Date of sale on the invoice

The new tax regulations, which entered into force on 1 January 2013, caused considerable controversy among entrepreneurs. The amendment to the regulation on VAT invoices has raised doubts as to whether the invoices issued by the business operators comply with the new regulations?

The regulation on the issue of invoices has been modified, inter alia, elements that should be included in the invoice. The uncertainty was mainly caused by a change in the dates on the invoice.

In the original regulation there was ...

The invoice should include:

(...) the day, month and year of issuing the invoice, and if this date differs from the date of sale, also the date of sale; in the case of continuous sales, the taxpayer may indicate on the invoice the month and year of sale, provided that the date of issue of the invoice (...).

The current wording of the regulations says ...

The invoice should include:

(...) the date of completion or completion of the delivery of the goods or the performance of the service, if such a date is specified and differs from the invoice issue date; in the case of continuous sales, the taxpayer may indicate on the invoice the month and year of sale (...).

The amendment to the wording of the act caused controversy as regards the specification of dates on the invoice. If the invoice contains the term "date of sale" and not the "date of delivery or completion of the delivery of goods or the performance of the service" as provided for in the amended regulation, then should it be considered incorrect?

The date of sale is the same as the date when the delivery of goods or services was completed or completed

In response to the individual Ruling ILPP2 / 443-10 / 13-2 / AKr, the tax authorities - Director of the Tax Chamber in Poznań confirm that in the case of general regulations, invoices can still use the wording date of sale. This is not a mistake. The "due date" and "completion date" are often the same in practice and can be replaced by the term sale date. Therefore, on invoices for which the date of sale relates to the actual date of delivery of the goods or performance of the service, it is still possible to use the term "date of sale".

Continuous sale - exception

The exception where the occurrence of these terms will not be the same is the case of sale of goods carried out in a continuous manner. There, the sale date could be read as the end date, and this would be inconsistent with the regulations in the case of continuous sale - this is the view presented by the tax office. In the case of continuous sale, tax regulations, exceptionally, recognize the date as the day earlier than the one on which the sale will be completed. Therefore, in the opinion of the tax authorities, in such a case, the terms referred to in the amended regulation should be used on the invoice, ie "delivery date" or "delivery end date".