TicketBAI

What it is

The three Basque foral tax authorities share one duty for businesses that invoice with software: TicketBAI. It is a joint project, but each Basque tax administration decides the date from which it becomes enforceable and publishes its own specifications.

How it works

Each invoice or ticket produces an XML file with its data. The file is electronically signed and chained to the file of the previous invoice, where the chaining field carries the previous series, number, date and signature. The invoice the customer receives bears a QR code and a TBAI identifier so it can be checked. The software sends the file to the relevant foral authority, which accepts or rejects it. Among the rejection reasons Gipuzkoa lists are a wrongly reported chain, a missing invoice number and an incorrect issuer tax ID.

Who it applies to, and since when

It depends on the territory and on the activity. In Gipuzkoa the mandatory rollout was phased by trade classification: it began on 1 July 2022 with tax management professionals, and the last stage the authority publishes runs to 1 June 2023 for the remaining business, professional and artistic activities. For Araba and Bizkaia you need the calendar of their own foral authority. In common territory the VeriFactu regulation applies. Navarre has its own foral regime, and a taxpayer whose tax domicile is in foral territory stays under the foral regime that applies to them.

Cancelling or correcting

An issued and reported invoice is not edited. If the transaction never took place, a cancellation file is sent. If an amount or a tax detail changes, a corrective invoice is issued and its series, number and date go into the corrected-invoices section of the XML. A fix that affects only the file sent, and not the invoice handed to the customer, can be handled in Gipuzkoa through the authority’s own correction service.

Common mistakes

• Treating TicketBAI and VeriFactu as one thing: they are separate territorial regimes with their own specifications.
• Breaking the chain by issuing an invoice outside the software that carries your TBAI licence.
• Replacing an issued invoice by editing it instead of correcting it.
• Reporting the issuer’s tax ID wrongly in the file.

How Frihet handles it

TicketBAI is in beta at Frihet; still without production customers. Do not rely on it today to meet the obligation in production. If you invoice from the Basque Country, talk to us before choosing software and ask your foral authority for your own date.