The deadlines your company has for issuing and sending invoices to clients depend on the type of transaction and whether the recipient is a business or an individual. If you issue an invoice to someone who is not a business or professional, you must do so at the time of the transaction. And don't forget to send it immediately. However, if you are issuing an invoice to a business or professional, you must do so before the 16th of the month following the month in which the tax for the transaction became due.

We remind you that the deadlines your company has to issue and send invoices to customers depend on the type of transaction and whether the recipient is a business or an individual.

We'll explain it below:

1. Specific recipients

If the recipient of the goods or services is a private individual, invoices must be issued and sent on the date the transaction is due. For these purposes, transactions are usually considered due on the date the service is provided or the goods are made available to the customer. However, there are exceptions; for example:

• In ongoing transactions (such as rentals or services that continue over time), the accrual occurs when each payment is due, and it is at that moment that the invoice must be issued.
• When an advance payment is made , the accrual also occurs and an invoice must be issued for the price charged.

Summary invoices  must be issued no later than the last day of the calendar month in which the transactions they cover took place. Remember that this type of invoice allows you to group different transactions carried out on different dates for the same recipient, provided that these transactions occurred within the same calendar month.

2. Target audience: business owners

If the recipient is a businessperson or professional, the deadlines for regular invoices and summary invoices are the same: they must be issued and sent to customers no later than the 16th of the month following the accrual date.

In the case of intra-community supplies (i.e., sales of goods to businesses established in other EU countries), invoices must be issued and sent before the 16th day of the month following the month in which the transport of the goods to the acquiring business.

3. What are the penalties for not issuing invoices or sending them to customers outside of the established deadlines?

Failure to issue invoices within the indicated deadlines or delay in sending them may result in a proportional penalty of 1% of the total amount of the invoices.

On the other hand, if the non-compliance consists of a failure to issue, the penalty amounts to 2% of the value of the unissued invoices. In these cases, if the Tax Agency is unable to determine the value of the uninvoiced transactions, the penalty is €300 for each transaction.

SUMMARY TABLE: Invoice issuance and delivery deadlines

The following table shows the different deadlines for issuing and sending invoices, depending on the recipient's status or the nature of the transactions:

                                                  Source: AEAT

• For these purposes, transactions are considered to have taken place when the VAT accrues.
• In the case of transactions under the special cash accounting scheme, these will be considered to have taken place, for these purposes, at the time the VAT would have accrued had this special scheme not applied. Therefore, the deadline for issuing invoices for these transactions is governed by the general deadlines.

You can contact this professional office for any questions or clarifications you may have.

Warm regards,

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MGI Àmbit

A Àmbit Assessor, SL has 40 years dedicated to the tax, comptable and labor consultancy of the Pime.

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