VAT-exempt and KSeF: when your invoices go in

VAT exemption does not exempt you from KSeF (Krajowy System e-Faktur, Poland's national e-invoicing system). As a rule, an invoice you issue to another business goes through KSeF, just as it does for VAT-registered taxpayers (the exceptions are below). Until the end of 2026 you can still stay outside it if your invoices total no more than 10,000 zł gross in a month, and from 1 January 2027 there is no limit.

Legal status as of 7 October 2026.

MF FAQ: „każdy podatnik (czynny i zwolniony), który ma obowiązek wystawienia faktury, będzie wystawiał ją w KSeF” (every taxpayer, VAT-registered or exempt, who must issue an invoice will issue it in KSeF)

Do you have to issue an invoice at all

No. Art. 106b ust. 2 of the VAT Act removes the duty to issue invoices for sales exempt under art. 113 ust. 1 (since 2026 the sales limit is 240,000 zł) or art. 43 ust. 1. If the buyer asks for one, though, you must issue it, as long as the request comes within 3 months of the end of the month in which the service was performed or payment received (art. 106b ust. 3 pkt 2). The invoice states the legal basis of the exemption, for example art. 113 ust. 1 of the VAT Act (art. 106e ust. 1 pkt 19).

VAT Act, art. 106b and 113 (Dz.U. 2026 item 1263)

A „rachunek” (simple bill) is not an alternative. In its FAQ the Ministry of Finance (MF) says that exempt transactions are documented with „fakturą wystawianą na żądanie nabywcy, a nie rachunkiem” (an invoice issued on the buyer's request, not a bill), and that an invoice an exempt taxpayer issues to another taxpayer goes through KSeF. The answer was given to a budget unit exempt from VAT, but the FAQ answers on exempt taxpayers are general and apply to you too.

Example: Ewa runs a hair salon and uses the art. 113 exemption. Her clients pay on the spot and do not want invoices. In October 2026 an events agency books styling for a photo shoot and asks for an invoice for 3,200 zł. Ewa issues it, because the agency is a business and asked for it.

From when the invoice goes through KSeF

Art. 106ga ust. 1 says that taxpayers must issue structured invoices using KSeF, and in its FAQ on art. 145m MF states outright that invoices from exempt taxpayers to other taxpayers are issued in KSeF. Ewa therefore has the same dates as everyone else: KSeF has applied since 1 April 2026, with a temporary exception for small sales.

The exception is art. 145m, the 10,000 zł limit. Until 31 December 2026 you may issue electronic or paper invoices outside KSeF if their total gross value in a given month is at most 10,000 zł. The month the invoice is issued counts. Invoices to private individuals and cash-register invoices do not count towards the limit, and the invoice that crosses it, and every one after it, goes through KSeF (ust. 2).

In December Ewa issues an invoice for 4,500 zł to the agency and one for 6,000 zł to a producer. The first fits within the limit. The second brings the total to 10,500 zł, so it must go through KSeF.

VAT Act, art. 106ga ust. 1 and art. 145m

From 1 January 2027 the exception expires. MF's page on the implementation stages says KSeF becomes mandatory for „wcześniej zwolnionych przedsiębiorców (do 10 tys. zł miesięcznie)” (businesses previously exempted, up to 10,000 zł a month). That is an exemption from KSeF based on the limit, not a VAT exemption, but it applies to you in the same way.

There is one more case. Suppose the agency asks for an invoice for the October service only on 15 January 2027 (the 3-month window ends on 31 January). Art. 145m no longer applies, because it covers the period up to 31 December 2026. By the wording of the provision, that invoice goes through KSeF. MF has not addressed this case directly.

Until the end of 2026, cash-register invoices and fiscal receipts with a NIP up to 450 zł can also stay outside KSeF (art. 145n). From 2027 an invoice to a business for a sale rung up on a cash register must go through KSeF too.

MF: penalty deferral extended to the end of 2027

An invoice for a private individual

Invoices to individuals who do not run a business do not require KSeF (art. 106ga ust. 2 pkt 4). You issue them on the customer's request, as above, on paper or electronically. MF also allows sending such an invoice to KSeF voluntarily; the customer then receives it in an agreed way, for example as a PDF.

Permanent exceptions to KSeF

The permanent exceptions are few: art. 106ga ust. 2 of the VAT Act lists, among others, sellers with no seat or permanent establishment in Poland, special procedures, invoices to private individuals not running a business and taxpayers under art. 113a (pkt 6), and the Ministry of Finance regulation (Dz.U. 2025 item 1740, § 2) lists, among others, invoices for toll motorway travel and single tickets for passenger transport. The art. 113a exemption is an exemption for businesses seated in another EU member state that sell in Poland with annual EU turnover up to 100,000 euro. A Polish business on the art. 113 exemption is not in that group.

MoF regulation, Dz.U. 2025 item 1740, § 2

How to start without paid software

Aplikacja Podatnika KSeF 2.0 is free, and MF describes it as a full alternative to commercial invoicing software. You need a NIP, because KSeF cannot issue an invoice without the seller's NIP.

As a sole trader you get owner permissions automatically, without notifying the tax office of anything (Handbook part I, p. 57). An owner can, among other things, issue and view invoices and manage permissions (Taxpayer Application manual, p. 162). You log in at ap.ksef.mf.gov.pl through the national node (Profil Zaufany, the mObywatel app, online banking, e-ID card) or with a qualified electronic signature. The standalone podpis zaufany stopped working for authentication on 13 February 2026 (Dz.U. 2026 item 169), and Profil Zaufany now works through the national node (part I, footnote 18). A natural person files the ZAW-FA notification only in narrow cases, for example to register the unique data of their own signature when it contains neither a NIP nor a PESEL (part I, p. 57; § 6(4) of the regulation, Dz.U. 2025 item 1815). We describe the difference between certificates and tokens in our post on certificates and tokens, but you need neither to issue invoices by hand after logging in through the national node.

MF: Aplikacja Podatnika KSeF 2.0 (with the „Wystawianie faktury VAT” video) MF: KSeF 2.0 Handbook, part I, pp. 21 and 57 MF: Taxpayer Application manual, p. 162 KSeF regulation, Dz.U. 2025 item 1815, § 6(4)

MF's site also has a test version with no legal effect. Ewa can issue a trial invoice to the agency there before she issues a real one in January. The rest of the preparation is on the KSeF preparation checklist.