The end of meetings at the Ministry of Finance on KSeF

To best respond to the needs of the companies, the Ministry of Finance organised consultations on the KSeF with representatives of various industries. A total of 10,000 people took part. During the meetings, participants discussed several important issues related to KSeF. The conclusions will be crucial for further legislative and technical work on the system.

Wide range of topics covered at KSeF meetings

On 16 February, the Ministry of Finance launched the KSeF consultation process. Our representatives actively participated in all meetings at the MF headquarters. Nine meetings occurred on the following topics:

1. System security and performance;
2. Consumer invoices/purchaser status;
3. The KSeF identifier in payments;
4. Meeting with the factoring industry;
5. Meeting with the utility industry;
6. Meeting with the fuel industry;
7. Meeting with local government units (JST)
8. Implementation of the KSeF in stages;
9. Clarifications, interpretations, training.

During the meetings, participants discussed vital aspects of introducing the system and its functions. It was an opportunity to provide comments and ideas on improving the e-invoicing process from the perspective of different industries, including retail. In the meantime, we expect to know the date of entry into force of the mandatory KSeF in late May/early April.

Challenges of local governments about KSeF implementation.

Discussions with local government units (LGUs) have underscored the intricate nature of effectively identifying purchasing documents within KSeF that are assigned to the relevant unit. This task becomes particularly challenging within a single municipality’s TIN, encompassing several hundred or even a thousand units. The dedicated roles in the Entity3 node of the e-invoice logical structure, designed for attribution and the corresponding access in KSeF, were intended to address this complexity. However, the practical application of these roles was a topic of discussion, especially considering that this can not be a mandatory element with the FA(2) schema standard for all taxpayers and invoice types. Software manufacturers also made the case for extending the KSeF API, which allows for the easy identification of invoices not assigned to any entity. Another area for improvement is the currently insufficient coding range – giving up to 10,000 numbers. It was also suggested that providing textual identifiers rather than just numerical ones should be possible. Local authorities also raised individual cases that were not unambiguously handled at present, e.g. the absence of a car registration number when refuelling or a rate not subject to VAT on an invoice for a child’s stay in a kindergarten. The MF will prepare guidelines on issuing invoices in situations where the same TIN is the number of the seller and the buyer simultaneously.

Local authorities are involved in B2G purchases, so they raised several questions about integrating PEF with KSeF. The Ministry explained that the two solutions will work independently but will be integrated so that the taxpayer only invoices once. There was an expectation that the failure mode would only be related to the system that is not working, as local authorities have multiple systems running under one TIN – problems with one do not automatically affect the operation of another.

The problematic idea of phased KSeF implementation.

Discussions on the phased mandatory implementation of KSeF, a potentially beneficial approach, focused on analysing the pros and cons. Attention was drawn to the very different awareness of KSeF and the degree of preparedness of companies. This highlighted the importance of large entrepreneurs in the initial phase of implementing mandatory e-invoicing. However, in the case of phased implementations, the possible difficulty is identifying who will be obliged to invoice in KSeF. There is a concern that if a paper invoice is received, the accounting will not know whether the invoice should be in KSeF. If the taxpayer were obliged to do so, the paper document would formally not be an invoice in such a situation. In its arguments, the MF pointed out that other countries’ experiences show that staging is, unfortunately, not a remedy for problems.

There was also a lot of emotion in the discussion about the possible deadline for implementing the mandatory KSeF. Participants pointed out that the legislator has imposed deadlines for implementing other solutions, such as JPK-CIT and JPK-KR, so there are a number of risks associated with the accumulation of changes in IT systems. On the other hand, arguments were raised that KSeF has been available for more than two years. Nothing has prevented taxpayers from starting to test the system in good time until now. The MF plans to summarise the consultation in the second half of March and then recommend solutions for consultation with the market.

Most participants agreed that a rational approach would be to launch the KSeF with a minimum functional scope for all taxpayers and then add mandatory other functionalities (e.g. payment identifier). An interesting idea would be to make the KSeF launch mandatory but to allow a fallback mode in the initial weeks. That situation would consist of the taxpayer issuing a structured invoice and then handing it over to the buyer but having the option to upload the invoice to KSeF even within a few days rather than immediately. It would be a transitional period.

MF educational activities and plans for KSeF performance testing

The Ministry of Finance has continued its dialogue with representatives of various economic sectors to ensure an effective and balanced implementation of the National System of e-Invoices, considering each industry’s specifics. Representatives of the Ministry announced an extensive training campaign. From April to May this year, in each of Poland’s four hundred tax offices , entrepreneurs will participate in workshops on free software such as the Taxpayer Application and e-micro company. Furthering its commitment to support, the Ministry plans to publish a ‘KSeF Handbook’, a comprehensive guide that discusses all issues related to structured invoices. A dedicated hotline will also be available, ensuring that help is just a phone call away.

The consultation participants expressed their gratitude for the opportunity to engage directly and appreciated the Ministry’s openness, which they believe bodes well for effective cooperation in the future. The following emerged as part of the companies’ expectations and ideas towards the MF: using tax benefits to encourage taxpayers to switch to the KSeF earlier or increasing the predictability of actions, e.g. by providing a roadmap of changes to the KSeF. Attention was drawn to the need for a newsletter and the long response time to questions directed to the KSeF dedicated email address. Companies are awaiting the results of an ongoing audit of the system commissioned by the MF and hope to learn more about the technical details.