# Dates and deadlines

The dates an invoice carries and the deadlines for issuing it, sending it and charging its VAT.

[← All rules](/rules#all-rules)

An invoice has two dates: the issue date, which BeeL. sets when you issue, and the operation date, which you send when the sale happened on another day. The law also sets when an invoice has to be issued and delivered; those deadlines are the issuer's to keep.

14 rules: 11 from the law, 2 AEAT criteria, 1 BeeL. rule. [How to read a rule](/rules#how-to-read-a-rule).

## DAT-001 · Do not send an issue date

`Required` · BeeL. rule · Impact: critical · Checked by the API: BeeL. applies it.

The API has no writable issue date: an invoice is dated the day it is issued, and a scheduled one the day it is scheduled for. To record when the sale happened, send `operation_date`.

**Why:** Backdating or postdating an invoice is not possible: the issue date is the day its billing record is generated. An integration that tries to set it ends up with invoices dated differently from what it expects.

**Applies to:** operations [`POST /v1/companies/{company_id}/invoices`](/invoices/createCompanyInvoice), [`POST /v1/companies/{company_id}/invoices/{invoice_id}/issue`](/invoices/issueCompanyInvoice), [`PATCH /v1/companies/{company_id}/invoices/{invoice_id}`](/invoices/patchCompanyInvoice)

**Incorrect:** Trying to send an issue date set to the last day of the previous month to close the month's invoicing.

**Correct:** Issuing today, with the date the service was provided as `operation_date`.

```json
{ "operation_date": "2026-08-31", "lines": [{ "description": "August maintenance", "quantity": 1, "unit_price": 300, "main_tax": { "type": "IVA", "percentage": 21 } }] }
```

**Related:** [DAT-002 · The issue date is the day the billing record is generated](/rules/dates#dat-002) · [DAT-004 · Send the operation date when it differs from the issue date](/rules/dates#dat-004) · [LIF-002 · Only a draft can be issued](/rules/lifecycle#lif-002)

**Explained in:** [Invoice lifecycle › Dates](/guides/invoice-lifecycle#dates)

## DAT-002 · The issue date is the day the billing record is generated

`Required` · AEAT criterion · Impact: high · Checked by the API: BeeL. applies it.

An invoice's issue date is the date its billing record is generated, which is also, as a rule, the day the record is sent: it cannot be later than today nor set to an earlier day. BeeL. dates the invoice when you issue it.

**Why:** An issue date that does not match the record's makes the record inconsistent; AEAT rejects an issue date in the future.

**Applies to:** statuses `ISSUED`; Invoices under VeriFactu.

**Legal basis:**

- AEAT, Preguntas frecuentes SIF y VERI*FACTU, Sistemas VERI*FACTU — [source](https://sede.agenciatributaria.gob.es/Sede/iva/sistemas-informaticos-facturacion-verifactu/preguntas-frecuentes/sistemas-verifactu.html)

  > «La fecha de expedición de la factura debe coincidir con la de generación del registro de facturación. Ambas fechas, generalmente deben corresponderse con la fecha en que se remite el Registro de facturación.»

- AEAT, Validaciones y errores VERI*FACTU (v1.2.2), 3.1.3.1 Agrupación IDFactura — [source](https://www.agenciatributaria.es/static_files/AEAT_Desarrolladores/EEDD/IVA/VERI-FACTU/Validaciones_Errores_Veri-Factu.pdf)

  > «La FechaExpedicionFactura no podrá ser superior a la fecha actual.»

- RD 1007/2023 (RRSIF), art. 9 — [source](https://www.boe.es/buscar/act.php?id=BOE-A-2023-24840#a9)

  > «deberán generar automáticamente un registro de facturación de alta de forma simultánea o inmediatamente anterior a la expedición de cada factura.»

**Incorrect:** Keeping a month of invoices as drafts and expecting them to carry the dates of each sale when you issue them at month end.

**Correct:** Issuing each invoice when the sale happens, or issuing later with each sale's date as `operation_date` and within the deadlines.

**Related:** [DAT-001 · Do not send an issue date](/rules/dates#dat-001) · [DAT-006 · Invoice businesses before day 16 of the following month](/rules/dates#dat-006) · [REC-002 · The record goes to AEAT as soon as the invoice is issued](/rules/records#rec-002)

**Explained in:** [What AEAT receives from your invoice › Dates and late submission](/verifactu/what-aeat-receives#dates-and-late-submission) · [Invoice lifecycle › Dates](/guides/invoice-lifecycle#dates)

## DAT-003 · The operation date is never after the issue date nor over twenty years old

`Required` · AEAT criterion · Impact: medium · Checked by the API: a request that breaks it is rejected with the error codes listed.

`operation_date` is the day the operation took place or the advance payment was received, so it cannot be later than the issue date. It cannot be more than twenty years before the issue date either. To bill before delivering, invoice the advance payment with the day you received it.

**Why:** AEAT does not accept an operation dated in the future except in two special regimes, nor one dated more than twenty years back; an invoice dated before the operation it documents is not consistent.

**Applies to:** operations [`POST /v1/companies/{company_id}/invoices`](/invoices/createCompanyInvoice), [`PATCH /v1/companies/{company_id}/invoices/{invoice_id}`](/invoices/patchCompanyInvoice), [`POST /v1/companies/{company_id}/invoices/{invoice_id}/issue`](/invoices/issueCompanyInvoice)

**Error codes:** [`OPERATION_DATE_AFTER_ISSUE_DATE`](/errors/OPERATION_DATE_AFTER_ISSUE_DATE) (`422`), [`OPERATION_DATE_TOO_OLD`](/errors/OPERATION_DATE_TOO_OLD)

**Legal basis:**

- AEAT, Validaciones y errores VERI*FACTU (v1.2.2), 3.1.3.7 FechaOperacion — [source](https://www.agenciatributaria.es/static_files/AEAT_Desarrolladores/EEDD/IVA/VERI-FACTU/Validaciones_Errores_Veri-Factu.pdf)

  > «el campo FechaOperacion solo podrá ser superior a la fecha actual, si ClaveRegimen= "14" o "15”.»

- AEAT, Validaciones y errores VERI*FACTU (v1.2.2), 3.1.3.7 FechaOperacion — [source](https://www.agenciatributaria.es/static_files/AEAT_Desarrolladores/EEDD/IVA/VERI-FACTU/Validaciones_Errores_Veri-Factu.pdf)

  > «La FechaOperacion no debe ser inferior a la fecha actual menos veinte años y no debe ser superior al año siguiente de la fecha actual.»

**Incorrect:** Issuing today an invoice for next week's delivery with that date as `operation_date`: the API answers [`OPERATION_DATE_AFTER_ISSUE_DATE`](/errors/OPERATION_DATE_AFTER_ISSUE_DATE).

**Correct:** Issuing the invoice on the delivery day, or invoicing now the advance payment you already received.

**Related:** [DAT-004 · Send the operation date when it differs from the issue date](/rules/dates#dat-004) · [DAT-010 · Invoice advance payments when you receive them](/rules/dates#dat-010)

**Explained in:** [Invoice lifecycle › Dates](/guides/invoice-lifecycle#dates)

## DAT-004 · Send the operation date when it differs from the issue date

`Required` · Law · Impact: high · Responsibility: your integration.

When the goods were delivered, the service provided or the advance received on a day other than the issue date, send that day as `operation_date`. Omitted, the invoice takes the issue date as the operation date.

**Why:** The operation date decides the VAT rate and the tax period. Without it, an invoice issued in October for a September sale says the sale happened in October.

**Applies to:** operations [`POST /v1/companies/{company_id}/invoices`](/invoices/createCompanyInvoice), [`PATCH /v1/companies/{company_id}/invoices/{invoice_id}`](/invoices/patchCompanyInvoice)

**Legal basis:**

- RD 1619/2012 (Reglamento de facturación), art. 6.1.i) — [source](https://www.boe.es/buscar/act.php?id=BOE-A-2012-14696#a6)

  > «La fecha en que se hayan efectuado las operaciones que se documentan o en la que, en su caso, se haya recibido el pago anticipado, siempre que se trate de una fecha distinta a la de expedición de la factura.»

**Incorrect:** Issuing on 2 October the invoice for work finished on 30 September without `operation_date`.

**Correct:** Sending the day the work was finished.

```json
{ "operation_date": "2026-09-30", "lines": [{ "description": "Website redesign", "quantity": 1, "unit_price": 2400, "main_tax": { "type": "IVA", "percentage": 21 } }] }
```

**Related:** [DAT-001 · Do not send an issue date](/rules/dates#dat-001) · [DAT-003 · The operation date is never after the issue date nor over twenty years old](/rules/dates#dat-003) · [TAX-001 · Apply the VAT rate in force when the operation took place](/rules/taxes#tax-001)

**Explained in:** [Invoice lifecycle › Dates](/guides/invoice-lifecycle#dates)

## DAT-005 · Invoice consumers when the operation takes place

`Required` · Law · Impact: medium · Responsibility: the issuing business.

When the customer is a consumer, issue the invoice at the moment the operation is performed.

**Why:** An invoice to a consumer issued days later breaks the issuing deadline, and under VeriFactu its record reaches AEAT late too.

**Applies to:** Operations with a recipient that is not a business or professional acting as such.

**Legal basis:**

- RD 1619/2012 (Reglamento de facturación), art. 11.1 — [source](https://www.boe.es/buscar/act.php?id=BOE-A-2012-14696#a11)

  > «Las facturas deberán ser expedidas en el momento de realizarse la operación.»

**Incorrect:** An online shop collects the day's orders and issues their invoices the following week.

**Correct:** The shop issues each invoice when the order is completed.

**Related:** [DAT-006 · Invoice businesses before day 16 of the following month](/rules/dates#dat-006) · [DAT-002 · The issue date is the day the billing record is generated](/rules/dates#dat-002)

## DAT-006 · Invoice businesses before day 16 of the following month

`Required` · Law · Impact: medium · Responsibility: the issuing business.

When the customer is a business or professional, issue the invoice before day 16 of the month after the one in which the VAT accrued.

**Why:** An invoice issued after the deadline breaches the invoicing obligations and can be sanctioned, even though the sale was declared.

**Applies to:** Operations with a business or professional acting as such.

**Legal basis:**

- RD 1619/2012 (Reglamento de facturación), art. 11.1 — [source](https://www.boe.es/buscar/act.php?id=BOE-A-2012-14696#a11)

  > «No obstante, cuando el destinatario de la operación sea un empresario o profesional que actúe como tal, las facturas deberán expedirse antes del día 16 del mes siguiente a aquél en que se haya producido el devengo del Impuesto correspondiente a la citada operación.»

**Incorrect:** Invoicing on 20 October a service to a company that was completed on 25 September.

**Correct:** Issuing that invoice by 15 October, with `operation_date` set to 25 September.

**Related:** [DAT-005 · Invoice consumers when the operation takes place](/rules/dates#dat-005) · [DAT-007 · One invoice for a month of operations, issued in time](/rules/dates#dat-007) · [DAT-008 · Deliver the invoice to the customer in time](/rules/dates#dat-008) · [DAT-013 · Intra-EU supplies of goods are invoiced by the month after transport starts](/rules/dates#dat-013) · [DAT-014 · Under the cash-basis regime, the deadline runs from the operation, not the payment](/rules/dates#dat-014)

## DAT-007 · One invoice for a month of operations, issued in time

`Required` · Law · Impact: low · Responsibility: the issuing business.

You may put several operations for the same customer in one invoice only if they all took place in the same calendar month. Issue it by the last day of that month or, when the customer is a business, before day 16 of the next one.

**Why:** Grouping operations from different months in one invoice, or issuing it late, breaches the invoicing rules even when every operation is on it.

**Applies to:** Recapitulative invoices: several operations for the same customer in one invoice.

**Legal basis:**

- RD 1619/2012 (Reglamento de facturación), art. 13.1 y 13.2 — [source](https://www.boe.es/buscar/act.php?id=BOE-A-2012-14696#a13)

  > «Podrán incluirse en una sola factura distintas operaciones realizadas en distintas fechas para un mismo destinatario, siempre que las mismas se hayan efectuado dentro de un mismo mes natural. 2. Estas facturas deberán ser expedidas como máximo el último día del mes natural en el que se hayan efectuado las operaciones que se documenten en ellas.»

**Incorrect:** One invoice to a company for deliveries made between 20 August and 10 September.

**Correct:** One invoice for the August deliveries and another for the September ones, each issued in time.

**Related:** [DAT-006 · Invoice businesses before day 16 of the following month](/rules/dates#dat-006) · [DAT-004 · Send the operation date when it differs from the issue date](/rules/dates#dat-004)

## DAT-008 · Deliver the invoice to the customer in time

`Required` · Law · Impact: low · Responsibility: the issuing business.

Send the original invoice to the customer when you issue it or, when the customer is a business, before day 16 of the month after the accrual. BeeL. can email it for you.

**Why:** An invoice the customer never receives cannot be deducted by them, and delivering it is an obligation of the issuer.

**Applies to:** statuses `ISSUED`; operations [`POST /v1/companies/{company_id}/invoices/{invoice_id}/send`](/invoices/sendCompanyInvoice), [`POST /v1/companies/{company_id}/invoices/deliveries`](/invoices/createCompanyInvoiceDelivery)

**Legal basis:**

- RD 1619/2012 (Reglamento de facturación), art. 18 — [source](https://www.boe.es/buscar/act.php?id=BOE-A-2012-14696#a18)

  > «La obligación de remisión de las facturas que se establece en el artículo 17 deberá cumplirse en el mismo momento de su expedición o bien, cuando el destinatario sea un empresario o profesional que actúe como tal, antes del día 16 del mes siguiente a aquél en que se haya producido el devengo del Impuesto»

**Incorrect:** Issuing invoices through the API and never delivering them, assuming AEAT's record reaches the customer.

**Correct:** Emailing the PDF from BeeL. once it is ready, or delivering it through your own channel.

**Related:** [DAT-006 · Invoice businesses before day 16 of the following month](/rules/dates#dat-006) · [CNT-018 · Invoices go by email only with the recipient's consent](/rules/contents#cnt-018)

**Explained in:** [Sending email](/guides/sending-email)

## DAT-009 · VAT is charged by invoice within 1 year of accrual

`Required` · Law · Impact: low · Responsibility: the issuing business.

VAT is passed on to the customer through an invoice, and the right to charge it is lost 1 year after the VAT accrued. The duty to invoice the operation remains after that.

**Why:** Invoicing or correcting upwards after that window leaves the issuer paying a VAT it can no longer charge to the customer.

**Applies to:** Every operation that accrues VAT.

**Legal basis:**

- Ley 37/1992 del IVA, art. 88.Cuatro — [source](https://www.boe.es/buscar/act.php?id=BOE-A-1992-28740#a88)

  > «Se perderá el derecho a la repercusión cuando haya transcurrido un año desde la fecha del devengo.»

**Incorrect:** Leaving an operation uninvoiced for more than a year, so the VAT on it can no longer be charged to the customer.

**Correct:** Reconciling unbilled operations every month, so each is invoiced within the deadlines.

**Related:** [DAT-006 · Invoice businesses before day 16 of the following month](/rules/dates#dat-006) · [COR-006 · Issue the corrective as soon as you know, within 4 years](/rules/corrective#cor-006)

## DAT-010 · Invoice advance payments when you receive them

`Required` · Law · Impact: low · Responsibility: the issuing business.

A payment received before the operation is invoiced too, with the day you received it as `operation_date`; the final invoice then covers the rest. Exempt intra-EU supplies of goods are the exception.

**Why:** VAT accrues when an advance is received, so an advance without its invoice leaves VAT accrued and never charged.

**Applies to:** Payments received before the goods are delivered or the service is provided.

**Legal basis:**

- RD 1619/2012 (Reglamento de facturación), art. 2.1, párrafo segundo — [source](https://www.boe.es/buscar/act.php?id=BOE-A-2012-14696#a2-2)

  > «También deberá expedirse factura y copia de esta por los pagos recibidos con anterioridad a la realización de las entregas de bienes o prestaciones de servicios por las que deba asimismo cumplirse esta obligación conforme al párrafo anterior, a excepción de las entregas de bienes exentas del Impuesto sobre el Valor Añadido por aplicación de lo dispuesto en el artículo 25 de la Ley del Impuesto.»

**Incorrect:** Collecting a 30 % deposit on a kitchen installation and invoicing everything only when the work is finished.

**Correct:** Invoicing the deposit the day it is received, and the remaining 70 % when the installation is completed.

**Related:** [DAT-003 · The operation date is never after the issue date nor over twenty years old](/rules/dates#dat-003) · [DAT-004 · Send the operation date when it differs from the issue date](/rules/dates#dat-004)

## DAT-011 · Adapted billing systems are mandatory from 1 January 2027 or 1 July 2027

`Required` · Law · Impact: medium · Responsibility: the issuing business.

Corporate-tax payers must invoice with a billing system adapted to the regulation before 1 January 2027, and the other taxpayers of its art. 3.1 before 1 July 2027.

**Why:** These dates were set by the RD-ley 15/2025, which amended the RD 1007/2023; from them on, these taxpayers invoice through an adapted billing system.

**Applies to:** Taxpayers under the billing-systems regulation; those keeping their VAT books through the SII are outside it.

**Legal basis:**

- RD 1007/2023 (RRSIF), disposición final cuarta — [source](https://www.boe.es/buscar/act.php?id=BOE-A-2023-24840#df-4)

  > «los obligados tributarios a que se refiere el artículo 3.1.a) deberán tener adaptados los sistemas informáticos a las características y requisitos establecidos en este reglamento y en su normativa de desarrollo antes del 1 de enero de 2027. El resto de obligados tributarios mencionados en el artículo 3.1 deberán tener operativos los citados sistemas informáticos antes del 1 de julio de 2027.»

- Real Decreto-ley 15/2025, disposición final primera — [source](https://www.boe.es/diario_boe/txt.php?id=BOE-A-2025-24446)

  > «Disposición final primera. Modificación del Real Decreto 1007/2023, de 5 de diciembre. La disposición final cuarta queda redactada en los siguientes términos:»

**Incorrect:** A company subject to corporate tax plans its switch to an adapted billing system for spring 2027.

**Correct:** The company enables VeriFactu and tests its integration in the sandbox during 2026.

**Related:** [REC-001 · Each issued invoice gets a billing record built from its data](/rules/records#rec-001) · [LIF-003 · Test in the sandbox, never with real invoices](/rules/lifecycle#lif-003)

**Explained in:** [Overview › At a glance](/verifactu#at-a-glance)

## DAT-012 · Plan for mandatory B2B electronic invoices

`Recommended` · Law · Impact: low · Responsibility: the issuing business.

Once the ministerial order that RD 238/2026 depends on is in force, businesses will have to issue structured electronic invoices to other Spanish businesses, first the largest ones and later the rest. Until that order is published the obligation does not apply; watch for it.

**Why:** The deadline starts counting from an order that has not been published yet, and adapting invoicing to structured formats takes time.

**Applies to:** Invoices to businesses and professionals established in Spain, once RD 238/2026 applies.

**Legal basis:**

- RD 1619/2012 (Reglamento de facturación), art. 8 bis.1 — [source](https://www.boe.es/buscar/act.php?id=BOE-A-2012-14696#a8-2)

  > «Será obligatoria la factura electrónica en las condiciones establecidas en la Ley 56/2007, de 28 de diciembre, de Medidas de Impulso de la sociedad de la Información, y en su normativa de desarrollo cuando el destinatario de la operación sea un empresario o profesional que tenga en España la sede de su actividad económica»

- RD 238/2026, disposición final cuarta — [source](https://www.boe.es/buscar/act.php?id=BOE-A-2026-7295#df-4)

  > «la aplicación efectiva de este real decreto quedará diferida en los siguientes términos, contados desde la entrada en vigor de la orden ministerial prevista en el apartado 1 de la disposición final tercera»

**Incorrect:** Assuming a PDF sent by email will keep being enough for every business customer indefinitely.

**Correct:** Tracking the publication of the ministerial order and planning a structured format for invoices to Spanish businesses.

**Related:** [CNT-018 · Invoices go by email only with the recipient's consent](/rules/contents#cnt-018) · [QRC-010 · A structured e-invoice carries the QR URL as a field](/rules/qr#qrc-010)

## DAT-013 · Intra-EU supplies of goods are invoiced by the month after transport starts

`Required` · Law · Impact: low · Responsibility: the issuing business.

Invoice an intra-EU supply of goods before day 16 of the month after the one in which the goods start to be shipped or transported to the buyer, also when several supplies go on one recapitulative invoice.

**Why:** For these supplies the deadline runs from the start of the transport, not from the general rule of the month after accrual.

**Applies to:** Intra-EU supplies of goods exempt under art. 25 LIVA.

**Legal basis:**

- RD 1619/2012 (Reglamento de facturación), art. 11.2 — [source](https://www.boe.es/buscar/act.php?id=BOE-A-2012-14696#a11)

  > «En las entregas de bienes comprendidas en el artículo 75.Uno.8.º de la Ley del Impuesto, las facturas deberán expedirse antes del día 16 del mes siguiente a aquél en que se inicie la expedición o el transporte de los bienes con destino al adquirente.»

- RD 1619/2012 (Reglamento de facturación), art. 13.3 — [source](https://www.boe.es/buscar/act.php?id=BOE-A-2012-14696#a13)

  > «En las entregas de bienes comprendidas en el artículo 75.Uno.8.º de la Ley del Impuesto, las facturas deberán expedirse antes del día 16 del mes siguiente a aquél en que se inicie la expedición o el transporte de los bienes con destino al adquirente.»

**Incorrect:** Goods leave for a buyer in Germany on 28 September and the invoice is issued on 20 October.

**Correct:** The same invoice issued by 15 October.

**Related:** [DAT-006 · Invoice businesses before day 16 of the following month](/rules/dates#dat-006) · [DAT-007 · One invoice for a month of operations, issued in time](/rules/dates#dat-007) · [TAX-004 · Intra-EU supplies of goods are exempt only with the buyer's EU VAT number](/rules/taxes#tax-004)

## DAT-014 · Under the cash-basis regime, the deadline runs from the operation, not the payment

`Required` · Law · Impact: low · Responsibility: the issuing business.

Under the special cash-basis regime, issue the invoice when the operation takes place or, when the customer is a business or professional acting as such, before day 16 of the month after the one in which the operation took place, even though the VAT accrues on payment.

**Why:** Under this regime the VAT accrues later, but the invoicing deadline does not move with it.

**Applies to:** Operations under the special cash-basis regime (regime key `07`).

**Legal basis:**

- RD 1619/2012 (Reglamento de facturación), art. 11.3 — [source](https://www.boe.es/buscar/act.php?id=BOE-A-2012-14696#a11)

  > «En las operaciones acogidas al régimen especial del criterio de caja regulado en el Capítulo X del Título IX de la Ley del Impuesto, la expedición de la factura deberá realizarse en el momento de la realización de tales operaciones, salvo cuando el destinatario de la operación sea un empresario o profesional que actúe como tal, en cuyo caso deberán expedirse antes del día 16 del mes siguiente a aquel en que se haya realizado la operación.»

**Incorrect:** A cash-basis business waits for a client's payment in November to invoice a service delivered in August.

**Correct:** It invoices the service by 15 September, with regime key `07`.

**Related:** [DAT-006 · Invoice businesses before day 16 of the following month](/rules/dates#dat-006) · [CNT-013 · A cash-basis invoice carries the mention «régimen especial del criterio de caja»](/rules/contents#cnt-013) · [TAX-016 · Regime keys 03, 06 and 14 are not accepted](/rules/taxes#tax-016)

[← All rules](/rules#all-rules)

## Related

<Related>

- [Invoice lifecycle](/guides/invoice-lifecycle) — every invoice status, which operations each one allows, and the difference between the fiscal steps (issue, void, correct) and the commercial ones (sent, paid)
- [Sending email](/guides/sending-email) — how BeeL. delivers invoice emails — the sandbox recipient restriction, per-account send quotas, queued delivery, and bulk limits
- [Overview](/verifactu) — how BeeL. handles VeriFactu compliance — what BeeL. does for you, what you control, and where to learn each scenario
- [What AEAT receives from your invoice](/verifactu/what-aeat-receives) — how BeeL. turns your invoice into the record AEAT registers — the description, the total, the number, the recipient and the late-submission flag — and why some of them differ from what you see on the invoice

</Related>

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