Billing information: What should an invoice contain?

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Although there are various formats for an invoice, all are required to contain certain minimum requirements for the document to be valid.



The electronic invoice is the invoice model that will soon predominate. If we take into account that since 2015 the Public Administration only accepts this type of invoice, we can easily foresee that traditional paper invoices will soon be completely eliminated. However, before we rush into using it, we must be clear about the requirements of the electronic invoice so that it has the same legal validity as the one issued on paper.

What are the requirements for electronic invoicing?
As a general rule, the requirements for electronic invoicing are the same as those for any invoice issued on paper. Article 6 of the regulation governing invoicing, Royal Decree 1496/2003, specifies that there are nine things:



Invoice number and, where applicable, series.
Date of issue.
Name and surname, business name or corporate name of both the issuer and the recipient of the invoice.
Tax identification number (NIF) of both parties.
Address of the sender and the receiver.
Description of the operations to determine the tax base.
Unit price of operations. That is, without including taxes.
The tax rate that applies, as well as the tax rate.
The date on which the operations were carried out, provided that it is a date other than the date on which the invoice was issued.


So, from now on, everything we explain about billing, in addition to these conditions that are shared with invoices issued on paper, both the issuer and the receiver must:

Have software to validate the invoice .
Store received invoices digitally.
Minimum requirements for an invoice to be legal
For a document to be considered an invoice, the following data must appear as a minimum:



Invoice number and series


This is a number that identifies each of the invoices you issue and, therefore, it must be unique. It is something like the ID of invoices and their numbering must be consecutive. Within the same year, we cannot issue two invoices with the same number. For example, if the previous invoice was number 7, the next one must be number 8. They must be continuous.



The regulations allow us to establish different billing series. In this way, we can have several lists of invoices when there are reasons that justify it. This practice is usually carried out, for example, when we have several establishments or stores from which we invoice.



Date of invoice issue


It is very important that the date of issue appears on each invoice. For tax purposes, this is essential, as it will indicate the period in which the invoice was issued and the moment in which the corresponding taxes are charged. In addition, for collection purposes, the date of issue is used to start calculating the period for paying it.



Tax information of the issuer and recipient of the invoice


The invoice must include the tax details of both the issuer and the recipient of the invoice in question. The details you must include are as follows:



Name and surname in the case of self-employed workers.
Corporate name in the case of companies.
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Tax identification number, DNI for self-employed workers and NIF for companies.


Invoice concept, amount and taxes


In the invoice document, it is crucial to indicate the concept, that is, why it is issued. We must indicate the product or the description of the services provided for which payment is to be made.



This concept will indicate the taxable base to be included in the invoice, since depending on the product or service we are going to provide, a normal, reduced, super-reduced VAT or malaysia number data even a VAT exemption will apply. In the latter case, it will also be necessary to indicate the legal regulations under which VAT is not applied.



As regards the amount, we must differentiate between the sum of the product or service provided (before taxes) and the total, which we obtain by adding the taxes. To calculate the taxable base we must take into account the amount of the product or service less the IRPF withholding and any discounts that we are going to apply. This is the amount to which taxes will be applied.



Electronic invoices will have the same validity as the originals as long as they contain identical information on the invoice issued and the one received and contain the mandatory data listed. Invoicing is an obligation for all self-employed workers and so is saving and archiving invoices .