Liability for errors in Poland’s National e-Invoicing System (KSeF)

Responsibility for meeting obligations under Poland’s National e-Invoicing System (KSeF) rests primarily with the taxpayer. For companies, this remains the case even when an invoice is technically issued by an employee, an accountant or an external accounting firm.

However, an error may also give rise to liability under other legal frameworks: an employee’s liability towards their employer, a management board member’s liability towards the company, or an accounting firm’s contractual liability. Companies using outsourced accounting services in Poland should therefore clearly define who is responsible for invoice data, approval, submission, status monitoring and error resolution.

In 2026, the financial penalties provided for under Article 106ni of the Polish VAT Act do not apply. Under the legislation currently in force, they are scheduled to apply to infringements committed from 1 January 2027. However, the Polish Council of Ministers has approved a draft amendment proposing to extend the penalty-free period until 31 December 2027, meaning that penalties would apply from 1 January 2028.

---

What does liability for KSeF errors mean under Polish law?

Liability for KSeF errors is not a single legal concept. In practice, it is important to distinguish the taxpayer’s obligations towards the Polish tax authorities from the liability of individuals and organisations involved in the invoicing process.

KSeF may be accessed by individuals and entities granted the appropriate permissions by the taxpayer. These may include employees, accountants or external accounting firms. However, granting access is an organisational and technical measure. It does not automatically transfer the taxpayer’s statutory obligations to the system user.

From a business perspective, liability can be divided into four categories:

Area	Who may be liable?	Type of liability
Compliance with obligations under the Polish VAT Act	Taxpayer, e.g. the company	Tax / administrative
Organisation of KSeF processes	Management board or designated process owners	Liability towards the company
Performance of employment duties	Employee	Employment-related liability
Performance of outsourced services	Accounting firm or other service provider	Contractual liability

A single irregularity may therefore require assessment at several levels. The company’s relationship with the tax authorities is different from the subsequent determination of whether an employee or external service provider is responsible for any resulting loss.

---

Company liability for employee errors in KSeF

In dealings with the Polish tax authorities, the taxpayer remains the primary party responsible for meeting KSeF obligations. Where the taxpayer is a company, these obligations remain with the company itself. Authorising an employee to issue invoices and granting them the necessary system permissions does not change the identity of the taxpayer.

If an error occurs, however, its actual cause must be established. An irregularity may result from:

• an employee’s mistake;
• incorrect information supplied by the sales department;
• incorrect system configuration;
• failure to monitor invoice status;
• inadequate organisation of the invoicing process;
• improper performance of services by an external provider.

This distinction is particularly important in larger organisations, where the person submitting an invoice to KSeF is often not responsible for generating the underlying transaction data.

---

Employee liability for incorrect KSeF invoices

An employee may be liable for losses caused to their employer, but making a mistake in KSeF does not automatically result in financial liability.

For employees in Poland, the relevant provisions are those of the Polish Labour Code governing employee liability for damage. Relevant factors include a breach of employment duties, whether the employee was at fault, whether damage occurred and whether there is a causal link between the employee’s conduct and that damage.

In practice, the organisation of work is particularly important. An employee who received accurate information, appropriate training, clear procedures and an opportunity to verify the document must be assessed differently from someone assigned KSeF responsibilities without instructions, controls or suitable tools.

The person submitting an invoice should not automatically be treated as responsible for all information contained in the document.

For example, the sales department may be responsible for transaction details, the accounting department for their correct tax treatment, and a designated employee for the technical submission of the invoice.

---

Management board liability for KSeF errors in Poland

A management board member is not automatically personally liable for every error occurring in KSeF. However, liability towards the company may arise where the relevant legal conditions are met.

For a Polish limited liability company (spółka z ograniczoną odpowiedzialnością, or sp. z o.o.), Article 293 of the Polish Commercial Companies Code provides that a management board member is liable to the company for damage caused by an act or omission contrary to the law or the company’s articles of association, unless the member is not at fault.

In the context of KSeF, the way the invoicing process is organised may therefore be more significant than the occurrence of an isolated mistake.

From a management board perspective, particular attention should be paid to:

• assigning responsibility for individual stages of the invoicing process;
• ensuring appropriate system permissions;
• establishing internal control mechanisms;
• implementing procedures for handling errors;
• responding to recurring irregularities.

A separate issue is the liability of management board members for a company’s tax arrears under Article 116 of the Polish Tax Ordinance. However, this does not mean that a management board member is personally liable for every KSeF error.

---

Liability of external accounting firms for KSeF errors

An external accounting firm may be liable for KSeF-related errors within the scope of responsibilities it has actually accepted under its service agreement. However, providing these services does not make the accounting firm the taxpayer.

The actual outsourcing arrangement is therefore crucial. An accounting firm may simply retrieve previously issued invoices from KSeF and record them in the company’s books. Alternatively, it may be responsible for issuing sales invoices, submitting documents, monitoring their status or preparing corrections. These arrangements involve substantially different responsibilities.

Example

A company provides its external accounting firm with all the information needed to issue an invoice. Under the service agreement, the accounting firm is responsible for preparing the document, submitting it to KSeF and monitoring the submission outcome.

The document is submitted but is not successfully accepted by the system. The error notification is not checked, and the problem is only discovered several days later.

In this situation, it is necessary to establish:

1. whether monitoring invoice status was part of the accounting firm’s contractual responsibilities;
2. whether the firm had the means to detect the problem;
3. whether the company had an additional obligation to approve the document;
4. whether the failure caused a specific loss.

If the service provider failed to perform its agreed obligations properly, its liability may be assessed under the rules governing contractual liability, particularly Article 471 of the Polish Civil Code.

When outsourcing accounting in Poland, companies should clearly define where the client’s responsibilities end and those of the external accounting provider begin.

---

Does every KSeF error result in a financial penalty?

No. An error in an invoice does not automatically constitute an infringement subject to the financial penalty provided for under Article 106ni of the Polish VAT Act.

This provision concerns specific breaches of KSeF requirements, including situations where a taxpayer, contrary to a statutory obligation:

• fails to issue a structured invoice through KSeF;
• issues an invoice in certain special invoicing modes that does not comply with the required structured format;
• fails to submit an invoice to KSeF within the required deadline.

The penalty may amount to up to 100% of the VAT shown on the invoice. If the invoice does not show a VAT amount, the penalty may reach up to 18.7% of the total amount due. The taxpayer is the party subject to this administrative penalty.

For more information about the rules and the current status of the proposed postponement, see our article National e-Invoicing System (KSeF) penalties in Poland to be postponed until the end of 2027.

---

KSeF penalties in 2026 and 2027

In 2026, the penalties under Article 106ni of the Polish VAT Act do not apply. Under the legislation currently in force, they are scheduled to apply to infringements committed from 1 January 2027. However, on 20 October 2026, the Polish Council of Ministers approved a draft amendment proposing to extend the penalty-free period until 31 December 2027.

If the amendment enters into force in its proposed form, the financial penalty provisions of Article 106ni will apply from 1 January 2028.

However, the absence of an administrative penalty under Article 106ni does not mean that errors can be left unresolved. An irregularity may require an invoice correction or an adjustment to tax settlements. It may also give rise to employment-related or contractual liability.

---

Correcting an invoice already submitted to KSeF

Once an invoice has been accepted by KSeF and assigned a KSeF identification number, the taxpayer cannot independently delete or edit it. The appropriate remedy therefore depends primarily on the nature of the error. If the problem concerns information contained in the invoice, issuing a corrective invoice may be necessary.

We explain the rules for specific situations in our article Corrective invoices in the National e-Invoicing System (KSeF) in Poland – what will change in VAT corrections?

A particular situation arises when an invoice that has already been correctly issued outside KSeF is subsequently submitted to the system by mistake. In such cases, the documents and circumstances must be examined individually. It cannot automatically be assumed that the invoice must always be corrected to zero. We discuss this issue in detail in Invoice mistakenly submitted to the National System of e-Invoices (KSeF) in Poland – must it be corrected to zero?

---

Allocating KSeF responsibilities within a company

The greatest organisational risk is not that several people are involved in issuing an invoice. Problems arise when responsibility for individual stages of the process is unclear. Companies should address at least five questions.

Who is responsible for the information on an invoice?

Companies need to establish who is responsible for the accuracy of customer and supplier details, transaction terms, amounts and information required to determine the correct tax treatment.

The person technically submitting a file to KSeF may not be in a position to verify the commercial information supplied by other departments.

Who approves an invoice before submission?

An additional level of review may be appropriate, particularly for high-value transactions or transactions involving unusual tax treatment.

Companies should establish when an invoice may be submitted automatically and when approval from the accounting department or a person responsible for tax matters is required.

Who monitors the invoice’s KSeF status?

Submitting a document from an accounting or ERP system should not mark the end of the control process. Companies should designate someone responsible for monitoring invoice status and responding to rejections or technical errors.

Who is responsible for corrective invoices?

The procedure should identify both the person reporting an error and the person responsible for assessing its tax implications and issuing the appropriate correction. Identifying an error does not, in itself, determine how it should be corrected.

Who takes action during a KSeF system outage?

Companies should also establish procedures for system outages and other special invoicing modes, including assigning responsibility for subsequently fulfilling any outstanding KSeF obligations.

Where invoicing involves several departments, outsourced accounting providers or different financial systems, responsibilities should be clearly allocated between all parties. Through its accounting services in Poland, getsix® supports companies in organising their finance and accounting processes and managing ongoing invoicing and tax compliance obligations.

---

What should a company do after discovering a KSeF error?

The first step should not be to identify who is to blame, but to establish the nature of the error and its consequences.

A practical sequence of actions should include:

1. checking the document’s status in KSeF;
2. identifying the nature and extent of the error;
3. assessing the implications for VAT and invoicing obligations;
4. making the required correction or fulfilling any outstanding obligation;
5. identifying the underlying cause of the irregularity;
6. implementing changes to reduce the risk of recurrence.

Only after these steps should the company assess whether the error could give rise to liability for an employee, management board member or external accounting firm.

This approach is particularly important for recurring errors. A single incorrect invoice may result from an individual’s mistake. Dozens of similar errors, however, may indicate a problem with system configuration, data flows or the overall design of the invoicing process.

---

KSeF liability in Poland – key conclusions for businesses

Liability for KSeF errors should be assessed at two fundamental levels: the taxpayer’s obligations towards the Polish tax authorities and the potential liability of individuals and organisations involved in issuing invoices.

Assigning KSeF activities to an employee or external accounting firm does not automatically transfer the taxpayer’s statutory obligations. At the same time, employees, management board members and service providers may be liable under other legal provisions where the relevant conditions are met.

From a business perspective, the priority is therefore not simply to identify who has access to KSeF, but to establish an invoicing process that clearly defines:

• responsibility for source data;
• invoice approval procedures;
• responsibility for invoice submission;
• invoice status monitoring;
• procedures for corrections and error resolution.

Companies whose invoicing processes involve multiple departments or outsourced accounting providers should review this allocation of responsibilities before the KSeF penalty regime becomes fully applicable.

getsix® supports businesses operating in Poland with the organisation of finance and accounting processes and the correct tax treatment of transactions. If your KSeF implementation has revealed uncertainty about the division of responsibilities between your company and its external accounting provider, we invite you to contact us.

---

***