Verifactu is coming for every invoice — yes, in the Canaries too

Spain is rebuilding the humble invoice. Under the anti-fraud rules of Royal Decree 1007/2023 — the regime everyone calls Verifactu — invoicing software must produce tamper-evident, hash-chained records, print a QR code on every invoice, and be able to report to the tax agency in real time.

If you run a company, a shop, a clinic or a one-person consultancy in the Canaries, this lands on your desk. Here is the current state of play, without the noise.

The deadlines, as they stand

The calendar has moved twice, so ignore anything you read in 2024:

• Software producers have had to sell only compliant systems since 29 July 2025.
• Companies (corporate-tax payers) must use compliant software before 1 January 2027.
• The self-employed and other income-tax payers follow before 1 July 2027.

Between now and then adoption is voluntary — and the tax agency already accepts live submissions. Early movers get to debug quietly instead of in a January rush.

"But we have IGIC here"

The most common misconception we hear in the islands. Verifactu is not a VAT rule — it attaches to income taxation, and the common-territory regime expressly includes the Canaries, Ceuta and Melilla. Only the Basque Country and Navarra stay outside, because they run their own equivalent systems. An IGIC invoice from Corralejo is as much in scope as a VAT invoice from Madrid.

Who is exempt

• Businesses reporting through SII (the large-taxpayer real-time VAT system) — including those who join it voluntarily.
• Taxpayers who issue no invoices through software at all (purely manual invoicing).
• Certain fully exempt entities.

For everyone else, "my Excel template" stops being an invoicing system and starts being a liability: using non-compliant software can be sanctioned with up to €50,000 per year.

A sensible 2026 checklist

1. Ask your software vendor for its responsible declaration of Verifactu compliance — in writing.
2. If you invoice from spreadsheets or an old bespoke tool, plan the migration this year, not in December 2026.
3. Talk to your gestor about whether the real-time (VERI*FACTU) mode suits you — for many small businesses it is simpler than keeping signed local records.
4. Companies with group structures or mixed activities: map which entities fall in scope before budgeting.

The invoice is becoming a piece of tax infrastructure. Treat the software that produces it with the same seriousness as the bank account it feeds.

Our commercial team advises businesses across both islands, alongside your accountant — talk to us.