Guide updated 11 July 2026
Verifactu explained plainly: the real calendar and what to do in 2026
Half the internet still publishes the old dates. This guide uses the calendar in force after Real Decreto-ley 15/2025 (published in the BOE on 3 December 2025), which postponed the obligation by a full year.
What Verifactu is (and what it is not)
Verifactu is the everyday name for the Reglamento de los Sistemas Informáticos de Facturación (SIF), approved by Real Decreto 1007/2023 and developed technically by Orden HAC/1177/2024. It requires the software you issue invoices with to generate, for each one, a tamper-proof record with a chained hash and, on the invoices, a verification QR code. It is not the B2B electronic invoice of the Ley Crea y Crece: they are two different obligations with different calendars. Verifactu looks towards the tax authority; the electronic invoice looks towards your customer.
The calendar in force (the real one)
After Real Decreto-ley 15/2025, of 2 December, the mandatory dates are: 1 January 2027 for Corporate Income Tax payers and 1 July 2027 for the self-employed, entities under the income-attribution regime and all other obligated parties. The 2026 dates you will see on many websites (1 January and 1 July 2026) are no longer in force: they were postponed. Software manufacturers, on the other hand, must have their systems adapted since 29 July 2025. In practice, 2026 is the year to prepare: migrating calmly now avoids the rush on tax advisers and suppliers that is expected in 2027.
Who it affects and who it does not
It affects the vast majority of companies and self-employed people who use a computer system to invoice (computer, point-of-sale terminal, cloud software). Left out are: those registered with the SII (they already report in real time), the foral territories with their own system (TicketBAI in the Basque Country, Batuz in Bizkaia), and anyone who invoices without any computer system. There are two modes: VERI*FACTU (automatic submission of the records to the AEAT) and the retention mode (no submission, but with the same integrity and chaining requirements).
Penalties
Article 201 bis of the Ley General Tributaria sets fines of up to €50,000 per tax year for anyone using non-compliant software, and up to €150,000 for manufacturers and sellers for each type of program that is not adapted.
What AIM PAPYR can do for you, and what it cannot
PAPYR lets you create professional invoices with VAT and withholding calculation, and download the Facturae 3.2.2 XML validated against the official schema; you can also validate any Facturae you receive (schema, tax IDs of the parties, amounts adding up) and turn scanned invoices into Excel. To be honest: PAPYR is not, today, a Verifactu-certified SIF with a chained record and submission to the AEAT. For the 2027 obligation you will need compliant invoicing software (the AEAT offers a basic free application on its website). What you can do here for free, without signing up and with your data processed on EU servers, is create, validate and work with your invoices today.
Frequently asked questions
Is Verifactu mandatory in 2026?
No. Real Decreto-ley 15/2025 postponed the obligation: 1 January 2027 for companies and 1 July 2027 for the self-employed. 2026 is the year to prepare.
Are Verifactu and the Crea y Crece electronic invoice the same thing?
No. Verifactu (Real Decreto 1007/2023) regulates how your invoicing software must behave towards the tax authority. The B2B electronic invoice (Ley 18/2022, Crea y Crece) regulates the exchange of structured invoices between companies, with its own calendar still pending a regulation.
Can I keep invoicing with Excel or Word?
If that is your usual invoicing system, from your obligation date it will not be compliant: it cannot guarantee tamper-proof records or a chained hash. If you use no computer invoicing system, you are outside the scope.
And what almost no guide mentions: the invoices you RECEIVE
Verifactu is always explained from the issuer's side, and that is only half of it. From 2027, every invoice that reaches you from a Spanish supplier will carry a tax QR code with four data points: their tax ID (NIF), the invoice number, the date and the total amount. That QR is not decoration: it is a URL to the Agencia Tributaria website, and the check is PUBLIC: you need no Cl@ve or certificate to ask whether that invoice is on record.
The check nobody does, and it is free
Everybody scans the QR with their phone, one at a time, to see whether the tax authority has the invoice on record. That is fine, and it is a different thing. What almost nobody does is the PRIOR check: does what the QR declares match what the invoice says? If the paper says €1,210 and the QR declares €1,150, something is wrong, and you can see it without calling anyone. For anyone who handles accounts payable, this is what to look at BEFORE paying. Here you can do it with one invoice or with thirty at once, and the ones that do not match come out at the top.
«Not found» does not always mean fraud
This is the misunderstanding that will cause arguments with honest suppliers, and almost nobody explains it. Verifactu has TWO modes. In the automatic submission mode, which is the one properly called Verifactu, every invoice is registered with the tax authority when issued, and the check confirms it is on record. In the other, the «No-Verifactu» mode, the records are kept in the issuer's system and are NOT sent automatically: the check cannot confirm that invoice, and that is normal. Before accusing anyone, find out which mode they invoice under. And here is what matters for the recipient: for those invoices, comparing the QR with the paper is the ONLY check that exists, because the tax authority can say nothing.
If you pay tax in a foral territory, this is not for you
What decides which system applies to you is YOUR tax domicile, not your customers'. In Álava, Bizkaia and Gipuzkoa TicketBAI applies, not Verifactu, and they are incompatible: you cannot use one instead of the other. Navarra also has its own regime. Our QR checker recognises both, and also the Portuguese AT code, because an Iberian tax adviser receives invoices from all three.