With the Anti-Fraud Law (Law 11/2021) and the new obligations tied to the Verifactu system now in effect, all businesses operating a physical point of sale must align their invoicing and payment processes with Spanish tax regulations.
When You Must Issue a Full Invoice
Under the Invoicing Regulation (Royal Decree 1619/2012), you are required to issue a full invoice instead of a simplified one when:
The total amount of the transaction (VAT included) is equal to or greater than €3,000.
The invoice is requested for tax purposes, or by a business or professional.
Tip: Comply includes a validation rule that automatically blocks the checkout in Shopify POS when an order exceeds €3,000 and the customer's tax details haven't been collected. See Control of Orders Over €3,000 in Shopify POS for details on how it works and how to enable it.
Keeping Your Records: How Long and in What Format
Whether you issue simplified or full invoices, you are required to retain all documents related to your tax obligations:
Issued invoices (copies or originals).
Received invoices.
Proof of payment.
Documentation related to special tax regimes or reverse charge.
How long must you keep them?
The General Tax Law (art. 29.2.e) and the VAT Law (art. 165) require you to keep these documents for a minimum of 4 years from the date of issue or receipt.
In special cases — such as transactions involving investment gold or VAT amounts subject to adjustment — this period may extend to 5 years or more.
Can you keep them in digital format?
Yes, provided you can guarantee the authenticity of origin, integrity of content, legibility of the document, and immediate access by the AEAT at any time.
Comply retains all invoices issued from Shopify POS for the legally required period, stores them securely in the cloud, and lets you access, view, or download any invoice as a PDF or CSV at any time.
Cash Payment Limits
The Anti-Fraud Law restricts the use of cash in transactions where at least one party is acting as a business owner or professional:
Customer with a tax domicile in Spain
Maximum: €1,000 (VAT included) per transaction.
This applies even if the customer is a private individual.
Splitting a transaction to avoid the limit is prohibited.
Customer without a tax domicile in Spain
Maximum: €10,000, provided their status as a non-resident is documented.
The customer must not be acting as a business owner or professional.
What counts as a cash payment?
Any non-traceable payment method, including: banknotes and coins (euros or foreign currency), bearer cheques, and anonymous prepaid cards or other untraceable physical or electronic payment methods.
Comply automatically detects and alerts you in Shopify POS if a cash payment exceeds the legal limits. See Tax Alerts in Shopify POS: What They Mean and How to Resolve Them for a breakdown of each alert.
What Happens if You Exceed the Cash Limit?
If it is established that the cash limit has been exceeded, both the retailer and the customer may face penalties. Fines can reach up to 25% of the amount paid in cash unlawfully.
In addition, anyone can report the irregular payment through the AEAT portal, and ignorance of the regulation is not accepted as a defence.