How to handle tips?

Tip

Last updated on 2025-12-16.

In Spain, tips that are given voluntarily by customers and are not mandatory are generally not part of the VAT taxable base and are not subject to VAT, because they are not treated as payment for the goods or services provided.

Because Verifactu and TicketBAI only require you to send the tax-relevant data of the invoice (bases, VAT amounts, equivalence surcharge, etc.), these voluntary tips do not need to be included in the XML that is sent to AEAT or the Basque tax authorities as long as they are not part of the invoiced price.

However, if you add a mandatory “service charge” or similar amount to the invoice total (i.e. it is not a freely decided tip), then this does form part of the taxable base, is subject to VAT, and should be included in the invoice and therefore in the Verifactu/TicketBAI file.