administrations
  • Ability to receive structured invoices, not only to issue them

How the invoice circuit is set up in Kimobox

  1. 1Define the channels invoices arrive through: email, shared mailbox or cloud folder.
  2. 2Configure data extraction so each field lands in its place and nothing has to be typed.
  3. 3Flag which suppliers send a structured format and which still send paper or PDF.

Receiving well matters as much as issuing well: half the admin work sits in the invoices that arrive.

See invoice digitisation in Kimobox

Where each figure comes from

References to the official text in force. If a standard is revised, this page is updated and the review date says so.

  1. Royal Decree 1007/2023, regulation on the requirements for invoicing software BOE-A-2023-24840 · 06/12/2023
  2. Law 18/2022 on business creation and growth (article 12) BOE-A-2022-15818 · 29/09/2022
  3. Order EHA/962/2007 on electronic invoicing and electronic retention of invoices BOE-A-2007-7411 · 14/04/2007
  4. Spanish Tax Agency: invoicing systems and Verifactu Agencia Tributaria · —
Next → Verifactu and invoicing records