The corrective invoice is a key tool when proceeding with the company's billing, regardless of the industrial sector and the production volume.
Although billing is one of the most important business processes, errors it generates are often frequent. However, if we have made a mistake on an invoice or we cannot collect them... Relax! Can correct the error or recover VAT making a corrective invoice.
The corrective invoice is a document that can be used by both micro-businesses, SMEs and the self-employed. In them, we can modify and/or extend an invoice it already exists. And the corrective invoice arises from the impossibility of making modifications to an invoice already issued. Instead, it is necessary to issue a new one that includes the necessary changes.
When to issue a corrective invoice?
Sometimes we tend to issue corrective invoices without thinking about whether said action is correct or not. For example, negative invoices are often used to carry out operations that are not relevant, such as canceling an income that has not been paid to us or transferring VAT from one quarter to another.
However, since the Billing Regulations came into force (Royal Decree 1619/2012, of November 30) It is not possible to cancel an invoice to reissue another one for the same operation.
We may issue a corrective invoice when any of these reasons occur:
- Absence of data which the invoice should necessarily include
- When the partial or total refund of an order
- Mistake in some identifying information on the invoice
- Failures in the calculations of the amount
- We apply the inappropriate tax rate, such as VAT or personal income tax
What requirements must rectification invoices meet?
When we issue a corrective invoice, we cannot forget to include:
- The data that allows you to identify the original invoice that you want to modify (number and date)
- will carry a different numbering to the main
- It must be clearly stated that this is a corrective invoice.
- He reason for its issuance and the details of the rectification what is being done
Likewise, the corrective invoice must comply with the rest of the requirements that are established as mandatory in billing: proof of the tax rate, issuance data, etc.
Do not pay VAT that does not correspond to you
The Treasury allows us to use corrective invoices to recover VAT from those invoices that we have not collected in these specific cases:
- Because 1 year has passed since the VAT accrued (6 months for SMEs) as long as we have claimed its collection through judicial claim or notarial requirement in operations not exceeding 6,010,121.04 euros
- Invoices pending payment come from clients in bankruptcy situation
- The invoice must be registered in the tax and accounting books
- The recipient of the invoice must be a company or professional
Finally, let us remember that we can issue it as soon as we are aware of the error committed, as long as Four years have not passed since the accrual of the tax or since the circumstances of the modification of the tax base occurred.
If the uncollected invoices meet these requirements, we must follow the following steps meticulously.
Steps to recover VAT from an unpaid invoice
Step 1. First of all, let's try customer collaboration. Before going to court, we must try to collection in good faith. A phone call, an email, a certified letter, a burofax, a meeting... They can be the perfect wake-up call for the client to see that we are serious.
Step 2. If claiming it directly from the client has not had effect, we will have to request through judicial or notarial means the payment of said invoice. If we opt for the notarial procedure, it is enough to go to a notary with the information related to the debt. On the contrary, if we opt for a judicial injunction, the procedure is different depending on the amount of the debt. If it is less than 250,000 euros, we can claim through a monitoring process. If the debt is higher, we will have to start a slower and more expensive process.
Step 3. Issue a rectifying invoiceto cancel the unpaid invoice. It is time to issue the corrective invoice with the requirements that we have discussed previously.
Step 4. Send the corrective invoice to the Treasury. Have one month from the issuance of the corrective invoice to send it to the Tax Agency. Along with the shipment, we will include a copy of the documents that justify that collection has been requested through a judicial or notarial claim.
Step 5. Include the corrective invoice in 303. Here our process ends. we must declare it in monthly or quarterly settlement in which the corrective invoice is issued. At that point, we will have recovered the VAT.
Fountain: SAGE
