If you run a restaurant as an SL or SA, you have until 1 January 2027 for your POS to issue tickets that comply with Verifactu. If you’re self-employed (autónomo), you have until July 2027. That might sound far off, but switching POS systems in the middle of high season is the worst decision you can make: migrating the catalogue, printers, kitchen printers, staff training and fiscal validation takes two to four months in practice.

This guide explains what Verifactu is without the jargon, when it applies, what has to appear on every ticket, which POS systems genuinely have it ready in 2026 (there’s a lot of “in progress” on the market), and how to comply in five steps.

What is Verifactu and why does it matter to your restaurant?

Verifactu is the name of the system that Royal Decree 1007/2023 imposes on all invoicing software in Spain. Its goal is to let the Spanish tax agency (AEAT) verify that no ticket or invoice has been tampered with or deleted.

In practice, three things change for restaurant owners:

Every ticket carries a QR code that any inspector or customer can scan to validate against the AEAT database that the ticket is genuine.
Tickets are chained together (hash chain): each one knows the one before it and the one after it, like the blocks in a blockchain. If you delete or alter a past ticket, the chain breaks and the AEAT detects it.
The software you use has to be certified by its manufacturer. There’s a widespread myth worth debunking here: there is no census or register of invoicing software, and no AEAT approval process. The agency itself says so literally: to comply with the regulation on this point, “no prior registration of the SIF product by anyone is envisaged (neither producer, nor distributor, nor user).” What the regulation requires is a declaración responsable (a sworn compliance declaration) signed by the software manufacturer (art. 13 RD 1007/2023) and handed to you before you buy. You don’t register anything.

Careful, though — this doesn’t let you off the hook: article 201 bis of the General Tax Law (Ley General Tributaria) punishes on both sides. The manufacturer, with €150,000 per tax year for producing or marketing a non-compliant system. And you, with €50,000 per tax year, just for having an uncertified system. In other words: the paperwork isn’t yours, but choosing the right software is — which is why it’s worth demanding the declaración responsable in writing before signing anything.

The two modes of Verifactu

Many articles online confuse Verifactu with “real-time reporting to the tax authority.” In reality there are two modes:

Mode	How it works	Who it’s for
*VERIFACTU** (with the asterisk)	The software sends an encrypted copy of every ticket to the AEAT at the moment of payment, via SOAP/HTTPS	Recommended for most businesses — simplifies inspections and proves immediate compliance
*Non-VERIFACTU**	The software generates the hash chain and QR locally, but doesn’t send anything to the AEAT in real time (records are kept for a later tax request)	Admissible, but requires keeping the records and producing them if there’s an inspection

VERI*FACTU mode is the one every adviser recommends because it shifts the burden of proof onto the system (the AEAT already has the copy), not onto the restaurant.

Compliance calendar: when does this affect me?

Date	Who it applies to
1 January 2027	All other companies: SL, SA, cooperatives — most restaurants
1 July 2027	Self-employed (autónomos) and entities without legal personality

The regulation doesn’t distinguish by turnover: your deadline as an SL is January 2027 and as an autónomo July 2027, regardless of what you bill.

What has to appear on every ticket to be Verifactu-compliant

The regulation requires that the printed or digital simplified ticket include, at minimum:

NIF of the issuer (your company or self-employed tax ID)
Sequential number of the document (no gaps allowed)
Date and time of issue (with the correct time zone — a common bug on POS systems running on a UTC-based VPS)
Hash (fingerprint) of the current ticket, chained to the hash of the previous one
QR code with the AEAT verification URL (which redirects to the register lookup)
In VERI*FACTU mode: an indicator that the record was sent to the AEAT

All of this has to appear printed or on screen without the restaurant having to do anything — it’s the POS’s responsibility to generate it automatically at the point of payment.

The costliest mistake: confusing “Verifactu compatible” with “Verifactu integrated”

As of May 2026, if you ask any POS provider in Spain whether their system is compatible with Verifactu, almost all of them say yes. What they don’t always say is when.

The practical difference:

“Compatible” / “in progress”: the provider plans to add it before the deadline, but the module isn’t active yet. If you switch on Verifactu today with that POS, the QR field will be empty or the record won’t reach the AEAT.
“Integrated and active”: the hash chain is generated on every close, the QR is printed on every thermal ticket, and the record is sent (or kept) correctly. You can verify it by scanning the QR on a real ticket with your phone.

How to check: ask the provider to show you a real production ticket with the QR and tell you the validation URL it points to. If they can’t, it isn’t ready.

Which POS systems genuinely have Verifactu integrated

This is the honest table, based on public documentation checked in May 2026 — if you’re reading this much later, verify each provider’s current status before deciding, because this moves fast.

And we’ll start by applying to ourselves the same test we’ve just recommended to you, because that’s only fair: Bouzon POS has the engine built and integrated, but there is still no client issuing live tickets against the AEAT in production. The chaining, the XAdES signature and the QR are implemented and included in the base fee, with no separate module or upgrade cost; what activates real issuance is your FNMT certificate. We’d rather tell you that straight than sell you an “active” feature we couldn’t back up with a real ticket.

POS	Verifactu	Mode	Requires separate management
Bouzon POS	🔧 Engine integrated, included in the base fee	VERI*FACTU + hash chain + XAdES signature	Only your FNMT certificate — no registration or census
Hiopos	✅ Active (TicketBAI Basque Country + Verifactu elsewhere)	VERI*FACTU	Via distributor, may require an update
Glop	⚠️ In progress	—	Not active as of May 2026
Lightspeed Restaurant	⚠️ Via partner	Depends on the partner	Certified external partner, extra cost
Camarero10	⚠️ In progress	—	Not active as of May 2026
Numier	⚠️ In progress	—	Not active as of May 2026
MyChefTool	⚠️ In progress	—	Not active as of May 2026

Lightspeed deserves a note of its own: it’s the most expensive cloud POS in the table (€89–289/month/site) and still doesn’t include it out of the box — it hands it off to a certified partner who charges separately. For a Spanish restaurant already paying €89/month for its POS, adding the partner’s fee is an unplanned cost.

How Bouzon POS implements it (without the jargon)

When the waiter presses “Charge” on the POS screen:

The system generates the ticket’s sequential number.
It takes the hash of the previous ticket, adds the current ticket’s data (amount, date/time with Spain’s time zone) and calculates the new hash — the “fingerprint” that guarantees nothing before it has been touched.
It signs the record with the restaurant’s FNMT certificate (uploaded once in the settings panel, encrypted with AES-GCM).
In VERI*FACTU mode, the send to the AEAT happens in the background in under 5 seconds; the waiter doesn’t wait for anything.
The thermal printer prints the ticket with the QR already embedded.
The customer can scan the QR with their phone and see the validation on the AEAT website.

The restaurant only has to do one thing, once: get the FNMT certificate (€20–50, 1–2 weeks). There’s no census to fill in and no software to register — certifying that the system complies is the manufacturer’s job, via its declaración responsable. After that, compliance is 100% automatic.

5-step checklist to comply with Verifactu

Decide whether you’re an SL, SA or autónomo — this sets your deadline (January 2027 or July 2027) and start planning with at least 3 months’ margin for the POS migration.
Check whether your current POS has Verifactu active — ask for a real ticket with the QR and scan it. If it doesn’t generate a valid QR, you’re at risk.
Get your FNMT certificate — if you’re an SL, it’s the legal-entity representative certificate (~~€20.50). If you’re an autónomo, the individual certificate (~~€14). Without a certificate, no POS can sign your tickets on your behalf.
Ask your provider for the declaración responsable in writing — there is no census to register the software in (that process doesn’t exist), but you should still demand the manufacturer’s declaración responsable under art. 13 RD 1007/2023, with the exact name and version of the system. If a provider offers to “register you in the census,” be wary: they’re charging you for something that doesn’t exist.
Activate Verifactu in the POS panel and verify with a test ticket — scan the QR, confirm the AEAT returns ”✓ Registered” in under 60 seconds.

The practical rule: which POS to choose if you need Verifactu by 2027

Situation	Recommendation
You want the engine included in the base fee, with no paid module	Bouzon POS (hash chain + XAdES + AEAT QR integrated and in the base fee; activates with your FNMT certificate)
You already have Hiopos and the distributor is updating it	Stay — ask for written confirmation of the update
You have Lightspeed and don’t want an external partner	Evaluate migrating to Bouzon POS (savings of ~€2,000 over 24 months on the fee alone, on top of the partner’s cost)
You have Camarero10, Numier or MyChefTool	Get written confirmation of the activation date before January 2027; have a plan B
You’re self-employed and only have until Jul 2027	Any of the above, but start in October 2026 so you don’t migrate in summer

If, on top of the POS, you also need a website, commission-free bookings and an online shop with no platform fee, Bouzon’s full plan (website + bookings + shop + POS + inventory, QR and reviews) replaces TheFork + Glovo + Hiopos + a freelance website for around €15,000–20,000 in savings over 24 months under a single subscription.

See the breakdown at /en/pos/ or compare POS options in the ranking of the 7 best POS systems for restaurants in Spain →.

Frequently asked questions

When is Verifactu mandatory for my restaurant as an SL? 1 January 2027 for most companies (SL, SA, cooperatives). Self-employed businesses have until 1 July 2027.

Can my tax adviser handle Verifactu for me? Your adviser can help with the FNMT certificate and the AEAT paperwork, but technical compliance depends on the POS you use — not on the adviser. If your POS doesn’t generate the hash chain or the QR, your adviser can’t fix that.

Can I keep using my old cash register? If it’s a classic electronic cash register (not tablet-based software), probably not. Most can’t be updated to comply with the regulation. Check with the manufacturer, but in many cases the solution is migrating to a cloud POS.

Is Verifactu the same as TicketBAI? Not exactly. TicketBAI is the equivalent regulation that applies in the Basque Country (Gipuzkoa, Álava, Vizcaya). Verifactu applies to the rest of Spain. The technical principles are similar (hash chain + QR + submission to the authorities), but the implementation is different. If your restaurant is in the Basque Country, you need TicketBAI; if it’s elsewhere in Spain, Verifactu.

Is there a penalty if my ticket doesn’t carry a QR in 2027? Yes. Article 201.1 of the General Tax Law provides for fines of up to €50,000 per tax year and non-compliant system. The penalty falls on the restaurant owner using the software, not only on the POS manufacturer.

Verifactu for Restaurants: Complete 2026 Guide and Which POS to Choose