ERP for the Basque Country: TicketBAI, Batuz and foral tax

The Basque Country in one view: three foral tax authorities

A business in the Basque Country pays its main taxes to one of three foral treasuries, those of Araba/Álava, Bizkaia and Gipuzkoa, not to the Spanish state tax agency, and must issue every invoice through TicketBAI, a signed invoice file with a QR code sent to the treasury. It matters because the invoicing software itself is regulated, and the rules differ by territory.

This page covers only what differs from the rest of Spain. VAT rates, the Spanish chart of accounts, statutory audit thresholds and record retention are the same as in common territory and are explained on our Spain page. What is genuinely Basque is who collects the tax, which invoicing system applies, how Bizkaia's Batuz register works, and how all of this sits beside the state's Verifactu rules and the coming national B2B e-invoicing obligation.

The legal basis is the Concierto Económico, the economic agreement between the state and the Basque Country approved by Law 12/2002, which lets the three Diputaciones Forales levy and manage the main taxes of businesses domiciled in their territory.

• Tax authorities: Hacienda Foral de Álava, Bizkaia and Gipuzkoa
• Currency: euro; VAT rates identical to the rest of Spain (21% standard)
• Invoicing: TicketBAI in all three territories
• Bizkaia: Batuz, which adds the LROE register and draft returns
• Verifactu: does not apply to Basque-domiciled taxpayers
• Languages: Basque and Spanish are both official

The Concierto Económico: who taxes whom

Article 26 of the Concierto makes VAT a concerted tax governed by the same substantive and formal rules the state sets at any time. The foral institutions may approve their own return forms, provided they contain at least the same data, and set payment deadlines that do not differ substantially from the state's. In its current wording, last amended by Law 3/2025, article 26 also lets them set their own formal invoicing and record-keeping obligations based on new technology, which is the legal footing for TicketBAI and Batuz.

Who receives the VAT depends on domicile and size. Under article 27, a taxpayer whose total operations in the previous year did not exceed 12 million euro pays all its VAT to the Diputación Foral of its domicile if that domicile is in the Basque Country, wherever it trades. Above 12 million euro, a business trading in both Basque and common territory pays each administration in proportion to its volume of operations in each, using the connection rules of article 28 and a provisional percentage based on the previous year.

Corporate tax is a concerted tax with its own foral rules for companies domiciled in the Basque Country (article 14), so each territory has its own corporate tax legislation. A company above 12 million euro that carries out 75% or more of its operations in common territory falls back under state rules. Employment income tax withheld from salaries goes to the Diputación of the territory where the work is performed; for remote work, it goes to the one where the employee's work centre is located (article 7).

TicketBAI: what every invoice has to carry

TicketBAI is a joint project of the three foral treasuries and the Basque Government. It does not change what an invoice must contain under the invoicing regulations; it adds obligations on the software that issues it. The TicketBAI file is similar to the invoice but not identical: it records the time of issue and the issuer's tax regime, which the invoice does not show, and in Gipuzkoa it must also contain the invoice lines and, where applicable, the recipient's address.

The TicketBAI identifier is a code of numbers, letters and other characters printed in a font similar to the rest of the invoice. The QR code must be between 30 by 30 and 40 by 40 millimetres, and both are built from part of the electronic signature of the file. Customers can scan the QR code to check that the invoice reached the treasury and can report a missing or wrong code.

Mistakes are not fixed by editing. A wrong invoice is corrected with a corrective invoice, either by substitution or by differences, and each corrective invoice produces its own TicketBAI file. The file can be signed with a device certificate or a personal certificate, among other types the treasuries accept.

• Generate the XML TicketBAI file for each invoice or simplified invoice
• Sign the file electronically
• Print the TicketBAI identifier and QR code on the paper or PDF invoice
• Send the file to the foral treasury within its deadlines (Gipuzkoa: simultaneously)
• Correct errors with corrective invoices, never by deletion

Territory by territory: Álava, Bizkaia and Gipuzkoa

Álava set the obligation in Norma Foral 13/2021 and its regulation in Decreto Foral 48/2021, with a calendar by activity. Decreto Normativo de Urgencia Fiscal 9/2022 moved the date for most taxpayers from 1 October 2022 to 1 December 2022, and, subject to further conditions, exempted self-employed people who were 60 or older at 31 December 2021 and had no employees in 2021. The Hacienda Foral de Álava offers FakturAraba, a free web application for TicketBAI invoices.

Gipuzkoa allowed voluntary use from 1 January 2021 and made TicketBAI compulsory in stages from 1 July 2022, starting with tax advisers and extending by activity group until the last activities joined on 1 June 2023. Its free application is FakturaBAI, and Gipuzkoa requires the file to be sent at the same moment the invoice is issued.

Bizkaia applies TicketBAI inside Batuz, a wider system that also includes the LROE register and draft returns. Norma Foral 8/2023 set the final calendar: corporate taxpayers that are not small or medium-sized from 1 January 2024; small and medium-sized companies and the self-employed from 1 July 2024 to 1 July 2025 depending on activity; and the remaining groups, including exempt entities, non-profits and agriculture, education and cultural services, from 1 January 2026. As of September 2026, every group in Bizkaia is under Batuz.

TicketBAI, Verifactu and the national B2B e-invoicing law

Spain's Verifactu rules for invoicing software, set by Royal Decree 1007/2023, do not apply to taxpayers whose tax domicile is in Álava, Bizkaia, Gipuzkoa or Navarre. The Spanish Tax Agency's own summary of the scope excludes them expressly. What decides is the tax domicile under the Concierto, not where the sale happens, so a group with companies on both sides may need TicketBAI for one company and Verifactu for another, with Verifactu compulsory in common territory from 1 January 2027 for companies and 1 July 2027 for everyone else.

The national B2B e-invoicing obligation is a separate matter. Royal Decree 238/2026 of 25 March, in force since 20 April 2026, develops the e-invoicing duty of Law 18/2022. Its third additional provision states that for businesses subject to foral tax rules under the Concierto, the public e-invoicing solution will operate as agreed between the Haciendas Forales and the state tax agency. As of September 2026 the ministerial order that starts the clock had not been published, so no effective date exists yet.

Public-sector invoicing already has a Basque angle: in May 2026 Bizkaia added a function to its Haz tu factura application that issues a TicketBAI invoice and an electronic invoice to Basque public administrations in one step.

Accounting, payroll and records: what stays national

Accounting follows the same state rules as elsewhere in Spain: the Plan General de Contabilidad, statutory audit when a company fails to meet two of three limits for two consecutive years (total assets 2,850,000 euro, net turnover 5,700,000 euro, an average of 50 employees) under article 263 of the Capital Companies Law, and six years of retention of books and supporting documents under article 30 of the Commercial Code. These are covered on our Spain page.

What differs is the tax side of payroll and corporate tax. Income tax withheld from salaries is paid to the Diputación of the territory where the work is performed, using that territory's withholding rules, while Social Security contributions are outside the Concierto and follow the state system. A company with staff in Vitoria-Gasteiz and in Logroño can therefore owe withholdings to two different administrations for the same month.

Corporate tax returns are foral returns with foral rules in each territory. For a finance team this means three things: separate tax codes and liability accounts per administration where a business straddles territories, the volume-of-operations percentage tracked each year, and invoice records that can be traced from the TicketBAI file to the ledger entry.

Cities and regions: where the rules differ

The Basque Country is three territories, and the territory, not the city, decides the rules. Bilbao, Barakaldo, Getxo and Durango are in Bizkaia, so businesses domiciled there work under Batuz with the LROE on top of TicketBAI. Donostia / San Sebastián, Irun and Eibar are in Gipuzkoa, where the TicketBAI file must be sent at the moment of issue and must include the invoice lines. Vitoria-Gasteiz, the seat of the Basque Government, is in Álava, with its own TicketBAI regulation and exemptions.

Basque (euskera) and Spanish are both official languages. Because VAT follows the state's formal rules under the Concierto, the Spanish invoicing regulation applies: invoices may be issued in any language, but the tax authority may ask for a translation into Spanish or another official language of invoices issued in a non-official language. The foral treasuries publish their guidance in both languages.

Neighbouring Navarre has its own foral regime under a separate Convenio Económico and is outside TicketBAI and Verifactu alike. A company domiciled in common territory with branches in Bilbao or Donostia keeps the state rules, including Verifactu, for all its invoices.

• Bizkaia (Bilbao, Barakaldo, Getxo, Durango): TicketBAI plus LROE under Batuz
• Gipuzkoa (Donostia / San Sebastián, Irun, Eibar): TicketBAI sent at the moment of issue
• Álava (Vitoria-Gasteiz): TicketBAI under its own foral regulation
• Everywhere: VAT rates and invoice content as in the rest of Spain

An ERP checklist for a Basque business

Before choosing a system, map each company in the group to its tax domicile and territory, because that decides the invoicing regime, the return forms and where withholdings go. Then check the list below against the vendor's live product, not its roadmap.

• Invoicing program entered in the TicketBAI software registry
• Separate numbering series per location or invoice type
• Corrective invoices by substitution or by differences, never edits
• TicketBAI identifier and QR code on every invoice layout
• LROE-ready records of invoices issued and received for Bizkaia
• Tax codes and liability accounts per administration where you straddle territories
• Salary withholdings tracked by the territory where work is performed
• An audit trail linking each invoice to its ledger entry

How Skyline Nexus ERP handles Basque requirements

Skyline Nexus ERP covers the ledger, stock and reporting side of a Basque business. Each business location chooses its own invoice numbering scheme, so a Bilbao branch and a Donostia branch can number independently, and tax rates and tax groups are set in Settings > Tax Rates. With auto-post switched on, a final sale posts receivables, revenue by category and output VAT, with VAT computed per line on the same basis as the tax report, and sales returns post as credit notes that reverse revenue, VAT and cost of sales. The VAT Return screen prefills tax-exclusive bases and VAT for a date range and location, and the trial balance, profit and loss and balance sheet can be filtered by branch. Posted journals are corrected by reversal, fiscal periods can be closed and locked, and the Audit Trail records changes to accounting records with old and new values, the user and the IP address.

TicketBAI and Batuz connectors are part of our national e-invoicing roll-out, which goes market by market: tell us your territory, Álava, Bizkaia or Gipuzkoa, and we will confirm the go-live date for your business. Until then, the working route is to issue invoices from a TicketBAI-registered program or the treasury's free application and bring them into Skyline Nexus ERP with Import Sales, which previews each batch and can revert it, or to link a registered program through the Connector module's REST API, which exposes sales, returns, contacts and taxes. LROE entries and foral returns are then prepared from the ledger reports and filed on the Diputación's electronic office.

Spanish payroll connectors are also on the roll-out list; today a Basque employer runs payroll in local software and posts a monthly balanced journal to Skyline Nexus ERP. The interface is available in English and Arabic, with interface translations including Spanish. Tax rates in Skyline Nexus carry no effective-date history, so a rate change is set up as a new rate and assigned to products from the date it applies.

Rates, regimes and deadlines in this summary change, and many countries are actively legislating on e-invoicing. This is general information, not tax or legal advice — confirm the current position with the authority named above or with your tax adviser before you rely on it.