On 5 February 2021, the Polish Ministry of Finance proposed a draft amendment to the VAT Act, introducing to the Polish legal order the possibility to issue structured invoices as one of the permitted forms of documenting transactions.
Application of structured invoices (e-invoices), in addition to commercially present paper invoices and electronic invoices, is to be voluntary. For this purpose, the legislator intends to provide a computerized system, i.e. the National e-Invoicing System (KSeF).
Under the proposed draft bill, application of structured invoices will be based on attestation model, i.e. authorization of a person in the system, and will require prior approval of the recipient. Each taxpayer with an individual account in the system will be able to prepare an invoice directly in the financial and accounting programme, and then send it to KSeF via the API system or from a dedicated electronic platform. On the day KSeF assigns an identification number to a structured invoice, it will be considered to have been issued and received simultaneously.
In addition to the taxpayer, an entity authorized to access KSeF, such as an accounting office or other designated person, will be able to issue structured invoices on his behalf and have access to them. The above solution will require the taxpayer to submit a relevant notice to the head of the tax office, before issuing such an e-invoice.
The legislator has also provided for the possibility of anonymous (without prior authorization) access to a single structured invoice through a dedicated platform, by providing a set of unique characteristics identifying the invoice, including a number identifying invoice in this system.
Advantages of the proposed solution
- Unified e-invoice form for all taxpayers, placed on an electronic platform.
- No obligation to store and archive invoices.
- The shortened, 40-day period for VAT refund after fulfilling certain conditions.
- Same moment of correction of output VAT for the seller and input VAT for the buyer (introduction of an obligation to correct settlements once corrective invoice issued in KSeF has been received).
- Presumption of the authenticity of origin, integrity of content and legibility of the e-invoice issued through KSeF.
- No obligation for the taxpayer to provide the buyer with a copy of the structured invoice or certain data contained therein in the case of an intra-Community supply of new means of transport.
- No obligation for the taxpayer to send the JPK_FA structure at the request of the tax authorities with respect to e-invoices issued by the taxpayer or an entity authorized to access KSeF.
In addition, the legislator provides for lack of possibility to issue and send the corrective notes in a structured form to e-invoices due to their specific nature, i.e. that they must be accepted by the recipient. Therefore, the taxpayer will be entitled to issue and receive the corrective notes in accordance with the existing rules.
At the same time, it will be possible to correct e-invoice using both "ordinary" corrective invoice and corrective invoice in the structured form issued through KSeF.
Disadvantages of the proposed solution
- The conditions for applying a shortened 40-day VAT refund deadline will be difficult, if not impossible to meet (for example the requirement to issue all invoices in a structured form).
New regulations are expected to enter into force on 1 October 2021. We will keep you informed about further steps of works on the draft.
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