Poland’s National e-Invoicing System launched on February 1, initially mandatory for large taxpayers, granting the tax office unprecedented access to detailed invoice data.
New Visibility for the Tax Office
What does the National e-Invoicing System (KSeF) give the tax office? Until now, the treasury knew who sold what to whom and for how much. From February 1, the treasury begins to gradually find out exactly what was sold. In the central invoice system, they start seeing entire documents.
Phased Rollout and Consumer Impact
For now, only the largest taxpayers must issue invoices using KSeF, but in two months, a much larger group will join them. Everyone should already know how to receive an invoice issued in the system, including entrepreneurs, offices, institutions, and local governments.
Consumers will likely receive invoices as they have so far—on paper or by email. Although the VAT law allows invoices to be issued in KSeF for consumers, the seller would have to agree with the buyer on the method of sharing such a document.
Exceptions to the System
Certain items remain outside KSeF, including receipts for highway tolls, train tickets, and receipts from cash registers (including those considered invoices, i.e., up to 450 PLN). “Fiscal invoices” will also continue to be issued in the old format. This is important for those buying fuel at Orlen stations. The company announced that at least until April, it will issue fiscal invoices to business customers outside KSeF, regardless of the transaction value, with the exception of fleet sales.
Corporate Pressure on Contractors
Although KSeF is not yet universal, some companies are already trying to force smaller contractors to use the system faster. Leveraging their stronger business position, they attempt to push through contract addendums stating they will pay for delivery only upon receiving a correctly issued structured invoice. This applies regardless of whether the supplier is actually required to use KSeF yet.
Others want the payment deadline to run from the day the invoice is assigned a KSeF number. Some demand the sending of a visualization of such an invoice. There are even those who require suppliers to return the VAT amount if the tax office denies the tax deduction for a document issued outside KSeF.
Piotr Juszczyk, chief tax advisor at InFakt, states: “Tax law does not provide a basis for such coercion; it is rather an abuse of contractual position.” In practice, he adds, this involves shifting organizational and technological risk to the weaker party of the contract.
Challenges for Accountants
Accountants face a huge challenge as they expect to receive documents from several sources simultaneously. Some will be visualized (issued in KSeF), while others will be ordinary—sent on paper or via email. Bożena Wodarska from MDDP Outsourcing notes that it will take months for everyone to get used to functioning differently under KSeF. She emphasizes that the biggest problem lies on the business side, requiring a change in thinking regarding invoices, visualizations, and transaction confirmations.
Her colleague, Piotr Steczyszyn, predicts that some suppliers will not want to issue invoices in KSeF, citing the fact that no sanctions threaten them until January 1, 2027.
