KSeF in questions and answers asked during the webinar

National Register of e-Invoices mandatory from July 1, 2024. Is your core invoicing process up to the challenge? Watch the webinar with our Expert. Check out the questions about KSeF that were asked during this online meeting.

Watch the entire webinar How to Prepare a Company for KSeF entry

I have a retail store, and currently, any employee can issue an invoice for the receipt. Will it also be the case from 2024 that every employee can issue an invoice in KSeF?

On the side of the cash register/back office where the employee issues an invoice, little should change as long as the application is properly integrated with KSeF. This is because the authorization to communicate with KSeF is usually assigned to the application rather than the user who issues an invoice in the sales application. This, of course, depends on the specific system and implementation. Manufacturers can solve the issue of access and authorization in different ways – it is best to ask the manufacturer/system supplier this question. In the Exorigo-UPOS proprietary systems, permissions regarding communication with KSeF are related to the central system and are not associated with the access of the application user.

Will there still be corrective notes after the introduction of the KSEF?

Corrective notes can still be used after the introduction of mandatory structured invoices. The Ministry of Finance plans to implement a correction invoice proposal mechanism in the KSeF, thanks to which the invoiced purchaser may apply to the invoice issuer for a correction by generating an appropriate correction proposal in the KSeF. After accepting the proposal by the exhibitor, a corrected invoice will be generated. The proposed mechanism will not replace correction notes, but it is similar to the need to update the document by the buyer of the invoice.

How will foreign invoices be processed?

If the invoice issuer is not authorized to issue an invoice in KSeF, he cannot give an e-invoice and is obliged to submit the invoice in another agreed manner outside of KSeF. Our clients most often maintain the current document circulation process for foreign purchase invoices, where the company’s office registers a paper document or a pdf version or where EDI is used. A similar approach is applied to domestic invoices issued by entities not obliged to issue invoices in KSeF. It is worth remembering that the control process is extended to verify whether the taxpayer on the White List can issue an invoice other than a structured one. In the case of issuing sales invoices, the taxpayer who is obliged to issue an invoice in the KSeF and register the e-invoice in the Ministry of Finance must transfer the invoice to the buyer outside the KSeF in a different, agreed manner.

Will KSeF notify the entrepreneur about the issued invoice with the payment date, e.g., for rent in the shopping center or electricity?

KSeF does not send any notifications about issuing an invoice or payment date. KSeF provides an API that responds to calls from external systems but does not send anything to anyone by itself. Our customers plan to continue sending invoices to buyers in the current mode, although an invoice issued in KSeF is formally considered delivered. Depending on the implementation, it is possible to notify about issuing an invoice with, e.g., a link to the SmartKSeF portal for self-downloading the invoice in PDF/HTML form and attachments, if any.

You mentioned an inventory in one of the enterprises, where 21 invoicing systems were shown. In that case, is your solution ready for integration with more than one external system? I will also refer to your comment that there is little time left – how long does it usually take to integrate with your KSeF system, and when to start to make it before January 1, 2024?

SmartKSeF is designed to support companies with many sales and purchase systems, each of which can communicate differently. Still, practice shows that it is more effective to use one standard API. It should be remembered that this is only sometimes possible due to the limitations or capabilities of a given system – and here, our SmartKSeF comes to the rescue and becomes an indispensable communication bridge between many different methods.

To start communicating with KSEF via the SmartKSeF service, it is necessary to configure entities and access for systems and users. The analysis of data availability, mapping them by the KSeF requirements, and the integration and testing itself may take the most time. There is usually much more work on the part of clients because changes in regulations, contracts, arrangements for communication with contractors, training for employees, etc., are often required. All this can take a long time. In some cases, changes to internal systems are also needed, which should also be included in the schedule. Implementation may take a few weeks, but it may take several months. Therefore, take the start of work.

Isn’t this related to introducing a carbon footprint tax/limit on purchases under the pretext of “convenience” for Kowalski?

It is difficult for us to comment on the legislator’s intentions regarding the surveillance of citizens. Still, according to the assurances of the Ministry of Finance, the buyer assigned to the e-receipt will not be identified in the e-receipt HUB.

Will KSeF also cover invoices for natural persons, i.e., non-companies? In this case, will the invoice recipient have to provide PESEL? If so, what about GDPR?

The current legal status and amendments to the VAT Act published at the end of 2022 require the registration of invoices for consumers/B2C sales in the KSeF. On such an invoice, the buyer’s data are provided by the buyer’s requirements, and the PESEL number is not mandatory information. However, the buyer may provide such data for the issuer to include on the invoice. According to the Ministry of Finance, the obligation to provide personal data in invoices sent to KSeF results from tax laws. This means that the processing and transfer of personal data for fulfilling tax (statutory) obligations do not require the consent of the data subject (Article 6(1)(c) and (e) of the GDPR). In particular, the buyer’s request to delete his data does not affect the scope of data processed in the issued e-Invoice and, thus, the size of data sent to KSeF.

Does the concept of your solution boil down to issuing orders by sales systems, and your mechanism centrally gives invoices?

The method of communication between external systems and the SmartKSeF service can be carried out in various ways, e.g., by sending an order for issuing an invoice in the KSeF by the sales system. There are many differences in communication with the MF API, e.g., many ways of communication, data download (pull) and not only transfer (push), dry run mode allowing only document verification, extensive validations, including individual conditions, sending attachments, etc. The SmartKSeF service also addresses KSeF unavailability and queues orders to issue an invoice once KSeF is available again.

Do invoices issued to a natural person (invoices without NIP) require registration in the KSEF system?

The current legal status and amendments to the VAT Act published at the end of 2022 require the registration of invoices for consumers/B2C sales in the KSeF. However, as part of the consultations on the draft act, numerous voices were criticizing these requirements, arguing that the purpose of KSEF is to limit the shadow economy and a consumer without a NIP number will not deduct VAT, so many people claim that B2C invoices will not contribute to determining the shadow economy. KAS will gain access to unnecessary private data for the fight against the gray economy. This may often be off-balance sheet data, as invoices in KSeF may contain additional information necessary for recipients, e.g., in the case of an invoice for the use of a telephone, it could be billing of calls.

How will the buyer receive the e-invoice? Will the issuer be obliged to notify the buyer about issuing the invoice?

From a formal point of view, after January 1, 2024, an invoice issued in KSeF is considered, by operation of law, to have been delivered to the buyer, and the Act does not impose an obligation to notify the buyer of the invoice being issued. In practice, the seller will usually send the invoice to the buyer in the same way as it does now (invoices issued at the point of sale, invoices sent as an attachment in an e-mail, invoices available in the customer panel or on the loyalty account, EDI exchange, etc.) or notify about issuing an invoice in the KSeF, because the buyer will not always have access to the KSeF (e.g., a consumer without a NIP number will not be able to log in to the KSeF, he will only be able to read a specific invoice via anonymous access).

Is it a mistake to send the same invoice simultaneously by KSeF and traditional channels (e-mail or post)?

Two periods must be distinguished here – the current, optional one (until December 31, 2023), where the paper and pdf form is an acceptable form of a VAT invoice, and the Ministry of Finance thinks that the transfer of a paper/pdf invoice to the buyer is the introduction of the document into legal circulation and an invoice cannot then be issued in KSeF, because it would be a duplication of the invoice in circulation. During the mandatory period (from January 1, 2024), the paper/pdf form will no longer have any legal force; it may only be an image of an invoice issued in KSeF. Therefore, the mode where the invoice is generated in KSeF (which is confirmed by assigning a unique KSeF identifier) and a paper printout or pdf showing the e-invoice is delivered to the buyer is acceptable. There are ongoing legal discussions about whether such an image must be limited to the data in the KSeF or whether additional information not submitted to the KSeF can be placed on it. We are waiting for the Ministry of Finance’s explanations as part of public consultations regarding the draft amendment to the VAT Act.

Will cost invoices also be able to be automatically downloaded by accounting offices?

KSeF provides all invoices issued to a given taxpayer to authorized entities. Each invoice in KSeF has the same format per the Ministry of Finance scheme, costing, material, sales, corrective, advance payment, etc. Therefore, an authorized system (e.g., an accounting office) can download and process all invoices. Access permissions on the KSeF side do not distinguish between invoice types. Only the proposed changes to the Act will be able to separate access per recipient, which will allow, for example, a kindergarten (invoice recipient) can download ‘its’ invoices from KSeF. It will not have access to other municipal invoices (invoice buyer).

Is the trial version of the system publicly available (KSeF)?

Yes, the test KSeF is available without real authorization requirements.

On the Tax.gov website, three versions of KSef are available for download: production, pre-production, and test; what is the difference between them, and which one is better to download?

The trial version allows you to test communication with KSeF and perform operations on the MF portal on any NIP. The pre-production/demo version is also a test version. Still, production accesses are verified (i.e., one of the possible authorizations must be made to issue an invoice, but the invoice sent is not a production one). The production version is the official register of invoices – the invoice issued here is introduced to the market and has the same legal effects as the current paper/pdf invoice. Please remember not to use real data when using the test version because access to them is free, and it is impossible to delete information once sent.

What is the issue of granting authorizations in KSeF for invoices issued in self-billing?

For this purpose, a dedicated authorization “Entity to issue invoices under the self-billing procedure” should be granted in KSeF, indicating the invoice issuer by providing its NIP and identification data. In other words, the entity must authorize a specific other entity to issue invoices to itself.

What will the customer who leaves the cash register receive as confirmation in the event of a failure of the KSEF system?

In the current optional period (until December 31, 2023), the VAT or simplified invoice provided to the customer is a full-fledged document. During the period of mandatory use of the KSeF (from January 1, 2024), a printed copy, without being registered in the KSeF, is not formally an invoice. Hence the lawyers are discussing whether such a document can be called an “invoice.” As part of our proprietary solutions, we use a QR code on documents with a link to the SmartKSeF portal; thanks to this, the buyer can view the invoice at any stage of processing, including as long as the invoice is not yet issued KSeF. To sum up, the customer receives a validated document at the cash register and a simple method to check the invoice status in KSeF at every stage of its processing.

Will KSeF cover all entities on the Polish market from 2024?

Not all. There are entities exempt from the obligation to issue in the KSeF (e.g., taxpayers registered for the VAT OSS/IOSS procedure in another Member State and taxpayers issuing invoices under special procedures under the VAT Act) and those that have the option but are not obliged to give in the KSeF (e.g., foreign taxpayers who do not have a seat of business or a permanent place of business in Poland, VAT exempt taxpayers and flat-rate farmers). In addition, the draft amendment to the VAT Act includes the possibility of limiting the obligation to use the KSEF for selected taxpayers by a regulation issued by the Ministry of Finance. But these are exceptions to the general rule that requires issuing an invoice to KSeF from January 1, 2024.

Is the implementation of the electronic receipt, just like KSeFa, obligatory? What models of fiscal printers can be integrated with your eParagon system?

The use of an e-receipt is not obligatory. The store can purchase any fiscal device with a valid homologation and use it as long as the budgetary days in the fiscal memory do not end. The regulations may promote electronic receipt in the future, but for now, there is freedom in its use. Enterprises often decide to use e-receipt for economic reasons (e-receipt is cheaper), organizational (reduced roll replacement, disposal, roll logistics), environmental concerns (reduced paper consumption/tree felling), and health (thermal paper in printers contains bisphenol A, which is carcinogenic). E-receipt is also beneficial for the buyer (it will not die, will not fade, and facilitates the process of complaints, returns, or exchange of goods).

Currently, our proprietary E-receipt+ system is integrated with printers manufactured by Exorigo-Upos, but we plan to integrate it with other popular fiscal printers that will be approved for e-receipts.

Will there be a recording of the webinar? Precious knowledge.

Yes. We are also planning additional supplementary material.

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