Corrective invoice in Spain: when and how to issue one
What a corrective invoice (factura rectificativa) is in Spain, when you must issue one, how to do it by substitution or by differences, the deadlines, worked examples for a self-employed person in 2026 and how it affects Form 303 and VeriFactu.
In short
- It is mandatory in three cases: a required detail is missing or wrong, the VAT was worked out wrongly, or the taxable base changes for a reason listed in article 80 of the VAT Law.
- It goes in its own series (for example, R-2026-001), identifies the invoice it corrects and states the reason. The original stays as it is.
- You can issue it by substitution (final amounts plus the amount of the correction) or by differences (only the change). Both are valid.
- The general limit is four years from when the VAT became chargeable. If it lowers your VAT, you adjust it on Form 303 (modelo 303) for the quarter you correct in or a later one, for up to one year.
- For an unpaid invoice you can recover the VAT after six months or one year, with a provable claim, and you then have six months from the end of that waiting period to issue the corrective invoice.
What a corrective invoice is
A corrective invoice in Spain (factura rectificativa) is a new invoice that corrects one you already issued, without deleting it. You must issue one if the original has a wrong detail, if the VAT was worked out wrongly or if the amount changes later because of a discount, a return or an unpaid bill. It goes in its own series and you issue it as soon as you spot the cause.
Below you will find when to issue one, how, the two methods, three worked examples and how it fits with VeriFactu, based on the rules in force on 12 October 2026. If ordinary invoices are still new to you, start with how to invoice as self-employed in Spain. If you would rather someone else issued them, see invoicing with Melso. The VAT adjustment goes on Form 303.
The core rules are in article 15 of the Invoicing Regulation (Royal Decree 1619/2012) and in articles 80 and 89 of the VAT Law (Law 37/1992). You will often see the word devengo: the moment the VAT becomes chargeable, usually when you do the work or deliver the product.
One thing about editing is worth clearing up from the start: invoicing records are kept unaltered, but not everything is fixed with a corrective invoice. Errors covered by the Invoicing Regulation are corrected with a corrective invoice; other details can be fixed by amending the record (subsanación) where that applies.
When you have to issue a corrective invoice
Article 15 of the regulation and the AEAT page on corrective invoices (the AEAT is Spain's tax agency, also called Hacienda) list three situations where one is mandatory.
1. The invoice misses a mandatory requirement
If the invoice lacks one of the details required by articles 6 or 7 of the regulation, or has it wrong, you must correct it. Common examples:
- The client's tax ID (NIF) with one digit swapped.
- A wrong company name or address.
- The transaction date is missing when it differs from the issue date.
- The transaction is VAT exempt and the invoice does not say so (or does not cite the article of the law or an equivalent reference).
2. The VAT was calculated incorrectly
If you applied the wrong VAT rate (for example, 10% where the general 21% of article 90 of the VAT Law applied) or the VAT amount is added up wrong, a correction is mandatory. Output VAT (IVA repercutido) is the VAT you charge your clients. Check whether the error also made it into your return and, if so, correct it.
3. The taxable base changes after the transaction
Article 80 of the VAT Law lists the reasons why the taxable base (the amount before taxes) can change after you invoice:
- Return of reusable containers and packaging.
- Discounts and rebates granted after the transaction.
- Transactions cancelled in full or in part, or a price that changes later.
- The client's insolvency proceedings (concurso de acreedores).
- Bad debts (unpaid invoices), subject to requirements.
When you do not issue one
In some cases you do not issue a corrective invoice, even if it looks like the logical step:
- Raising the VAT charged to a private individual. Under article 89.Tres of the VAT Law, if the correction increases the VAT, does not come from an article 80 cause and the client is not a business or professional, you may not correct it. The exception is a legal increase in VAT rates: then you can, but only in the month the new rate comes into force and the month after.
- Swapping a receipt for a full invoice. If a client asks for a full invoice in exchange for a correct simplified invoice, that new invoice is not a corrective invoice (article 15.6 of the regulation).
- Returns offset in the next sale. If the same client returns goods and you sell to them again at the same VAT rate, you can subtract the return on the next invoice without a corrective invoice (article 15.2).
What a corrective invoice must include
According to article 15 of the regulation and the AEAT, a corrective invoice must carry:
| Item | What to put | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Own series | A series separate from the ordinary one, numbered consecutively | R-2026-002 |
| Corrective status | State visibly that it is a corrective invoice | "Factura rectificativa" (corrective invoice) |
| Invoice corrected | Number and date of the invoice you are correcting | Corrects F-2026-087 of 15/09/2026 |
| Reason | Why you are correcting it | Price reduction agreed with the client |
| Mandatory details | For a full invoice, those of article 6 (issuer, client, NIF, addresses, description, date); for a simplified one, those of article 7, which does not always require the client's details | Same as the invoice you are correcting |
| Amounts | The correction made, by substitution or by differences | Base -€400, VAT -€84 |
Tip
Set up your corrective invoice series before you need it, for example R-2026-001, and never mix it with the ordinary one. Article 6.1.a) of the regulation requires it to be separate, so a corrective invoice numbered F-2026-088 is wrong even if everything else is right.
You can also group corrections: a single corrective invoice can correct several invoices as long as you identify them all. For volume discounts, stating the period is enough (article 15.4).
Correcting by substitution or by differences
Article 15.5 of the regulation lets you show the amounts in two ways, and both are valid. By substitution, the invoice shows how the transaction now stands (a base of €1,600) and the amount of the correction (-€400). By differences, it shows only the change (-€400).
A corrective invoice by substitution is the easiest for the client to follow: they get a document saying what the transaction is really worth. Correcting by differences is handier when only part of it changes, because you do not repeat the whole invoice.
What about a "factura de abono"? It is an old commercial term for what English speakers would call a credit note: a negative invoice that refunds money to the client. If it corrects an earlier invoice, it is a corrective invoice in every respect.
Correcting a simplified invoice
If the error is on a receipt-style invoice, the corrective invoice can also be simplified, with the same two methods (article 15.5). In VeriFactu it always takes type R5.
How to issue a corrective invoice, step by step
- Identify the reason. A wrong detail, VAT worked out wrongly or a change in the taxable base. The reason decides whether you must correct and how it affects your return.
- Check the deadline. As soon as you know and, at the latest, four years from when the VAT became chargeable or from the article 80 cause (article 15.3 of the regulation). Unpaid invoices have their own deadlines.
- Choose the method and work out the amounts. Substitution or differences, with base, VAT and, if there was one, the IRPF (income tax) withholding.
- Issue it in the corrective series, without editing the original. Next consecutive number, number and date of the invoice corrected and the reason in one sentence. Both invoices sit side by side in your book of issued invoices; details the Invoicing Regulation does not cover are fixed separately.
- Send it to the client. They need it to adjust their input VAT (IVA soportado, the VAT they pay on purchases and deduct).
- Adjust your return. If the VAT amount changes, usually on Form 303 for the relevant quarter.
Corrective invoice: a worked example
Lucía is a self-employed graphic designer in Valencia. Hers is a professional activity, so her invoices to companies carry the 15% withholding of article 95 of the IRPF Regulation.
Step 1. The original invoice. On 15 September 2026 she issues F-2026-087 to an agency for five graphic pieces at €400 each:
| Item | Amount |
|---|---|
| Taxable base | €2,000.00 |
| VAT 21% | €420.00 |
| IRPF withholding 15% | -€300.00 |
| Total to collect | €2,120.00 |
Step 2. The price changes. On 6 October 2026 the agency cancels one of the pieces and both sides agree a final price of €1,600. That is a price change under article 80.Dos of the VAT Law, so Lucía must issue a corrective invoice.
Step 3. Option A, by differences. She issues R-2026-002 dated 6 October:
| Item | Amount |
|---|---|
| Corrects | F-2026-087 of 15/09/2026 |
| Reason | Agreed price reduction: one piece cancelled |
| Taxable base | -€400.00 |
| VAT 21% | -€84.00 |
| IRPF withholding 15% | +€60.00 |
| Total | -€424.00 |
The withholding goes up as a positive figure because a lower base also lowers what the client had to withhold: from €300 to €240.
Step 4. Option B, by substitution. The same R-2026-002, but showing how the transaction now stands:
| Item | Correct amount | Amount of the correction |
|---|---|---|
| Taxable base | €1,600.00 | -€400.00 |
| VAT 21% | €336.00 | -€84.00 |
| IRPF withholding 15% | -€240.00 | +€60.00 |
| Total | €1,696.00 | -€424.00 |
Check that it adds up: €2,120 - €424 = €1,696, which is exactly €1,600 + €336 - €240.
Step 5. Payment. If the agency had already paid the €2,120, Lucía refunds €424. If it had not paid yet, the agency pays €1,696.
Step 6. Lucía's VAT. The original invoice was already on her third-quarter 303 with €420 of output VAT. Because the correction lowers the VAT due to a price change, article 89.Cinco of the VAT Law lets her adjust it on the 303 for the period in which she makes the correction (the fourth quarter of 2026) or a later one, up to one year from when the correction should have been made, refunding the client the extra VAT charged. If she does it in the fourth quarter, she will subtract €400 of base and €84 of VAT. The alternative is to request a correction of her third-quarter return.
Step 7. The agency's VAT. The client adjusts too. If it had deducted the €420, article 114 of the VAT Law requires it to reduce its deduction by €84 on the 303 for the period in which it receives the corrective invoice.
How Melso helps
Matching a corrective invoice to the 303 across two different quarters is what gets hardest to do by hand. With invoicing with Melso you issue each invoice with your approval in the app, and you can ask its professionals how to carry the adjustment to your Form 303 and whether that adjustment is included for your activity and tax profile.
Second example: a wrong tax ID
Lucía notices that on another invoice, F-2026-090, the client's NIF has a digit swapped. No amount changes. She issues R-2026-003 by substitution, with the correct NIF, the same amounts and the reason "correction of the recipient's NIF". Her quarterly VAT does not change, but the client needs the correct invoice to deduct their input VAT.
Third example: a client who does not pay
On 10 January 2026 Lucía invoices €1,000 plus €210 of VAT to a company that never pays. She has already paid those €210 to Hacienda through her 303. Article 80.Cuatro of the VAT Law lets her recover them if these conditions are met:
- Six months or one year have passed since the VAT became chargeable. Only someone whose turnover did not exceed €6,010,121.04 the previous year (the law's own figure) can choose six months. Lucía invoices far less, so she chooses six months.
- The unpaid debt is recorded in her accounting books.
- The client is a business or professional, or the base is above €50.
- She has claimed payment through the courts, by notarial demand or by any other method that reliably proves the claim (if the debtor is a public body, the certificate the law provides for is enough).
- The debt is not excluded by article 80.Cinco. Among other cases, this excludes the part secured by collateral (garantía real), the part backed by a credit institution or a mutual surety company (sociedad de garantía recíproca), the part covered by credit or surety insurance, and debts between related parties. The client must be established in the territory where Spanish VAT applies, in the Canary Islands, in Ceuta or in Melilla. And if the invoice became chargeable before the court order declaring the client's insolvency proceedings, once that order is issued you can no longer use this route: you must check the requirements and deadlines of article 80.Tres (article 80.Cinco.3.ª).
These are the deadlines for the ordinary case. Instalment sales and the special cash accounting scheme (criterio de caja) have their own counting rules in the same article.
She meets them all, so from 10 July 2026 she can issue the corrective invoice. She has a six-month window from the end of the waiting period to do it (article 80.Cuatro.B). She does it on 15 July 2026 with R-2026-001, by differences, with a base of €0 and VAT of -€210, the same layout as the by-differences example in the AEAT FAQ. She recovers the VAT, but the client still owes her the €1,000.
Important
With an unpaid invoice the deadlines are chained. You must wait until six months (or one year) have passed since the VAT became chargeable: for Lucía, until 10 July 2026. From then you have six months to issue the corrective invoice: for Lucía, counted date to date, until January 2027. Once it is issued, you have one month to notify the AEAT of the change using the form on its online office (article 24 of the VAT Regulation), and you must be able to prove you sent it to the client. 10 January 2027 falls on a Sunday: do not count on the deadline moving and issue it earlier. Do not leave it to the last minute: Lucía notifies it on 20 July 2026, five days after issuing it.
Corrective invoice types in VeriFactu
Royal Decree 1007/2023 requires the invoicing software of everyone in its scope (most self-employed people and companies outside the SII, the immediate VAT reporting system) to generate a record of each invoice that cannot be altered. VERI*FACTU is one of the two ways to comply: the one that sends each record to the AEAT as it happens.
According to question 17 of the AEAT technical FAQ, generated records are kept unaltered and errors are handled like this:
- Errors the Invoicing Regulation covers (amounts, VAT, mandatory details): corrective invoice.
- Errors only in internal record data, not visible on the invoice: the record is fixed (subsanación).
- Other details neither covered by the regulation nor in the record: corrected without a new record.
- An invoice that should never have been issued, for example a test or a duplicate: cancellation record. A real transaction is never cancelled: it is corrected.
The AEAT FAQ on VeriFactu classifies each corrective invoice like this:
| Type | Reason | Typical self-employed case |
|---|---|---|
| R1 | Error based in law and article 80 causes, sections Uno, Dos and Seis | Later discount, return, price change |
| R2 | Client's insolvency proceedings (article 80.Tres) | Client in concurso |
| R3 | Bad debt (article 80.Cuatro) | Unpaid invoice that was claimed |
| R4 | Any other reason | Wrong NIF, other non-monetary details |
| R5 | Correction of a simplified invoice, whatever the reason | Error on a receipt |
Each corrective invoice also carries the key S (substitution) or I (differences).
When does it become mandatory? The first final provision of Royal Decree-law 15/2025 of 2 December (BOE of 3 December 2025) set that those obliged under article 3.1.a) of the regulation, corporate income tax payers, must have adapted software before 1 January 2027, and everyone else in scope, including the self-employed, before 1 July 2027. Those are the dates in force in the consolidated text of Royal Decree 1007/2023.
On 5 October 2026 the Ministry of Finance (Ministerio de Hacienda) published an information note from its press office with a "planned change" that would postpone those obligations until October 2028, to line them up with e-invoicing for businesses and professionals with annual turnover of no more than €8 million. It is only an announcement: as of 12 October 2026 the BOE still says 1 July 2027. You will find the details in VeriFactu for the self-employed and in what is VeriFactu.
Common mistakes
- Editing or deleting the original invoice. It breaks the numbering and leaves no trace of the real transaction. Invoicing records are also unalterable.
- Numbering the corrective invoice in the normal series. It must go in its own series.
- Not saying which invoice you are correcting. Without the original's number and date, the client cannot reconcile their VAT.
- Mixing the two methods. If you correct by differences, show only the change (-€400). State the method clearly (in VeriFactu, the key S or I) and record its effect only once, so you do not double the adjustment.
- Switching method halfway. If you already issued a corrective invoice by substitution, do not issue another by differences for the same defect: fix the existing one or issue a new one consistent with it.
- Forgetting the withholding. If the original invoice carried IRPF withholding, the corrective invoice adjusts it too.
- Missing the unpaid-invoice deadlines. You have six months from the end of the waiting period to issue it and one month to notify the AEAT. Note them down the same day you issue the invoice.
- Not adjusting the 303. If the corrective invoice changes the VAT amount, reflect the adjustment in your return; if it only corrects a detail, such as the NIF, there is nothing to adjust.
This is no minor detail: article 201.2 of the General Tax Law treats failing to meet the requirements for correcting invoices as a serious offence, with a fine of 1% of the amount of the transactions affected.
Quick checklist before you send it
- It says "factura rectificativa" (corrective invoice).
- Corrective series and consecutive number.
- Number and date of the original invoice.
- Reason explained in one sentence.
- The same mandatory details as the original invoice (on a full invoice, issuer and client with the correct NIF).
- Base, VAT and withholding, by substitution or by differences.
- Within the four-year limit (or the specific deadline for an unpaid invoice).
- Noted down for the 303 of the right quarter.
How Melso helps
Melso is your AI tax agent, with human professionals behind it. With invoicing with Melso you prepare your invoices and Melso issues them when you approve them in the app; a "yes" in the chat does not issue any invoice. It also organises your income and expenses, and its professionals prepare and review the returns included for your activity and tax profile, such as Form 303, so you approve the exact draft in the app. Check the plans and pricing, get started at melso.ai or select Message us on WhatsApp.
This article is for information only and does not replace professional advice for your case. Last reviewed: 12 October 2026.
Sources
- Royal Decree 1619/2012, Invoicing Regulation (consolidated text, arts. 6, 7 and 15), BOE (accessed )
- Law 37/1992 on Value Added Tax (consolidated text, arts. 80, 89, 90 and 114), BOE (accessed )
- Royal Decree 1624/1992, VAT Regulation (consolidated text, art. 24), BOE (accessed )
- VAT invoicing: corrective invoices, AEAT (accessed )
- How can I recover the VAT my clients have not paid? Requirements and procedure, AEAT (accessed )
- SIF and VERI*FACTU FAQ: invoicing procedures (types R1 to R5, keys S and I), AEAT (accessed )
- VERI*FACTU developer FAQ, question 17: corrections, cancellations and record fixes, AEAT (accessed )
- Royal Decree-law 15/2025 of 2 December, first final provision (amends the fourth final provision of Royal Decree 1007/2023: 1 July 2027), BOE (accessed )
- Royal Decree 1007/2023, Regulation on invoicing software (consolidated text, fourth final provision), BOE (accessed )
- Press office information note, 5 October 2026: planned change to the application dates of the obligations in Royal Decree 1007/2023 (VERI*FACTU), Ministerio de Hacienda (accessed )
- Law 58/2003, General Tax Law (consolidated text, art. 201), BOE (accessed )
- Royal Decree 439/2007, IRPF Regulation (consolidated text, art. 95), BOE (accessed )
