Simplified vs standard (F1 vs F2)

The simplified invoice (F2) is the "ticket" of the Spanish tax system: less data, but limited in amount and use case (article 4 of the RD 1619/2012). This page is the decision aid plus the exact rules BeeL. applies before the registro reaches AEAT.

The decision in one table

What BeeL. enforces

On the F2 path

• No identified recipient. recipient must not carry nif or alternative_id, and must not point, through customer_id, at a customer that has one. Otherwise the request answers 422 SIMPLIFIED_INVOICE_FORBIDS_IDENTIFIED_RECIPIENT when you create the invoice, when an edit changes its type or its recipient, when you issue it — one by one, in bulk or on schedule — and when you write a recurring invoice template. Pass recipient: {}, or just a name for your own records
• total (VAT included) must be ≤ 3,000 € — rejected above it with 400 SIMPLIFIED_INVOICE_EXCEEDS_LEGAL_LIMIT, when you create the invoice, when an edit takes it over the cap (new lines, or type changed to SIMPLIFIED) and when you issue it
• IRPF lines are not allowed on F2 — SIMPLIFICADA_FORBIDS_IRPF; see Why no IRPF on F2. The rate is not silently coerced to 0: send no irpf_rate at all, or irpf_rate: 0
• The equivalence surcharge is not allowed either — SIMPLIFICADA_FORBIDS_SURCHARGE: a retailer in that regime must receive an identified F1
• Reverse charge is not allowed — SIMPLIFICADA_FORBIDS_ISP: an anonymous recipient cannot self-assess
• Intra-EU supplies of goods (EXENTA_ART_25) and operations not subject by place of supply (NO_SUJETA_LOCALIZACION) are not allowed — SIMPLIFICADA_FORBIDS_CROSS_BORDER, when you create the invoice, edit it and issue it. The OSS regime (regime_key: "17") is allowed
• Apart from those, line semantics work as on F1: IVA rates, regime keys, exemption reasons, etc.

Whatever the recipient block holds, AEAT receives an F2 without recipient data — see What AEAT receives.

A simplified invoice issued before this check may still carry a nif or alternative_id when you read it. A draft in that state can still be edited — notes, dates, lines — but it is rejected when you issue it until it is changed to STANDARD or loses the identifier.

On the F1 path

• recipient.nif or recipient.alternative_id is required — request rejected if both are missing
• For Spanish NIFs (DNI / NIE / CIF), the NIF and name must match the AEAT census when the invoice goes to AEAT — BeeL. checks it before submission (the same check as the NIF Validation API) and rejects a mismatch with 422 NIF_NOT_IN_CENSUS
• For foreign customers, use alternative_id instead of nif

Edge cases the law handles

Operations where F2 is not allowed

Article 4.4 of the RD 1619/2012 lists operations for which «no podrá expedirse factura simplificada», among them intra-EU supplies of goods exempt under article 25 of the VAT law and certain distance sales of goods. On top of the law, BeeL. applies its own rules. Together, BeeL. rejects these on F2, from the line data:

• Intra-EU supplies of goods exempt under art. 25 LIVA (EXENTA_ART_25), and operations not subject because they are located outside Spain (NO_SUJETA_LOCALIZACION, art. 4.4.d) → SIMPLIFICADA_FORBIDS_CROSS_BORDER
• Operations under reverse charge (inversión del sujeto pasivo) → SIMPLIFICADA_FORBIDS_ISP
• Lines carrying the equivalence surcharge → SIMPLIFICADA_FORBIDS_SURCHARGE
• Lines carrying IRPF withholding → SIMPLIFICADA_FORBIDS_IRPF

The other cases of article 4.4 depend on the operation itself: for them, issue a STANDARD invoice.

Why no IRPF on F2

A withholding is made and reported by the payer, who is identified. A simplified invoice issued through BeeL. never identifies its recipient, so BeeL. does not accept IRPF on it. If your customer is a business that withholds from your invoice, issue an F1, whatever the total.

Exchanging simplified invoices for a full invoice

Sometimes a customer asks for an identified invoice after you already issued a ticket. That is not a correction — nothing in the ticket is wrong — so it is not an R5 corrective: exchange it. Exchange simplified invoices for a full invoice issues a STANDARD invoice with the lines of one or more simplified invoices and the customer's data (RD 1619/2012, art. 15.6):

curl -X POST "https://app.beel.es/api/v1/companies/{company_id}/invoices/simplified-exchanges" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $BEEL_API_KEY" \
  -H "Idempotency-Key: exchange-ticket-0042" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{
    "simplified_invoice_ids": ["{simplified_invoice_id}"],
    "recipient": { "customer_id": "{customer_id}" }
  }'

• The full invoice is numbered in series_id or in the company's default standard series, and lists the invoices it replaces in replaced_invoice_ids. It cannot be voided afterwards (EXCHANGE_INVOICE_NOT_VOIDABLE).
• Each simplified invoice becomes VOIDED with void_cause: EXCHANGED, in the same act. Its registration is not cancelled: the full invoice replaces it.
• Same company, same environment. Every simplified invoice must belong to the company in the path and to the environment (Test or Live) of your API key.

With VeriFactu: recorded as F3

When the company has VeriFactu enabled, the full invoice is recorded as F3 (factura emitida en sustitución de facturas simplificadas, an invoice issued in place of simplified invoices), identifying each simplified invoice it replaces by number and issue date. The simplified invoices keep their accepted registration: they are exchanged, not cancelled, so no cancellation record is sent for them.

An F3 can only replace simplified invoices the AEAT already has. Before issuing anything, BeeL. checks the registration of each simplified invoice in simplified_invoice_ids:

If any of them fails, nothing is issued and the simplified invoices stay as they were. The exchange is all or nothing.

Rejections

Without VeriFactu, the exchange invoice is not recorded, and it is corrected like any other invoice if it has an error.

Canonical request shapes

F2 (no identified recipient)

{
  "type": "SIMPLIFIED",
  "recipient": {},
  "lines": [
    {
      "description": "Computer repair service",
      "quantity": 1,
      "unit": "service",
      "unit_price": 300,
      "discount_percentage": 0,
      "main_tax": { "type": "IVA", "percentage": 21, "regime_key": "01" }
    }
  ],
  "payment_info": { "method": "CASH" }
}

F1 (Spanish customer identified)

{
  "type": "STANDARD",
  "recipient": {
    "legal_name": "Comercial Martínez SL",
    "nif": "B12345674",
    "address": {
      "street": "Avenida de la Constitución",
      "number": "45",
      "postal_code": "41001",
      "city": "Sevilla",
      "province": "Sevilla",
      "country": "España"
    }
  },
  "lines": [
    {
      "description": "Business strategic consulting",
      "quantity": 8,
      "unit": "hours",
      "unit_price": 125,
      "discount_percentage": 0,
      "main_tax": { "type": "IVA", "percentage": 21, "regime_key": "01" }
    }
  ],
  "payment_info": { "method": "BANK_TRANSFER", "iban": "ES9121000418450200051332", "payment_term_days": 30 }
}

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