The software you use to invoice your event now has a deadline: 1 January 2027 if your promotion company is taxed under Corporate Income Tax, and 1 July 2027 if you're self-employed. This was set by Royal Decree-Law 15/2025 of 2 December, the second postponement of VeriFactu. And it touches ticket sales more than it might seem, because the ticket you hand to an attendee, when it serves as a simplified invoice, counts as an invoice for the purposes of the regulation.
What is VeriFactu, and what does it require from an event organiser?
VeriFactu isn't a piece of software or a portal: it's the regulation approved by Royal Decree 1007/2023 of 5 December, which implements Article 29.2(j) of Law 58/2003, the General Tax Law. It requires every invoicing software system — what the regulation calls a SIF — to generate, whenever it issues an invoice, a "registro de facturación de alta" (invoice-issuance record) with a hash chained to the previous record.
Article 8.1 sums up the requirement: the system must guarantee "la integridad, conservación, accesibilidad, legibilidad, trazabilidad e inalterabilidad de los registros de facturación" (the integrity, retention, accessibility, legibility, traceability and immutability of invoicing records). Voiding an invoice leaves its own trail, the cancellation record under Article 11. And the first final provision amends the invoicing regulation so that every invoice must carry "la representación gráfica del contenido parcial de la factura mediante un código 'QR'" (a graphic representation of part of the invoice's content via a QR code).
The small print that matters to a promoter is scope. Box-office invoices, sponsorship invoices, bar invoices and venue-hire invoices are all included: every invoice tied to the economic activity. There's no threshold, by amount or by volume, below which the regulation stops applying.
When does VeriFactu become mandatory for an event organiser?
The timetable has shifted twice. Royal Decree 254/2025 of 1 April replaced the single deadline of 1 July 2025 with two dates, 1 January and 1 July 2026. Royal Decree-Law 15/2025 then pushed both back another year, to 1 January 2027 and 1 July 2027. Its preamble justifies the delay on the grounds of "la conveniencia de garantizar una implantación ordenada y homogénea" (the need to ensure an orderly, consistent rollout), and Congress ratified it on 11 December 2025 by 179 votes to 168. The AEAT covers this in an information notice on its electronic office website.
The first date corresponds to Article 3.1(a), Corporate Income Tax taxpayers. The second covers the rest of Article 3.1. Cross-referencing both lists with the legal forms typically used in the sector gives the following breakdown — our own reading, not the AEAT's:
| Organiser profile | Tax regime | Deadline | Article 3.1 point |
|---|---|---|---|
| Promotion company set up as an SL or SA (limited company) | Corporate Income Tax | 1 January 2027 | a) |
| Cultural association or foundation carrying out an economic activity | Corporate Income Tax | 1 January 2027 | a) |
| Self-employed promoter or technician | Personal Income Tax, economic activity | 1 July 2027 | b) |
| Foreign promoter with a permanent establishment | Non-Resident Income Tax | 1 July 2027 | c) |
| Community of property or civil partnership | Income attribution regime | 1 July 2027 | d) |
A cultural association that sells tickets is a Corporate Income Tax taxpayer even if part of its income is exempt: under point a), its deadline is the January one, not July. Software developers had nine months from the entry into force of Order HAC/1177/2024 of 17 October to offer adapted products; that deadline expired on 29 July 2025. The one running now is yours.
Is the ticket you sell an invoice?
Yes, when the ticket serves as a simplified invoice — and that qualifier is what changes the scope of the problem. The AEAT answers this directly in its FAQs on the scope of application: "Las facturas simplificadas están sometidas al RRSIF" (Simplified invoices are subject to the RRSIF). It adds that a till or POS terminal that prints simplified invoices counts as an invoicing software system, unless it's limited to weighing or calculating in support of a handwritten invoice.
The amount threshold isn't the one many promoters assume. Article 4.1 of Royal Decree 1619/2012 allows simplified invoices up to €400, VAT included. Section 2 raises the ceiling to €3,000, but only for a closed list of fourteen types of transaction, and public performances aren't among them. Dance halls and nightclubs are, along with hospitality and retail sales, which it defines as "entregas de bienes muebles corporales o semovientes en las que el destinatario de la operación no actúe como empresario o profesional, sino como consumidor final de aquellos" (supplies of tangible movable or livestock goods where the recipient acts not as a business or professional, but as the final consumer).
| Transaction at your event | Simplified invoice ceiling | Reference |
|---|---|---|
| Concert, festival or theatre ticket | €400 VAT included | Art. 4.1 |
| Admission to a dance hall or nightclub | €3,000 VAT included | Art. 4.2(f) |
| Bar, food truck and catering | €3,000 VAT included | Art. 4.2(e) |
| Merchandise sold to attendees | €3,000 VAT included | Art. 4.2(a) |
| Ticket bought by a company requesting an invoice | Ordinary simplified invoice not permitted | Art. 2.2 and Art. 7.2 |
That has a practical consequence: a €450 VIP season pass can't be documented with a ticket, whereas the same amount charged on the door of a nightclub can. And a digitised bar with a POS system falls under the regulation through its own door, not the box office's.
Who is responsible for compliance if your ticketing platform issues the invoices?
You are. Article 6 of Royal Decree 1007/2023 allows the practical fulfilment of the obligations to be delegated to the recipient or to a third party, under the invoicing powers set out in Article 5 of the invoicing regulation, and closes the point without ambiguity: "esta posibilidad no exime a los obligados tributarios que realicen las entregas de bienes o prestaciones de servicios documentadas en las facturas de la responsabilidad del cumplimiento de las obligaciones" (this option does not exempt the taxpayers who supply the goods or services documented in the invoices from responsibility for fulfilling the obligations).
The AEAT confirms this in its FAQs: when a third party physically issues invoices using its own system, that system must comply with the regulation, and ultimate liability doesn't transfer. Translated into your contract with your platform: if the platform issues invoices on your behalf, its software is the SIF the AEAT will examine, and the fine for holding a non-compliant system isn't paid by the provider — it's paid by the taxpayer.
There's a narrow exception in Article 4.3. Transactions documented in invoices physically issued by the recipient or by a third party under a legal requirement fall outside the regulation, but only "siempre y cuando lleven sus libros registros en los términos establecidos en el artículo 62.6" (provided they keep their record books as set out in Article 62.6) of the VAT Regulation — in other words, under the Immediate Supply of Information (SII) system. It's a door that almost no mid-sized organiser walks through.
VERI*FACTU or non-verifiable system: which suits a promoter?
The regulation offers two routes, and the name is misleading: compliance doesn't necessarily mean sending anything anywhere. Article 16.1 reserves the label "Sistemas de emisión de facturas verificables" (Verifiable invoice-issuance systems) or "Sistemas VERI*FACTU" for those that submit to the AEAT "de forma continuada, segura, correcta, íntegra, automática, consecutiva, instantánea y fehaciente todos los registros de facturación generados" (all generated invoicing records, continuously, securely, correctly, completely, automatically, consecutively, instantaneously and reliably). The alternative is a system that retains the records, signs them electronically and keeps them available to the tax authorities.
| Element | VERI*FACTU system | Non-verifiable system |
|---|---|---|
| Submission to the AEAT | Continuous, automatic submission of all records (Art. 16.1) | No submission; records stay within the system |
| Electronic signature of records | Not mandatory, a hash is enough (Art. 16.3) | Mandatory (Art. 12) |
| Presumption of complying with Article 8 | Yes, by design (Art. 16.2) | No |
| Wording on the invoice | "VERI*FACTU" or "Factura verificable en la sede electrónica de la AEAT" (Invoice verifiable at the AEAT's electronic office) | QR code only |
| Reversing the choice | Not before the end of the calendar year of the first submission (Art. 16.5) | — |
For a promoter with sales spikes, this isn't an ideological choice. A VERI*FACTU system saves you from electronically signing each record and gives you the presumption of compliance under Article 8, but Article 16.5 states that the option "se prolongará, al menos, hasta la finalización del año natural" (will run for at least until the end of the calendar year) of the first submission: choose it in January and you're locked in for the whole tax year, with all the connectivity that demands on event day.
Who's exempt: SII, Bizkaia, Gipuzkoa, Álava and Navarre?
There are two genuine exclusions. The first is Article 3.3: the regulation "no se aplicará a los contribuyentes que lleven los libros registros en los términos establecidos en el apartado 6 del artículo 62 del Reglamento del Impuesto sobre el Valor Añadido" (does not apply to taxpayers who keep their record books as set out in Article 62.6 of the VAT Regulation). That's the Immediate Supply of Information (SII): anyone already keeping their VAT record books through the AEAT's electronic office falls outside VeriFactu. It's worth checking before buying software, because it's the difference between one project and none.
The second is territorial. Article 1 applies the regulation across the whole of Spain "sin perjuicio de los regímenes tributarios forales" (without prejudice to the foral tax regimes), and in the Basque Country an equivalent system has been running for years.
| Territory | System | Verified timeline | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| Common territory | VeriFactu | 1 January and 1 July 2027 | BOE |
| Gipuzkoa | TicketBAI | Voluntary since 1 January 2021; mandatory by sector between 1 July 2022 and 1 June 2023 | Gipuzkoa Provincial Council |
| Álava | TicketBAI | Voluntary since 1 January 2022; all other taxpayers, 1 December 2022 | Álava Provincial Council |
| Bizkaia | Batuz: TicketBAI plus LROE | Phased under Foral Rule 8/2023, from 1 January 2024 to 1 January 2026 | batuz.eus |
| Navarre | NaTicket, still a project | No dates published as of 30 September 2026 | Government of Navarre |
The detail on Bizkaia matters to anyone programming culture there: the official rollout page sets 1 January 2026 as the date on which fully and partially exempt Corporate Income Tax entities, non-profit entities, and micro, small and medium-sized enterprises in "agricultura, ganadería y pesca, educación, servicios culturales" (agriculture, livestock and fishing, education, cultural services) come within scope. An association organising concerts in Bilbao is already covered; the same association in Valladolid has until January 2027.
In Navarre, the Foral Tax Authority included in its 2025–2027 Anti-Fraud Plan, approved on 3 September 2025, "el proyecto de NaTicket de remisión inmediata de información de los registros de facturación de las empresas" (the NaTicket project for the immediate reporting of businesses' invoicing records). We haven't found a published foral decree setting dates or defining who's affected.
Is this the same as mandatory e-invoicing between businesses?
No, and confusing the two leads to buying the wrong tool. Mandatory e-invoicing between businesses and professionals is set out in Royal Decree 238/2026 of 25 March, in force since 20 April 2026, which implements Article 12 of Law 18/2022. Its timetable starts running from the ministerial order that regulates the public invoicing solution: twelve months later for businesses with an annual turnover above €8 million, and twenty-four months for everyone else.
And here's where it intersects with the box office. Article 4.1 of that royal decree exempts "de la obligación de expedir, transmitir y entregar factura en formato electrónico las operaciones que se documenten a través de facturas simplificadas" (transactions documented through simplified invoices from the obligation to issue, transmit and deliver an electronic-format invoice) under Article 4 of Royal Decree 1619/2012, unless they are qualified simplified invoices. Read alongside the AEAT's answer on the RRSIF, the result is counterintuitive — and this is our own reading of the two texts: a ticket sold to a consumer falls outside mandatory e-invoicing and within VeriFactu. What will fall under the B2B obligation are sponsorship invoices, rights-assignment invoices and invoices for services to other businesses — territory we've already covered in the tax guide for promoters.
What penalties does Article 201 bis of the General Tax Law set out?
The figures are published by the AEAT itself in its FAQs on the purpose of the regulation, referring to Article 201 bis of Law 58/2003, the General Tax Law. For anyone manufacturing or marketing non-compliant systems: €150,000 per tax year and per type of system, plus €1,000 for every system sold without a certificate. For anyone holding or using them: €50,000 per tax year.
That second figure is the one that applies to an organiser. It doesn't penalise invoicing incorrectly or failing to pay tax: it penalises holding a system that doesn't meet the specifications, regardless of whether your taxes are up to date. Article 13 of the regulation is the practical safeguard, because it requires the manufacturer's declaration of responsibility to "conste por escrito y de modo visible en el propio sistema informático" (appear in writing and visibly within the software system itself), identifying the system, its version and its manufacturer. The regulation doesn't provide for any prior approval process for the software: what exists is this manufacturer's declaration of responsibility, and it's worth keeping it on file, together with the name and version of the system you used each season.
And where does Futura Tickets fit into this?
Futura Tickets is a Spanish SaaS ticketing platform for professional organisers: it sells tickets, manages access control and hands back the data. Futura Tickets charges no monthly fee — €0 a month — and signing up costs €0, with no setup cost and no tie-in. With Futura Tickets, the attendee database belongs 100% to the organiser: emails and phone numbers are handed over in full, in compliance with GDPR, which matters when you need to cross-check sales against invoices issued. The Article 13 question needs to be put to whoever physically issues your invoices — your invoicing software, your accountancy firm or your platform — and you should ask them for the written declaration of responsibility. Commercial terms are available on the pricing page.
What to do before 1 January 2027
Six checks. None of them require any further legislation to be published.
Pin down your deadline. Work out which point of Article 3.1 applies to you: company, self-employed, association, community of property. That tells you whether your deadline is January or July 2027 — a six-month difference.
Inventory everything that issues documents. Box office, bar POS terminals, your online sales platform, accounting software, your accountant's spreadsheet. Anything that issues invoices, full or simplified, counts as a SIF. The list is usually longer than a promoter remembers.
Ask every supplier for the Article 13 declaration of responsibility, in writing. With the system's name, version and manufacturer. If a supplier doesn't have it or won't provide it, you've found your weak spot.
Review amounts above €400. VIP passes, packages that include accommodation, season tickets. If they exceed that threshold and don't fit the list in Article 4.2, they can't be documented with a simplified invoice.
Decide your compliance model before signing anything. The choice is between sending records to the AEAT continuously, under the VERI*FACTU label, or keeping them signed within your own system. And bear Article 16.5 in mind: the option runs until the end of the calendar year of the first submission. If your venue has poor connectivity, make this decision with the venue floor plan in front of you.
Check how you document refunds. Voiding an invoice generates its own cancellation record, and an event cancellation with mass refunds turns into hundreds of records. Match your refund policy to what your system can actually trace.
None of this depends on another postponement. The two that have already happened moved the date, not the requirements: the 2023 regulation still says exactly the same thing about the hash, the QR code and immutability as it did the day it was published.
Sources
- Royal Decree 1007/2023 of 5 December, Regulation on requirements for invoicing software systems (consolidated text, BOE)
- Royal Decree-Law 15/2025 of 2 December, amending Royal Decree 1007/2023 (BOE)
- Royal Decree 254/2025 of 1 April, first postponement of the timetable (BOE)
- Resolution of 11 December 2025 of the Congress of Deputies ratifying Royal Decree-Law 15/2025 (BOE)
- Royal Decree 1619/2012 of 30 November, invoicing obligations: Articles 2, 4 and 7 (consolidated text, BOE)
- Royal Decree 238/2026 of 25 March, mandatory e-invoicing between businesses and professionals (BOE)
- Order HAC/1177/2024 of 17 October, technical and functional specifications (consolidated text, BOE, PDF)
- Law 58/2003, General Tax Law: Articles 29.2(j) and 201 bis (consolidated text, BOE)
- AEAT: information notice on the extension of the adaptation period for invoicing software systems
- AEAT: FAQs, scope of application of the RRSIF
- AEAT: FAQs, purpose and penalties
- AEAT: invoicing software systems and VERI*FACTU
- Gipuzkoa Provincial Council: since when does TicketBAI apply?
- Álava Provincial Council: since when does TicketBAI apply?
- Batuz (Bizkaia Provincial Council): final rollout and timetable of Foral Rule 8/2023
- Government of Navarre: approval of the 2025-2027 Anti-Fraud Plan and the NaTicket project