Invoice Structure in Poland

Invoicing in Poland in a Brief

Transactions between VAT taxpayers must be documented with a VAT invoice. An invoice may be issued no earlier than 60 days prior to the delivery of goods or the provision of services, and no later than the 15th day of the month following the month in which the supply of goods or services took place. However, there are numerous exceptions to this general rule.

For the following types of transactions, the invoice must be issued:

30 days from the date the service was performed – in the case of construction or construction-assembly services;

60 days from the date the goods were released – for the supply of printed books;

90 days from the date the activity was performed – for activities consisting in printing books, excluding maps and leaflets as well as newspapers, journals and magazines (except for services constituting the import of services);

7 days from the contractually agreed date for the return of packaging – if the purchaser fails to return returnable packaging covered by a deposit. If the agreement does not specify a packaging return date, the invoice must be issued no later than 60 days from the date of the packaging release;

upon the expiry of the payment deadline in other specific cases, for instance for the supply of electricity or telecommunications services.

At the same time, pursuant to the Regulation of the Minister of Finance of 28 March 2011 on the refund of tax to certain taxpayers, issuing invoices, the manner of their storage and the list of goods and services to which VAT exemptions do not apply, a VAT invoice must include at least the following details:

full names or registered business names (or abbreviations) of the seller and buyer, along with their addresses;

the VAT identification numbers of the seller and buyer;

a consecutive invoice number marked as “VAT INVOICE”;

the day, month and year of issue of the invoice; and, if this date differs from the date of supply, the date of supply as well. In the case of continuous sales, the taxpayer may indicate only the month and year of supply, provided that the date of issue of the invoice is also stated;

the name (type) of the goods or services;

the unit of measure and quantity of goods sold or the scope of services rendered;

the unit price of the goods or services excluding VAT (net unit price);

the value of goods delivered or services rendered excluding VAT (net sales value);

the applicable VAT rates;

the total net sales value, broken down by individual VAT rates, as well as amounts exempt from VAT or not subject to taxation;

the amount of VAT due on the total net sales value, broken down by the applicable VAT rates;

the total amount payable, including the VAT amount due.

The amount of VAT due must always be indicated in Polish currency (PLN), even if the payment is stated in a foreign currency.