E-invoicing in Poland – The Timeline
The European Commission has given Poland the go-ahead to introduce mandatory B2B electronic invoicing.
Poland had sent the application to be allowed to roll out mandatory countrywide e-invoicing to the commission on August 2, 2021. Following the approval, the Polish electronic invoicing mandate will take effect in 2023, ostensibly during the second quarter.
The European Commission has given Poland the go-ahead to introduce mandatory B2B electronic invoicing.
Electronic invoicing isn’t new in Poland. The country adopted the 2014/55/EU Directive in November 2018, obligating electronic invoicing for public procurement and sub-central entities from April 2019. This, in effect, made B2G invoicing for suppliers mandatory. For this mandate, Poland built Platformy Elektronicznego Fakturowania (PeF), a public portal platform to facilitate B2G e-invoicing. Further, Poland ran a pilot project for Business to Business (B2B) e-invoicing in 2021 on a clearance model known as Krajowego Systemu e-faktur (KSeF).
Polish authorities welcomed taxpayers and service providers to test KSef voluntarily in October 2021. From 2023, however, using the KSef will be mandatory.
Polish tax authorities and businesses will benefit the most when all e-invoices are in one national standard with a centralized system that allows users to log in automatically and check their invoices.
KSef – Understanding the National e-Invoicing System in Poland
KSef is a platform provided by the government to facilitate B2B invoicing in Poland. Companies must issue and receive structured invoices — FA_VAT — on the platform. The generated invoices will then be available for download by users.
KSef will apply a digital stamp to the invoice and notify users about the number assigned to their invoices. Users will also be notified about rejected invoices and heads-up when KSef isn’t working. The platform will archive invoices for 10 years from the date of issue.
The government has published a series of frequently asked questions about KSef to help business owners and taxpayers familiarize themselves with the system. Note — Poland’s standard electronic invoicing format is based on EN 16931 and Peppol BIS Billing.
Who Will be Affected by Poland’s Mandatory e-Invoicing?
The imminent e-Invoicing will affect all B2B businesses registered in Poland for VAT purposes.
Objectives and Benefits of Electronic Invoicing in Poland
The government’s motive for digitalizing the tax system is to enjoy the benefits other European countries are experiencing through Continuous Transaction Controls (CTC). It began with Spain, Italy, and Portugal making B2B invoicing mandatory in real-time electronic VAR reporting or using a clearance model like KSef. KSef models after Italy’s electronic tax and invoicing clearance model known as Sdi. Polish tax authorities and businesses will benefit the most when all e-invoices are in one national standard with a centralized system that allows users to log in automatically and check their invoices.
These benefits include:
1. Shorter VAT Return Times for Taxpayers
The government is introducing a 1/3 reduction in VAT return times to promote the new invoicing system – that’s 20 days instead of the usual 40 or 60 days with paper invoicing.
2. Relieve from Producing the Standard Audit file for Taxpayers
The government will exempt businesses that use KSef from declaring the standard audit file for invoices (JPK_FA). This reprieve will improve the conditions for taxpayers and companies to do business in Poland due to streamlined and faster access to documents. It’ll also help businesses promptly provide their VAT information to the Polish tax authorities.
3. Real-time Data on VAT invoices for Polish Tax Authorities
Poland’s new electronic invoicing system will help tax administrators effectively combat tax fraud. European countries suffered an annual VAT gap of 140$ billion Euro in 2018. With the gap expected to be higher following the ravaging pandemic, there wouldn’t have been a better time to implement e-invoicing in Poland to deal with tax fraudsters.
4. More Security
The introduction of a standard invoice format will help increase more security of B2B transactions.
5. Automation
Electronic invoicing allows automation while eliminating manual accounting processes. The ripple effect is fewer human errors caused by manual data entry into the ERP system. Other benefits of the mandatory B2B invoicing in Poland include:
- Reduced costs due to faster invoice processing
- Increased accounts payable productivity
- Faster processing and payment cycles
- Enhanced accounts reconciliation
Leverage Unimaze’s Compliance and Integration Services in Poland
Unimaze’s electronic invoicing and compliance solutions enable businesses in Poland to automate all of their B2B and B2G invoicing and tax document processing. Our solutions can integrate with any ERP system, enabling you to generate and issue e-invoices to the KSef invoicing platform and supplier electronic invoices issued to the Polish public via PeF while ensuring 100% compliance. Unimaze understands that KSef and PeF are complex, technical platforms with no portal to upload PDFs. Still, you can automate your issuing and receiving of invoices by connecting to KSef and PeF platforms through Unimaze and our local partner.
Contact us for a consultation session with one of our e-invoicing experts for Poland.
