Signing Facturae: get the certificate, GrandTotal does the rest

Invoices to Spanish authorities go through FACe in the Facturae format and must be signed electronically. Companies need the Certificado de Representante: issued to a natural person, carrying the company tax number, valid for two years.

Sole and joint managing directors pay around 17 euros, all other forms of representation around 29 euros, by card only. A private certificate belonging to the managing director is not enough.

Four steps at www.sede.fnmt.gob.es: configuration, application, identity check, collection. Beforehand you install the Configurador FNMT-RCM, which generates the key. Use Chrome or Firefox.

All four steps belong on the same computer and in the same browser, otherwise the application lapses along with the fee. The certificate ends up in the keychain, together with a password-protected .p12 as the only backup.

With the certificate in the keychain, GrandTotal finds it by itself and signs the Facturae as it is created.

You then upload the finished file to FACe. For the wider Spanish requirements see our article on VeriFactu.