Certified digitisation: a scan is not a licence to shred

“Digitalización certificada”, “AEAT-homologated software”, “can I bin the paper invoices?”. Three searches. A 2007 order. Not Verifactu. Not Crea y Crece. Not an OCR reader.

Order EHA/962/2007, article 7, defines certified digitisation: turning the paper document into a faithful, complete digital image, with certified digitisation software, electronically signed, held in a documentary database. Done that way — and only that way — the taxpayer may discard the paper originals.

A PDF in a Drive folder is not that. A spreadsheet of extracted amounts is not that. A reader’s “99 % accuracy” is not that. If a salesperson says OCR lets you shred, ask for the homologation number on the AEAT list.

What article 7 actually asks

The taxpayer or a third party acting for them runs the process, always with homologated software. The developer applies to the Director of the Tax IT Department. The AEAT publishes the admitted-software list (the sede page was updated 4 August 2026). If your scanner’s name is not there, you are not in article 7.

The image must be faithful and complete, in a common standard the AEAT accepts, and signed with an electronic signature from a certificate installed on the digitisation system. The certificate is the taxpayer’s if they digitise, or the provider’s if a third party does it. Process fidelity means written controls, not “the intern signed it”.

The result lives in a documentary database. Each document carries the VAT books’ fields (articles 62 et seq. of the VAT Regulation) plus the binary image — or a link to it — with its signature. At the close of each settlement period the database is signed for integrity. Access must be complete: online consultation, search by book fields, download in the original format, and print. A ZIP on a disk nobody opens on a Friday is not “complete access”.

What lets you destroy paper — and what does not

Article 7.1 says invoices and documents digitised that way allow you to do without the paper originals. That is the authorisation. It is not a generic “it’s on the computer” permit. Any conversion other than articles 7 and 8 of that order creates a new document that is not the original.

Keeping the paper remains the default. The exception is this certified process. If you digitise “a bit” and shred “a bit”, an inspection does not see “a bit”: it sees homologated software, a signed faithful image and a queryable database — or it does not.

Article 8 is something else: printing a signed electronic invoice to paper, with PDF-417 marks, for someone who wants a paper file. That is not certified digitisation. Do not run it backwards to justify a shredder.

OCR, Verifactu and Crea y Crece are not this filing

• An invoice OCR reader extracts fields (issuer, tax id, bases, VAT) so nobody retypes. It does not produce the signed faithful image and does not need EHA/962/2007 homologation.
• Verifactu/SIF rules the programme you issue with. It does not let you destroy inbound paper invoices.
• B2B e-invoicing (RD 238/2026) is an EN16931 message between firms. It does not replace digitising the paper that still arrives.
• An office scanner plus a folder is not homologated software.

We have an invoice OCR reader for supplier capture: extract, apply rules, leave a human the ones that do not add up. We keep the original PDF next to the row. We do not sell it as certified digitisation. We do not say you may shred. If your case is destroying the 2014 archive, that is a homologation project and a provider on the AEAT list — not a ten-PDF extraction pilot.

How not to mix it with Kit Digital

A process-management voucher can implant a capture flow (mailbox, queue, validation). That does not turn the flow into certified digitisation. The Kit Digital annex is not Order EHA/962/2007. A voucher reviewer will not sign “paper destruction” because the agreement says OCR.

Adhesion is in progress. We do not claim Adherido. We do not offer homologated certified-digitisation software. If the pain is retyping, the deliverable is capture. If the pain is metres of archive, the deliverable is another vendor, another rule, another list.

What to do this week

Open the homologated-software list on the AEAT sede. Search the name you were sold. If it is not there, you do not shred. If it is, demand the homologation reference in writing and who signs the images (you or the provider).

Split the “I want to stop typing” drawer from the “I want to stop storing boxes” drawer. The first is a reader with a human queue. The second is article 7 only.

Do not sign a pack that welds Verifactu + Crea y Crece + OCR + destruction. Four rules. An inspector reads the one that applies. So does the voucher reviewer.

Frequently asked questions

Can I bin the paper if I use OCR?

Not because you use OCR. Extracting text is not certified digitisation. Only the article 7 process in Order EHA/962/2007, with homologated software and a signed faithful image, lets you discard the original.

Where is the homologated software list?

On the AEAT sede, the public list of certified invoice-digitisation software. The page was updated 4 August 2026. Check the exact product name, not the slogan.

Do you do this?

We do not offer certified digitisation or paper destruction. We offer capture with an invoice OCR reader and human review. A different deliverable.

Does Kit Digital pay for homologation?

The voucher does not turn a capture flow into article 7. Do not recite “certified digitisation” in a processes agreement if the software is not on the list.

Next: the invoice OCR reader, what Verifactu is and B2B e-invoicing. Tell us whether the pain is typing or archiving.