SERES has presented a new version of its “Comparative study of the use of electronic invoicing in Spain”. This report analyses the evolution of the issuance and receipt of electronic invoices by region, company size and sector during 2023, and also offers a preview of the data for the first half of 2024.
The report covers B2B (business to business) transactions of 700,000 companies with Spanish VAT numbers, and is set in the context prior to the implementation of the “Crea y Crece” law, approved on October 19, 2022, which will establish mandatory electronic invoicing for companies and self-employed workers from 2025.
Alberto Redondo, Marketing and Mass Market director for Iberia and Latam at SERES, explains that “We are now in the final phase of the Royal Decree that makes electronic B2B invoicing mandatory, as promoted by the “Crea y Crece” law, and this means that the traditional advantages of using electronic invoicing are now accompanied by a need for regulatory compliance. However, we see that companies, especially large and medium-sized ones, are increasing their use or accelerating their implementation, either in the phase of contextualizing their project or in choosing a supplier.”
Comparative study of the use of electronic invoicing in Spain
The study highlights that in 2023, the use of electronic invoicing reached record levels since 2015. In the B2B sector, 460,309,458 electronic invoices were issued, representing a growth of 35.39% compared to 2022. This increase exceeded that recorded in 2017 (35.20%), driven by the mandatory nature of the “Immediate Supply of Information” (SII) project.
The volume of electronic invoices in B2B environments in Spain reached 460,309,548 invoices exchanged in 2023, marking a new record in the historical series with an increase of 35.39% compared to the previous year
If, in addition to B2B transactions, we consider those carried out in the B2G (business to government) and B2C (business to consumer) sectors, the total number of electronic invoices exchanged in 2023 reached 503,243,151 documents, which represents a growth of 32.71% compared to the previous year.
The study also highlights the benefits of using electronic invoicing in terms of sustainability and efficiency. In 2023, this system allowed companies to save more than €3.572 billion in management costs in the B2B field, in addition to avoiding the use of paper equivalent to 25,678 pine trees. In terms of time, companies achieved a 35.3% improvement compared to 2022, which is equivalent to saving 985 working years of work in hours.
