The invoice cannot be dated before the last document of the series

Symptom

When you click Confirm on an invoice (or Create Payment when issuing a receipt), the Invalid Operation window opens and the document is not issued. The invoice stays in Draft; for the receipt, the Issue receipt window stays open.

Message

On an invoice with Invoice Date 29/10/2026, when the last invoice of the series is dated 30/10/2026, with the Billing profile:

“Document "(ainda sem número)" is dated 29/10/2026, which is before the last document already numbered in series "FT D26" (FT D26/32, dated 30/10/2026). A certified series numbers documents in chronological order; fix the date or use a document dated on or after 30/10/2026.”

On the receipt the message is the same, with the last receipt of the series. In the example, on 31/10/2026, a receipt with yesterday's Payment Date, after another receipt issued today:

“Document "(ainda sem número)" is dated 30/10/2026, which is before the last document already numbered in series "RG D26" (RG D26/16, dated 31/10/2026). A certified series numbers documents in chronological order; fix the date or use a document dated on or after 31/10/2026.”

If the last document of the series is dated later than today, the message does not say “on or after”: it ends with “… fix the date or use a document dated after 06/11/2026.” (see “The series has a document with a future date”).

Both messages were triggered in the demo database. The parts in italics change with the document.

Verified causes

• There is already a more recent document in the same series. The numbers of a series follow the order of the dates: invoice 33 cannot be dated before 32. fiscaldoo compares the date of the new document with that of the last numbered document of the series, whatever its state (a cancelled document also counts).
• On the receipt, the date is the Payment Date. Receipts have their own series (RG). The message names the last receipt of the series and its date: that is the date that counts, not the invoice's.
• A document with a future date blocks the series. Once a document dated later than today has been issued, fiscaldoo only accepts documents in the series dated after that document. This is a fiscaldoo rule: Order (Despacho) no. 8632/2014, point 3.4.2, says that a new document cannot be issued “with the current or an earlier date”, and fiscaldoo also refuses the future date itself, until that day has passed. Pending validation by a certified accountant: whether, on the day of the future date itself, the law allows a document to be issued with that date (Order no. 8632/2014, point 3.4.2). On an invoice, fiscaldoo warns before issuing (see “The series has a document with a future date”). On a receipt, the Issue receipt window does not accept a Payment Date later than today. In the demo, on 31/10/2026, with 01/11/2026: “The receipt date (01/11/2026) is after today (31/10/2026). A receipt records a payment already received: use today's date or an earlier one. Once issued, the series is closed to receipts dated up to 01/11/2026, and cancelling the receipt does not reopen it (the number and date of a cancelled document stay in the series). Nothing was recorded.” Cancelling a document with a future date does not unblock the series: the cancelled document keeps its number and date, and still counts.

What to check

1. The date you typed. Very often it is a mistake in the day or the month.
2. The date and number of the last document of the series: they are in the message itself (in the example, FT D26/32, dated 30/10/2026).
3. Whether that last document has a future date. If it has, the series is stuck until that date (see “How to fix it”).
4. Whether the document you want to issue is for a sale that happened earlier, or for a document written by hand when the program was unavailable. These are different cases (below).

How to fix it

The date was wrong, or the sale is from today

1. Click Close. The invoice stays in Draft, with everything you typed.
2. In Invoice Date, choose the date given in the message or a later one. Usually it is today's date.
3. Click Confirm. In the demo, the same invoice (Cliente Sem NIF Exemplo, 12.30 €), dated 30/10/2026, was issued as FT D26/33.

For the receipt, click Close, correct the Payment Date in the Issue receipt window and click Create Payment.

Who does it: the same profile that is issuing (Billing or Accountant).

The sale or the payment happened earlier

The invoice date is the date you issue it, not the date of the sale. Issue it with today's date and, when the sale was earlier, give the day the goods were delivered (or the service was provided) in Delivery date, in the invoice's Other Info tab. The law requires that date on the invoice whenever it differs from the issue date (VAT Code (CIVA), art. 36, no. 5, para. f)). The Delivery date is printed on the PDF, next to the Invoice date: in the demo, an invoice issued on 30/10/2026 with Delivery date 28/10/2026 shows both dates on the PDF (see How to issue a certified invoice, step 5).

The invoice has a deadline for being issued: as a general rule, by the 5th working day after the moment the tax becomes due, which is usually the delivery of the goods or the provision of the service (CIVA, art. 36, no. 1, para. a)). The VAT goes into the periodic VAT return period that matches the invoice date, if it is issued within the deadline. Pending validation by a certified accountant: issuing deadline and exceptions, when VAT becomes chargeable if the invoice is issued late (CIVA, art. 8) and the rule on the delivery date on the invoice (CIVA, art. 36, no. 5, para. f)).

On a receipt, use the date the money arrived, as long as it is not before the last receipt of the series. If it is, issue it with the date given in the message and write the real payment date in the Memo. Pending validation by a certified accountant: receipt issued after the payment date.

The document was written by hand when the program was unavailable

A manual document is not reproduced with another date in a normal series: it is integrated in a recovery series, with the date and number of the paper document. The Fiscal officer does this. On a new invoice, in the Other Info tab, the group RECUPERAÇÃO (DOCUMENTO MANUAL OU DUPLICADO) has the fields Manual original number and Manual document date. The help of the first says that, once it is filled in, the document “becomes a recovery document, numbered by the annual recovery series”; the help of the second says that the manual document's date “must be the date of this document”. With the Billing profile, the group appears without the two fields. Pending validation on screen: the integration through to issuing was not done, because the demo database has no active recovery series.

The series has a document with a future date

The last document of the series is dated later than today (for example, an invoice issued with Confirm dates and issue and next week's date). fiscaldoo only accepts documents in the series dated after that document: on the day of the future date itself, that date is still refused. This is a fiscaldoo rule (see “Verified causes”). Pending validation by a certified accountant: refusing the future date itself (Order no. 8632/2014, point 3.4.2). In the demo, on 31/10/2026, after FT D26/41 was issued dated 06/11/2026, the invoice with today's date was refused with “… (FT D26/41, dated 06/11/2026). A certified series numbers documents in chronological order; fix the date or use a document dated after 06/11/2026.”, and so was the invoice dated 06/11/2026: “… After a document with a future date, the series only accepts documents with a later date (Despacho 8632/2014, 3.4.2). Give this document a date after 06/11/2026 or use another series.”

On an invoice with a future date, fiscaldoo shows the warning at the top of the invoice and, when you click Confirm, refuses with “The date of document "(ainda sem número)" (04/01/2027) is later than the system date (29/10/2026). Once issued, the series of this document is closed to documents dated on or before 04/01/2027. …”. To issue it anyway, the invoice has the Confirm dates and issue button, and the confirmation is kept in the audit log with the name of who did it. Only use it when the future date really is the right one.

If the series already has a document with a future date:

• Do not issue documents with the future date the message gives, just to move the series on: you would be issuing another document with a wrong date.
• Do not cancel the document with the future date to unblock the series: in the demo, after it was cancelled, the refusal stayed the same.
• Ask the Fiscal officer to decide, with the certified accountant, whether to wait for the day given or whether the wrong document is corrected another way (credit note or cancellation, with the reason). Pending validation by a certified accountant: what to do with the documents of the period in which the series is stuck.

To correct a document already issued, see I cannot change an invoice already issued. To cancel, see How to cancel an invoice or another certified document.

Pending validation on screen: the same rule applies to delivery notes (GT series) and, on a series that continues one from a previous program, to the date of that program's last document; these two cases were not triggered in this batch.

Expected result

• The invoice goes from Draft to Posted, with the next number of the series (in the example, FT D26/33), on the date you chose.
• The receipt is issued with the next number of the RG series and the invoice becomes paid (or partly paid).

When to contact support

• The message appears with a date equal to or later than that of the last document given.
• The date of the last document the message gives does not match any document you recognise.
• The series has a document with a future date and you need to keep invoicing until that day, inclusive.

Information to send

• The company and the series (for example FT D26).
• The full text of the message, copied from the screen.
• The date you tried to use and the profile you logged in with.
• The number and date of the document with the future date, if relevant.