The obligation of issuing structured invoices with the use of the National System of e-Invoices in Poland

Structured invoices became a part of business operations in Poland, next to electronic and printed invoices, as a result of the introduction of the National System of e-Invoices (KSeF) by the Ministry of Finance. A structured invoice is an e-invoice issued through the National System of e-Invoices, with an identification number assigned to it by the system. It contains the mandatory elements that all invoices must include as well as additional fields that are helpful in trade. Starting from 1 January 2022, the Ministry of Finance provides the taxpayers with the possibility of issuing structured invoices. This type of invoices will become obligatory in 2024.

Documents issued in a manner non-compliant with the said obligation shall not be considered as invoices. It is the result of the draft act introducing the obligation of issuing invoices in a structured form, published by the Ministry of Finance on 1 December 2022.

The obligation of issuing invoices in the National System of e-Invoices shall apply to VAT payers who have a registered office or permanent place of business in Poland. Foreign taxpayers without a permanent place of business in Poland will also be able to use the system voluntarily. The said invoice form will not be able to taxpayers who use the non-Union scheme with regard to certain services (OSS).

What happens in case of failure of the Polish KSeF system?

If the system stops working due to, for instance, a failure, the Minister of Finances will post a notification on the Public Information Bulletin that the system is unavailable, including the initial and final date of the failure.

The taxpayer will be unable to issue invoices in the system and should do it immediately once the functionality of the system is restored. If the entrepreneur creates invoices in other accounting software during the failure of the KSeF system and later on uploads them to the system, the date of issue of the invoices might change. The date of issue of a structured invoice is the date on which it was uploaded to the KSeF system. Thus, there might be a discrepancy between the dates if the system failure lasts for several days.

Should the use of the National System of e-Invoices be impossible due to an extraordinary crisis situation, the taxpayer who carries out a economic activity within the area affected by the crisis situation will be able, for the duration of it, to issue invoices in their standard form instead of the structured format. Such invoices will not need to be uploaded to the KSeF system at a later date.

Advantages of the Polish National System of e-Invoices

The KSeF system has many advantages, the most important of which include:

• shortening of the standard deadline of VAT return to 40 days,
• certainty that the contractor received the invoice and issuing duplicates is unnecessary,
• possibility of downloading purchase invoices issued for a particular entity from the system,
• no need of archiving of invoices by the issuer since they are to be available in the KSeF system for 10 years,
• authorization of invoice circulation between entities,
• access to invoices at any time – the system will be available 24/7.

Remember! The taxpayer who, in breach of the obligation, does not issue a structured invoice, issues an invoice during the period of the KSeF system failure in a manner non-compliant with the applicable XSD scheme, or fails to upload an invoice issued during the period of the KSeF system failure to the system within the set deadline shall be subject to a fine.

Author: Sylwia Zatorska, Junior Accountant at MDDP Outsourcing.

Sources:

Draft act on introduction of e-invoices as a common settlement system