15 January 2026

Will there be sanctions related to KSeF in 2026?

The National E-Invoice System (KSEF) is only a short time away from coming into force. It will, of course, be implemented in stages, as a result of transitional provisions that allow taxpayers (whose sales value, including VAT, does not exceed the relevant limits) to issue invoices through the KSeF at a later date.

Fortunately, the legislature has provided for an amnesty in 2026, which allows for the waiver of penalties for taxpayers failing to comply with KSeF-related obligations.

Sanctions in KSeF

Article 106ni of the VAT Act provides for the following fines:

• 100% of the tax amount shown on an invoice issued in violation of the KSeF regulations, or
• 18.7% of the total amount shown on the invoice if, in the case described in point 1 (referred to above), the invoice documents VAT-exempt activities.

The penalty is imposed by the Head of the Tax Office by decision. Article 106ni, paragraph 1, provides: Article 1, points 1-3 of the VAT Act specify the circumstances in which taxpayers may be fined, including:

• if the taxpayer, contrary to their obligation, failed to issue a structured invoice using the KSeF;
• if the taxpayer, contrary to their obligation, issued an invoice that was inconsistent with the provided template during a failure, unavailability, or offline24 mode;
• if the taxpayer, contrary to their obligation, failed to submit an invoice to the KSeF within the required timeframe, within the deadlines specified for offline24 mode, failure, or unavailability.

This refers to the possibility of imposing a fine by the tax authority in strictly defined situations. At the same time, as stated in the transitional provisions (provided for in the Act amending the Act on Goods and Services Tax and certain other acts of June 16, 2023), the provisions specified in Article 106ni, paragraph 1, apply. Articles 1-3 and 5-7 of the VAT Act enter into force on January 1, 2027.

KSeF financial penalties – are they foreseen?

This means that the provisions have been incorporated into the Act, but their application will not begin until the beginning of 2027. Furthermore, Article 106ni, paragraph 4 of the VAT Act specifies that in the above-mentioned, strictly defined cases, penal and fiscal proceedings for a tax crime or a tax misdemeanor shall not be initiated.

In other words, neither the VAT Act nor the Penal Fiscal Penalty Act provides for sanctions for the VAT Tax Office in 2026.

However, it should be remembered that provisions sanctioning failure to comply with the obligations stipulated in the VAT Act remain in force, in particular:

• incorrect invoicing, issuing an empty invoice in the VAT Tax Office in production mode;
• incorrect invoicing, an invoice issued contrary to regulations;
• defective bookkeeping (in particular, defective JPK_VAT – which, in 2026, will include the appropriate fields for the KSeF ID), and unreliable bookkeeping (if it contains blank invoices).

Furthermore, sanctions remain in effect for, among others:

• issuing an invoice without the “MPP” annotation (30% VAT penalty);
• issuing an invoice for a receipt without a Tax Identification Number (NIP) (100% VAT penalty);
• errors in JPK_VAT (PLN 500 for each error in JPK_VAT).

In summary, although penalties specifically related to the KSeF will not apply in 2026, penalties for taxpayers’ failure to comply with their tax obligations will still apply.