Poland: mandatory e-invoicing - questions and answers (Q&A)

In today's fast-paced digital world, electronic invoicing has become a prominent feature of modern business practices. As more organizations transition from traditional paper-based processes to digital solutions, understanding the intricacies of e-invoicing is crucial for both individuals and businesses operating in Poland.

We understand that navigating the world of e-invoicing can be complex, but our goal is to simplify it for you. Our experts have carefully curated this Q&A section to offer clear and concise answers to common queries, ensuring that you have the knowledge and confidence to embrace e-invoicing in your business operations.

Whether you are looking to optimize your invoicing processes, reduce costs, or enhance efficiency, e-invoicing has the potential to revolutionize your operations. Don't miss the opportunity to stay informed and take advantage of the benefits that e-invoicing can offer.

Browse through our Q&A section and unlock the answers to your e-invoicing questions. We are here to guide you on your journey towards seamless and paperless invoicing in Poland.

Yes, foreign entities will be covered by the electronic invoicing mandate only insofar as they have a fixed establishment in Poland and this establishment intervenes in the given transaction.

A transaction may be subject to Polish invoicing rules even if it is taxable in another jurisdiction. As a rule, all invoices issued under the Polish VAT Act will need to be issued in KSeF (exceptions apply to issuers without seat or FE in Poland, issuers whose FE in Poland does not intervene in the transaction, as well as certain types of transactions).

The interactions between the electronic invoicing mandate and self-billing are rather complex and not fully explained by the government. Nonetheless, in principle a foreign entity, even without fixed establishment or VAT registration in Poland, may in certain cases be responsible for the issuing of an invoice in KSeF under self-billing (e.g., self-billing of intracommunity supply from Poland, performed by party responsible to issue invoices in KSeF, when self-billed by foreign entity).

The Polish government has not commented extensively on the relation between the KSeF model and the envisioned ViDA model and bearing in mind the shape of regulations to be debated in Parliament, it seems to be unlikely that current model will be changed significantly to meet ViDA requirements. However, per the explanatory letter to the draft KSeF bill, the solutions implemented in PEF B2G e-invoicing platform in respect of handling Peppol invoices may be leveraged in the future to bring KSeF in line with the EU requirements. Other possibilities may be also leveraging on the emergency schemes provided in current KSeF draft law, where invoices are sent to customer and later sent to KSeF.

Fixed establishment is defined by the EU VAT Implementing Regulation as any establishment, other than the taxpayer’s registered seat, characterised by a sufficient degree of permanence and a suitable structure in terms of human and technical resources to enable it to receive and use the services supplied to it for its own needs. A non-Polish entity with such establishment in Poland shall be covered by the e-invoicing mandate, insofar as the establishment intervenes in the respective transactions.

Sales in retail stores, including invoices to fiscal receipts, are not excluded from the scope of the electronic invoicing mandate as long as they concern B2B transactions. Consequently, such stationary B2B sales would need to be documented by a structured invoice issued in KSeF. This certainly will not cover B2C purchases made in retail stores / hotels, restaurants, etc. For such purchases it will be necessary to re-shape processes of reimbursement of employees’ expenses, in order to track the purchases with the invoices sent to KSeF.

Where a natural person acts as a VAT taxpayer and makes a purchase under VAT number (business purchase), the invoice should be issued in KSeF. However, the issue is less clear when it comes to transactions with natural persons outside their economic activity. In our view, the issue of a KSeF invoice in such case should not be considered as void or ineffective. Still, the language of the draft law could be construed to mean that non-business purchases of B2B clients shall be excluded from invoicing in KSeF, and we cannot rule out that that such was the Ministry of Finance’s intention.

In our experience, most taxpayers choose to post invoices in their accounting books only after successful transmission to KSeF. However, this is not strictly necessary, provided that the appropriate business controls will be in place to ensure that all posted invoices are eventually uploaded to KSeF or excluded from the accounting books in case of documents that will not pass KSeF validation.

The invoice is available for download in KSeF to the purchaser and any third parties indicated in the invoice, after authenticating themselves in the system (e.g., by qualified electronic seal or signature). These entities may grant access to their received invoices to other entities, via the KSeF API or Taxpayer Application. Moreover, if the invoices are shared outside KSeF, they will be also available through the QR code access (so called anonymous access to the KSeF invoice), yet it is still not clear how such access will be granted from technical perspective.

B2G invoices issued via the PEF platform will be also transmitted to KSeF ,and in such case they will be also considered structured invoices. Hence, the implementation details and how Peppol systems and KSeF will work together are not fully clear and whether re-sending of Peppol invoices to KSeF will be mandatory. Additionally, bearing in mind wording of draft VAT law, we would expect that KSeF would be able to handle invoices in PEF format, without any conversion made by the issuer, but technical details in this respect has not been revealed yet as well.

The supplier shall deliver the invoice outside KSeF, in a way agreed upon between the parties, only in following cases:

• where the place of transaction is outside Poland,
• the purchaser does not have a registered seat nor fixed establishment in Poland, or
• the purchaser does not have a registered seat in Poland and their fixed establishment in Poland does not intervene in the transaction. the purchaser does not have a registered seat in Poland but has fixed establishment in Poland and their fixed establishment in Poland does not intervene in the transaction.

Moreover, where the purchaser is not an active VAT taxpayer (it is unclear whether the draft law refers to the purchaser’s VAT registration status in Poland or in any EU Member State), the supplier shall ensure the purchaser’s access to the invoice, by:

• sharing the QR verification code and data identifying the invoice, allowing for anonymous access, or
• marking the invoice with a QR verification code if it is used outside KSeF,
  - unless the purchaser waives this obligation.

Otherwise, the purchaser will receive the invoice via KSeF, and it will not be obligatory by parties to exchange invoices in any other way.

The KSeF number of an invoice (or aggregate identifier assigned to multiple invoices) will need to be provided:

• when paying for structured invoices via the split payment mechanism,
• when an active VAT taxpayer registered in Poland pays for the structured invoices to another such taxpayer by means of direct debit, credit transfer or other payment instrument where the title of the transfer of funds may be stated. The same applies to payment by a VAT taxpayer other than the purchaser.

Taxpayers will be obligated to put the QR code on an invoices whenever they will share them outside KSeF or otherwise use them outside the KSeF system.

Moreover, where the purchaser is not an active VAT taxpayer (it is unclear whether the draft law refers to the purchaser’s VAT registration status in Poland or in any EU Member State), the supplier shall ensure the purchaser’s access to the invoice, by:

• sharing the QR verification code and data identifying the invoice, allowing for anonymous access, or
• marking the invoice with a QR verification code if it is used outside KSeF,
  - unless the purchaser waives this obligation.