The Tax Agency does not certify invoicing software
There is no official list of approved software, however much it is advertised that way. What the regulation requires is something else: a responsibility statement from the manufacturer. Here is what it is, how to check it and who is liable if it fails.
Why certification does not exist
The regulation could have set up a register of approved software. It did not, and the decision makes sense: keeping a list of hundreds of programs up to date, each with its own versions, is unworkable, and it would freeze the market on top of that.
What it did instead was shift the responsibility onto the manufacturer. Whoever produces or sells the software declares under their own responsibility that it complies, and if it does not, they are the ones liable, with penalties among the highest in Spanish tax law.
Where the confusion comes from
The Tax Agency does publish lists of certified software, but they are about the certified digitisation of paper invoices: a different matter, and one that predates all of this. Anyone who finds those lists and looks there for their invoicing software will not find it, and not because there is anything wrong with the software.
What the responsibility statement is
It is a document from the manufacturer that must be reachable from inside the software itself, quickly and easily, and made available to whoever sells it and whoever uses it — at the time of purchase and afterwards — on paper or in a widely used, free electronic format. Its contents are set out in article 15 of Order HAC/1177/2024. At the very least:
- The title: «Declaración responsable del sistema informático de facturación».
- Name, identifying code and version of the system, and its components if there are several.
- Whether the system can only run as VERI*FACTU and whether it can serve several taxpayers.
- The statement that it complies with article 29.2.j) of the General Tax Act, Royal Decree 1007/2023 and Order HAC/1177/2024.
- Name, tax ID and postal address of whoever produces it.
- Date and place of signature.
A detail that gets overlooked: if the system has components from different manufacturers, each manufacturer issues its own. In a set-up with a till from one company and invoicing software from another, you need both.
How to check your software in five minutes
- Look for it inside the software. It has to be there, not in a sales email or in a PDF they send you if you push.
- Check the version. A statement for a version you no longer use does not cover you.
- Check that it cites both rules, the royal decree and the ministerial order. Only one of the two is a sign that it was copied from somewhere.
- Check that it identifies the manufacturer with their tax ID. A statement with nobody identified holds nobody responsible.
- And ask about the date. If the software is not adapted yet, ask when it will be, with a specific date earlier than yours.
Who is liable if the software does not comply
And here is why this matters even if you manufacture nothing: the user is liable too.
| Who | Why | How much |
|---|---|---|
| Whoever makes or sells the program | Producing or selling non-compliant systems | €150,000 for each financial year with sales, and for each different type of program |
| Whoever uses the program | Having non-compliant systems, or tampering with them | €50,000 for each financial year |
Article 201 bis of the General Tax Act, added by the Anti-Fraud Act. Look at the second row: the user's offence is having the software, not defrauding with it.
That is why the question to ask a supplier is not whether they are certified — they cannot be — but whether they have their responsibility statement and from which version.
Cairos's statement is inside Cairos
Reachable from inside the software itself, with the name and version of the system, our tax ID and both rules cited. As it should be, and as you can demand from anyone.
And one thing we will never say
That Cairos is «certified by the Tax Agency». It is not, because nobody can be. It is adapted to the regulation and it has its responsibility statement, which is what the rule asks for and what you can check.
Questions about certification
Ask your supplier for the statement
It is a one-page document and it has to be inside the software itself. If it is not there, you already know quite a lot.