Corrective invoices under VeriFactu: how to void one without breaking the chain

The first time a freelancer issues a wrong invoice — a bad VAT rate, an amount typed with one zero too many, a client that isn't the one it was supposed to be — the instinct is always the same: cross it out and redo it. Under VeriFactu, that instinct is expensive. The bad invoice is already in your SHA-256 hash chain and in the AEAT's append-only registry: you can't delete it, you can't rewrite it, and you can't issue another one with the same number. What you can do — and what the law requires — is rectify it.

This post explains in plain terms when a factura rectificativa is the right instrument, when what you actually need is a credit note or a void, which type (R1, R2, R3, R4 or R5) applies, the deadline you have, and what changes if the original invoice was already declared on your modelo 303.

Rectificativa vs. credit note: not the same thing

Common usage confuses them, but the Reglamento de Facturación (RD 1619/2012) treats them as distinct. A factura rectificativa is a new fiscal document, with its own number inside a dedicated series (for example, FR-2026-0001), that replaces or amends the data of another invoice already issued. A credit note is an accounting term that doesn't appear in the regulation — fiscally speaking it's always a rectificativa, even if your ERP calls it something else.

The practical rule: if the change affects the taxable base, the output VAT, the IRPF withholding, or the identifying data of the recipient, you need a rectificativa. If it's a purely cosmetic change — logo, wording of the concept — no correction applies. And if the invoice was completely wrong (wrong client, non-existent operation), the correct move is a rectificativa of voiding.

Types R1 through R5: what they are and when to use each

Article 15 of RD 1619/2012 classifies rectificativas into five types, and VeriFactu requires your software to state the correct one in the TipoRectificativa field of the record:

R1 — Rectificativa for a reason other than art. 80: the most common case. Errors in the original invoice: amount, VAT, IRPF, concept, client data. A typo correction goes here.
R2 — Insolvency of the recipient: when the client has entered insolvency proceedings and the invoice is unpaid. Rare in freelancers, common in accountants.
R3 — Bad debts: after the legal deadline without collecting (6 months or 1 year depending on the creditor's size, art. 80.4 LIVA), you can recover the VAT by issuing an R3 rectificativa. It's the route almost nobody uses and most people let go to waste.
R4 — Other art. 80 corrections: unredeemed vouchers, retrospective volume discounts, and so on.
R5 — Corrected simplified invoice: when the original was a receipt (factura simplificada). The receipt regime has its own rules, and this rectificativa is flagged separately.

If your software doesn't force you to pick one of the five when issuing the rectificativa, it doesn't comply with VeriFactu — a quick way to spot programs advertised as "adapted" that aren't.

How VeriFactu chains the void

Here's the detail most people miss on first look. The original invoice is never touched. It stays in your hash chain, with its SHA-256, its QR, its AEAT record. What you issue is a new record chained to the last one in the series, of type rectificación, which in the SIF XML references the invoice being voided by its issuer NIF, number, series and date (field IDFacturaAnulada).

The chain then reads:

FV-2026-0041 — huella a1b2…c3d4
FV-2026-0042 — huella b24e…09c7 · ← a1b2…c3d4
FR-2026-0001 (rectifies FV-2026-0042) — huella e81a…5f60 · ← b24e…09c7

This has an important consequence: when someone scans the original invoice's QR and queries the AEAT, they'll see that it exists and that it's been rectified — not deleted, corrected by a subsequent entry. That's how traceability is preserved without you being able to "disappear" invoices.

Deadline: four years from accrual

You can issue a rectificativa as long as the Administration's right to determine the tax debt hasn't lapsed — that is, four years from the accrual of the VAT (art. 66 LGT, statute of limitations). In practice, if you spot the error inside the same quarter you issued the original, do it now and adjust before your modelo 303. If the error belongs to earlier quarters you still have room — but it means a supplementary modelo 303 or a rectificación de autoliquidación, depending on whether the error was in your favour or Hacienda's.

A very common case: correcting a December invoice in January. VAT accrual was in Q4, you already declared it on the October-December modelo 303 filed by the 20th of January. Here the rectificativa is recorded in Q1, but the 303 adjustment depends on the direction of the error:

If you overpaid VAT (declared too much): you include the rectificativa in box 14 of the Q1 modelo 303, or file a solicitud de rectificación de autoliquidación for the Q4 modelo 303.
If you underpaid (declared too little): you file a complementary Q4 modelo 303 with the difference and late-payment interest.

Correcting an invoice already declared: the ugly case

The scenario people fear most: you issued a €5,000 + VAT invoice, your client paid it, you declared it on modelo 303, filed last year's modelo 390, and months later you discover you applied 21% when the operation was VAT-exempt. What now?

The correct sequence, in plain terms:

Issue an R1 rectificativa that voids the output VAT of the original and leaves the base intact. Notify the client in writing (art. 89 LIVA).
Refund the client the VAT they paid you improperly. You can offset it against the next invoice, transfer it, or leave it as a written obligation.
File a rectificación de la autoliquidación for the quarter you over-declared. Hacienda returns what was overpaid, with late-payment interest.
Adjust the modelo 390 annual summary if you'd already filed it.

The whole process is reversible without penalties as long as you act before the Administration detects it. After that, it isn't.

Executive summary

Under VeriFactu you can't delete an invoice or rewrite it. Rectifying is the only legal route.
A rectificativa is a new fiscal document, with its own series, not a "cross-out" of the original.
The five types in art. 15 RD 1619/2012 (R1-R5) mean different things: pick the right one or your software fails VeriFactu.
Deadline: 4 years from accrual (art. 66 LGT).
If the invoice was already declared, the 303 adjustment depends on the direction of the error — complementary or rectificación de autoliquidación.