System failure and unavailability of KSeF – what to do?
April 15, 2024
Is it possible for the National Register of e-Invoices (Krajowy System e-Faktur, in short: KSeF) to fail or become unavailable? If so, what should be done then? The Ministry of Finance predicted such occurrences and has described this in great detail in the new regulations. However, it should be remembered that the procedure depends on whether we are dealing with a system failure or lack of availability of KSeF. These are two different cases.
System failure and unavailability of KSeF
The new regulations differentiate two cases:
- system failure
- unavailability of KSeF due to service work on the part of the Ministry of Finance.
This is important because each of these events has different consequences for taxpayers.
KSeF system failure
KSeF just like any other computer program can be subject to system failure. The Ministry of Finance, not wanting to block the ability of taxpayers to exchange invoices with contractors, developed a couple of rules which allow for the sharing of invoices outside of KSeF. The Ministry of Finance will inform on its website about the beginning and end of the KSeF failure. Interestingly, they provided for a situation in which it will not be possible to post information on the website. Then we learn about the failure from the mass media. To make it easier for entrepreneurs to obtain information about a KSeF failure, an interface will be made available that can be integrated with the taxpayer’s accounting systems.
Share the invoice to the contractor in the event of a failure
In the instance of system failure it will be possible to share invoices to our contractors in a different way. It is worth agreeing upon how this will be dealt with before we use KSeF. It is imperative that in such a case the invoice must be issued in electronic form. The form must follow the template provided for documents made available in KSeF. This is crucial as we will need to submit this invoice to the KSeF system at a later point, more below.
Marking the invoice with a QR code
The next requirement will be to mark the document with a verification code (QR code). It will enable the identification of this document in KSeF. It is imperative that this condition is met. Without this marking, we do not have the right to issue the invoice to our contractor.
Corrective invoices during KSeF failure
The final important information concerns the issuance of corrective invoices for documents made available to the contractor during the KSeF failure. In this case, we can issue a correction only after submitting the original invoice to KSeF.
What to do when KSeF is working again?
Did you issue an invoice in the moment of KSeF system failure? Now you have 7 working days from the restoration of system operation to send such a document to KSeF. There a system number will be assigned to the document.
The next important issue is the “issue date”. If we issue and provide our contractor an invoice during the failure of KSeF, the issue date will be considered the date that we indicate on the invoice. The date of KSeF submission will not be crucial in this situation. Consequently, the date of receipt of the invoice by the buyer will be the day of its physical receipt. With one important reservation. If the date of the physical receipt of the invoice by our contractor is later than the date of assigning a number to such a document in KSeF, then the earlier of these dates, i.e. the date of submission to KSeF, will be considered the date of receipt of the invoice.
KSeF unavailability
The second instance in which we will be unable to use KSeF will be the unavailability of KSeF. It may happen due to necessary maintenance work on the part of the Ministry of Finance. Taxpayers are to be informed about the date of these works in advance, via messages provided on the Ministry of Finance’s website.
Share the invoice to the contractor in the event of unavailibility
In the event of system unavailability, as is the case in the event of a failure, we will be able to issue and send an invoice to our contractor outside KSeF. Such a document must also be issued in electronic form and contain all the elements provided for an invoice made available in KSeF.
QR code on the invoice
Invoices issued during the KSeF unavailability will also have to be marked with a QR verification code.
What to do when KSeF functionality is restored?
Unlike in the case of a failure, when KSeF functionality is restored, we will have only 1 business day to submit the invoice we issued to KSeF. If we decide to issue an invoice when the system is unavailable, it is worth planning the date when we will do it. It should be scheduled to meet the statutory deadline for transferring the invoice to the system and assigning it an identification number.
We have more articles about KSeF
VGD written a whole series of articles about the National Register of e-Invoices in Poland (KSeF). This content has been created to educate and improve your business confidence before KSeF is obligatory. The name of the series is “All about KSeF”:
- KSeF – questions and answers [Part 1]
- KSeF – questions and answers [Part 2]
- How to implement KSeF? 7 important questions
- 5 questions about KSeF
- Date of invoice issue in KSeF
- Will KSeF affect JPK?
- Unavailability of KSeF
- KSeF – what are the penalties?
- Correction invoices – the only way to fix errors in KSeF
Tags all about ksef, KSeF system failure what to do, unavailability of KSeF
