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The KSeF and structured invoices will be mandatory in Poland from 1 January 2024

What is KSeF?

KSeF is a central National E-Invoicing System. It enables its users to issue, store and receive electronic invoices. Poland is the fourth country in the European Union to introduce electronic invoices in a structured data format. The system is intended to simplify the documentation of sales and the control of the accuracy of business invoicing. The Polish Ministry of Finance released a production version of the KSeF app in May this year. It can already be used on a voluntary basis if a business chooses to issue invoices in a structured data format. Please note that the recipient of e-invoices issued via the KSeF during the transition period must first approve this form of invoicing. One can, of course, safely assume that such acceptance will no longer be necessary once the use of the National E-Invoicing System becomes mandatory.

What is a structured invoice?

A structured invoice is an invoice issued via the National E-Invoicing System (the KSeF), together with an ID allocated by the system. The invoice is produced in the xml format and its data is structured in accordance with the e-invoice logical structure published by the Ministry of Finance.

In case of financial and accounting systems integrated with the KSeF: submitting an invoice to the KSeF is tantamount to issuing that invoice and putting it in circulation. The National E-Invoicing System will generate an Official Certificate of Receipt (UPO) in return. Each invoice will also be assigned a KSeF-ID number, indicating that the customer has actually received the invoice.

What are the main benefits of using structured invoices?

1. Uniformity of invoices. Reduced handling time for incoming and outgoing invoices, automation of processes.
2. Elimination of costs associated with OCR tools, printing and posting paper invoices.
3. Certainty of having complied with the duty to ensure authenticity of origin, integrity of content and legibility of invoices.
4. Storage of invoices at the KSeF for ten years. Savings on archive handling and hardware resources.
5. Guarantee that the invoices reach the recipient. No need to issue invoice duplicates. It is also not without significance that the switch from traditional paper invoices to e-invoices is no longer just a trend or a bow to the environment, but also a necessity.

When will it become mandatory to use the KSeF?

Last month, the Council of the European Union agreed that electronic invoicing become mandatory in Poland from 1 January 2024 onwards. This means that all businesses will have to issue and receive invoices in a structured data format via the National e-Invoicing System.

KSeF versus JPK?

During the transition period, businesses using the KSeF will not be asked by the Tax Office to send their JPKs (single audit files) for invoices.

On the other hand, all entities which choose to work with the KSeF only after it becomes mandatory will still have to be ready to present to the tax authorities single audit files concerning sales invoices in accordance with the latest applicable JPK-FA(4) structure during the transition period.

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The Polish Ministry of Finance have published a preliminary logical structure of a new version of the JPK-VAT file for a declaration with registers (JPK-V7M).

The updated version contains a number of changes which entered into force as of July this year. For example:

• the GTU procedural markings (for groups of goods and services) have been made more precise now,
• the MPP procedural markings (referring to the split payment schema) have been eliminated,
• the markings for SW (mail order sales from Poland) and EE (telecommunications, broadcasting and electronic services ) procedures have been replaced with one common procedural marking WSTO_EE (intra-community distance sales of goods and provision of telecommunications, broadcasting and electronic services to consumers and non-taxpayers in another EU state),
• a marking element for the IED procedure has been introduced (with reference to taxpayers who facilitate buyer and seller contact by using an electronic interface, i.e. for example an online store, as part of their business activities),
• several definitions of fields with relevant texts have also been updated, including those referring to VAT refunds, for which also additional shortened refund deadlines have been added, for example a 40-day deadline for making a VAT refund in connection with using the National E-Invoicing System (KSeF), planned to go live in January 2022. The new JPK-V7M(2) structure will be applicable to settlement periods starting on or after January 2022.

In practice, the first JPK-V7M files will not be transmitted in their latest version until February next year.

A new Microsoft Windows 365 service has been available to business users in Poland for a few days now – it is a fully cloud-based computer. The service consists in the streaming of the Windows system with the entire content – applications, settings, data – from Microsoft’s cloud onto any device, in a secure way.

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Windows 365 is available in the following versions:

• Business for small and mid-sized enterprises (up to 300 users)
• Enterprise for larger businesses.

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An electronic invoice is a digital file which contains structured invoice data. It will become an optional invoice format in Poland starting from 1 January 2022.  

According to the announcements of the Polish Ministry of Finance, it is also likely that it will become mandatory for all businesses to issue structured invoices starting from the year 2023.

How is it going to look in practice?

First and foremost, the recipient has to give their consent to being issued an e-invoice in the form of a structured file.  

If the recipient does not agree to receiving their invoices through the National E-Invoicing System (KSeF), then it will still be possible to issue invoices in a structured data format, but nevertheless the recipient will have to receive the respective invoices in a format that they will accept (in a digital or paper form).

E-invoices issued in on-premises or cloud-based accounting software will be transmitted to the KSeF via an API.

• The KSeF will timestamp the invoice and allocate to it a unique ID.
• The date of invoice transmission to the KSeF will be taken as the date of e-invoice issue, while the date of allocating an ID will be considered to be the date of invoice receipt.

If the recipient does not consent to receiving e-invoices, the existing rules governing the invoice receipt date will apply.

Communication with the KSeF will enable downloading a single invoice or a batch of invoices.

It will be possible to correct an invoice by issuing a structured correction invoice, which will have to contain a reference to the ID allocated by the KSeF to the original invoice.

Correction notes, RR invoices, and proforma invoices will not be recorded in the National E-Invoicing System. The current rules for issuing and receiving those documents will apply.

How can businesses benefit from e-invoicing?

• Certainty that the counterparty has received the invoice.
• Guarantee of invoice authenticity, content integrity and readability.
• Increased efficiency of automated invoice posting due to a unified invoice structure.  
• No need to issue invoice duplicates.
• No need to retain invoice documents.
• No need to hand over invoices to tax authorities.
• Preferential 40-day VAT refund deadline.
• Exemption from the duty to sent the JPK-FA single audit file at the request of the tax authorities.