Home Information Polish Tax Law Issuance of the invoices

According to Polish VAT Act, the invoice shall be issued in two copies, from which one is forwarded to the customer.

The invoice shall be raised not earlier before 30 days preceding the date of delivery of goods or services and not later than within 15 days following the month for which the goods or services have been delivered. There are also other terms for issuance of the invoice, however they will not apply for this case, hence they will not be presented in this analysis.

In case of receiving the payment or partly payment before the date of delivery of goods or services, the invoice shall be issued not later than within 15 days following the month in which the payment or partly payment has been received.

According to Polish invoicing rules, the taxpayer is allowed to issue an invoice or simplified invoice. The simplified invoices may be issued only if maximum value for of a transaction does not exceed the amount of EUR 100 or PLN 450. The only exceptions where the simplified invoiced are not allowed is distance sales and intracommunity deliveries.

Obligatory elements in the invoice

Polish VAT Act requires to show following elements on the invoice:

Invoice elements Obligatory items on the invoice
Full invoice Simplified invoice
Unique invoice number that follows on from the last invoice Yes Yes
Your registered business name and address Yes Yes
Your VAT number (applicable in a given country) Yes Yes
Invoice date Yes Yes
The tax point (or ‘time of supply’) if this is different from the invoice date Yes Yes
Customer’s name or trading name, and address Yes No*
Customer’s VAT number (applicable in a given country) Yes Yes
Description of the goods or services Yes Yes
Price per item, excluding VAT Yes No
The measure and quantity of each type of item Yes No
Rate of any discount per item Yes No
Rate of VAT charged per item – if an item is exempt or zero-rated please indicate “ZW” rate for exempt and “0%” for zero-rated transactions.

In case of applying Reverse Charge rule the VAT rate should be indicated as “NP” (not applicable)

 Yes Yes
Total amount excluding VAT Yes No
Total NET amount broken down by VAT rates Yes No*
Total amount of VAT broken down by VAT rates Yes No*
Total amount including VAT (the payable amount) Yes Yes
Total amount of VAT (in PLN) Yes Yes
 
Additionally, in some case you should put the following phrase in the invoice:
“Reverse charge” in case where the reverse charge might be applied. Yes Yes
“Margin scheme — Second-hand goods”; “Margin scheme — Works of art” or “Margin scheme — Collector’s items and antiques” – in case where the margin scheme might be applied Yes Yes
Please note there are more examples, however basis on our experience those above are the most applicable for most of the taxpayers. Yes Yes

* Please note that lack of those items could make it difficult to reconcile the VAT properly, hence we do not recommend to eliminate those positions.

 Corrective invoice (Credit note or Debit note)

The corrective invoice shall be issued in following cases:

  • price reduction in the form of discount,
  • the discounts and price reductions,
  • the goods and packaging have been returned to the taxpayer,
  • the total or part of the payment has been returned,
  • the price has been raised or a mistake has been made in the price, the rate, the amount of the tax or in any other invoice item.

Obligatory elements in the corrective invoice

Polish VAT Act requires to show following elements on the corrective invoice:

Corrective invoice elements
Phrase: “FAKTURA KORYGUJĄCA” or „KOREKTA” which means in English CORRECTIVE INVOICE
Unique corrective invoice number that follows on from the last corrective invoice
Your registered business name and address
Your VAT number (applicable in a given country)
Number of the invoice that is subject of the correction
Invoice date
The tax point (or ‘time of supply’) if this is different from the invoice date
Customer’s name or trading name, and address
Customer’s VAT number (applicable in a given country)
Description of the goods or services that are subject of correction
Price per item, excluding VAT
The measure and quantity of each type of item
Rate of VAT charged per item – if an item is exempt or zero-rated please indicate “ZW” rate for exempt and “0%” for zero-rated transactions.In case of applying Reverse Charge rule the VAT rate should be indicated as “NP” (not applicable)
Total amount excluding VAT
Total NET amount broken down by VAT rates
Total amount of VAT broken down by VAT rates
Total amount including VAT (the payable amount)
Total amount of VAT (in PLN)
“Reverse charge” in case where the reverse charge might be applied.
“Margin scheme — Second-hand goods”; “Margin scheme — Works of art” or “Margin scheme — Collector’s items and antiques” – in case where the margin scheme might be applied
Please note there are more examples, however basis on our experience those above are the most applicable for most of the taxpayers.

Last updated 11/2017