Indeed, the most crucial provision of the revised VAT Act, which will make us happy next year with the work to issue structured invoices, will be (not yet passed) the fresh paragraph 4 of Article 106(4) of the Act. I would remind you that this provision introduces the concept of ‘making the buyer’s invoice available in an agreed manner’. This method will be statistically dominant as it will affect most professional buyers. These are 3 groups of entities:
- are purchasers of goods and services erstwhile the place of supply is not the territory of Poland,
- purchasers who are not active VAT taxable persons and do not usage NIPs for the purposes of this tax,
- as taxable persons referred to in Article 113a(1) of that Act (marginal problem).
Thus, abroad operators, exempt VAT payers (e.g. flat-rate farmers) and non-taxable legal persons and non-taxable entities will be able to consult the invoice only if it is someway ‘accessed’ to them, in addition to which it ‘agreed’.
Early insights of the substance give much thought. Many possible recipients of this provision have confirmed that they are not and will not be curious in this "accession" due to the fact that they do not request a VAT invoice for anything. They do not have the right to deduct input taxation or these invoices will concern non-taxable activities (ad1). Why do they request that document? In addition, its ‘use outside KSeF’ requires additional and costly ceremonies on the part of the issuer, specified as the marking of these invoices by any code ‘allowing access to KSeF’, the buyer must give this code (how?), i.e. the creation of non-invoiced circulars of information that cannot be handled on an ongoing basis. For example, in the case of hand-held sales at the time of the demonstration of the operations, fewer will be able to issue a structured invoice, and after all, we must give the buyer any proof of payment in the form of a commercial document. This will not be a "structured invoice" due to the fact that it will not yet be made available. And then what? The supplier in the sweat of the forehead will later issue a structured invoice (he has a time to 15th day of the period after the period of delivery) and will search a buyer to agree with him on the ‘access’ of this document. He will answer that he does not care, due to the fact that he already has proof of expenditure and can put the burden on costs. Which of these papers in the legal, accounting and economical sense will be more important: the first (commercial) or the second – structured invoice? Of course, the former, due to the fact that he will be the only proof of the content of the legal act. If the content of the structured invoice is different, it will be a problem for its exhibitors, due to the fact that it will confirm the untruth on the invoice even within the meaning of Article 271a of the Criminal Code. The commercial invoice will be a paper issued and served at the time of execution of the activity within the meaning of the VAT Act. For the buyer, ‘access’ to KSeF does not substance due to the fact that it is not his problem.
So where did the legislators come from? The answer is trivial and shocking. It is likely that the authors of these rules live in the belief that the VAT invoice is an ex lege commercial invoice. Nothing more wrong. It's just our tradition, which was built more than 30 years ago. For this role, the structured invoice is not suitable at all, as can be seen “in the attached image”.
Why would you force KSeF to push an invoice without VAT or from which VAT is not deducted? I guess just for surveillance.
Prof. Witold Modzelewski
