KSeF with no penalties until the end of 2027? The latest announcements from the Ministry of Finance

The Ministry of Finance has announced deferring the application of penalties relating to KSeF until the end of 2027. Find out what this announcement may mean.

For the past few days the media have been repeating the information that penalties for errors in the National e-Invoice System have been deferred until the end of 2027. As things stand, this is only an announcement, and the scope of the protection it is meant to provide is narrower than the headlines suggest.

What applies today?

Under the current provisions, penalties for the incorrect use of KSeF are not imposed until 31 December 2026. At the same time, the system is already mandatory: since 1 February 2026 all companies have been obliged to receive invoices through it, and the obligation to issue invoices in KSeF covers successive groups of taxpayers in stages. The smallest entities, whose monthly sales documented by invoices do not exceed PLN 10,000 gross, will be covered by it from 1 January 2027. From that day, KSeF will be mandatory for all entrepreneurs.

What did the Ministry of Finance announce?

On 16 September 2026 the Ministry of Finance announced its intention to extend the period during which penalties will not be imposed, i.e. until 31 December 2027. The justification is clear: since the smallest entrepreneurs will be covered by the system from January, they should be given a year to learn how to use it without the risk of financial liability.

What is crucial, however, is what the ministry acknowledged in the same statement: the extension requires an amendment to the Act, and the ministry is only just beginning work on a draft. The draft must therefore be prepared, adopted by the government, passed by the Sejm and the Senate, and signed by the President. Until that happens, the deadline under the current provisions applies, i.e. the end of 2026. With a legislative procedure that is meant to conclude within three months, delays or changes to the content of the draft cannot be ruled out.

What can this change protect against?

The deferral concerns penalties only. It does not postpone the obligation to use the system, which from 1 January 2027 will cover all entrepreneurs regardless of how the legislative process ends.

The ministry also announced that in 2027 the National Revenue Administration will primarily support entrepreneurs and remind them of their obligations. It stated explicitly, however, that given the mandatory nature of the system, the authorities will react in cases where invoices are issued outside KSeF, except in situations provided for in the Act, and will examine whether failure to use the system leads to unreliable tax settlement.

This distinction has practical significance. The absence of a penalty for breaching the rules on using KSeF does not mean the absence of tax consequences. If an invoicing error translates into an incorrect VAT settlement, the effects arising from the VAT provisions remain independent of the protection period. What is protected, therefore, is the entrepreneur who is learning to use the system and makes technical errors, not the one who does not use the system at all.

Who does this affect most?

The announcement is of greatest significance for the smallest entrepreneurs, including sole traders, who will only take on the obligation to issue invoices in KSeF at the beginning of 2027. For them, the first year in the system will fall precisely within the period that is to be covered by the protection. Companies that have been operating in KSeF since February or April 2026, on the other hand, gain an additional year to refine their procedures before errors start to cost them.

What follows from this?

The ministry's announcement is good news, but it should not be treated as a reason to postpone implementation. The obligation to use KSeF from 1 January 2027 remains unchanged, and until the amendment is passed, the existing deadline for the end of the penalty-free period formally applies. It is therefore sensible to prepare as if the protection period were going to end in accordance with the current provisions, and to treat any extension as a safety margin.

It is also worth following the fate of the draft, because its final wording will determine which conduct is in fact covered by the protection. Until then, the statement "KSeF with no penalties until 2027" describes intentions, not the law in force.