Automatic receipt type detection (OCR) in Spain

At Pleo, we use Optical Character Recognition (OCR) to help you manage expenses faster. In Spain, OCR can automatically suggest whether a document is a receipt (simplified invoice / ticket) or an invoice (factura), so you can capture the right information for accounting and VAT reporting.

How OCR detects the document type

When you attach a photo or file to an expense, Pleo analyses the document and makes an automatic suggestion:

• Receipt (ticket / simplified invoice): usually contains fewer required fields
• Invoice (factura): typically requires additional details for VAT deduction and bookkeeping (e.g. supplier tax ID (NIF/CIF) and an invoice number)

This detection happens automatically as part of the expense workflow after the document is uploaded.

Review or change the document type

1. Open the relevant expense

2. Find Document type

3. Review the OCR suggestion (receipt or invoice)

4. If needed, change the selection to Receipt or Invoice

If you select Invoice, Pleo shows extra fields for the information you may need for accounting:

• Supplier tax identification number (NIF/CIF)
• Invoice number

Accept OCR suggestions for invoice fields

If OCR detects an invoice, it will try to extract key fields automatically.

1. In the expense, check the suggested values for:

   i. VAT number (NIF/CIF)

   ii. Invoice number

2. Accept the suggestion if it’s correct

3. Edit the fields if the suggestion is incomplete or incorrect

Good to know: OCR values are suggestions, not guaranteed matches. If the image is blurry or the invoice layout is unusual, you may need to correct the document type and/or edit the extracted fields