Service-Tax

Rules for storing VAT invoices issued in the form of a PDF file

INDIVIDUAL INTERPRETATION IBPP2 / 443-491 / 11 / ASz 12.07.2011 Tax Chamber in Katowice

Based on Article. 14b § 1 and § 6 of the Act of August 29, 1997 - Tax Ordinance (consolidated text Journal of Laws of 2005, No. 8, item 60, as amended) and § 2 and § 5 of the Regulation of the Minister of Finance of June 20, 2007 on the authorization to issue interpretations of tax law (Journal of Laws No. 112, item 770, as amended), the Director of the Tax Chamber in Katowice, acting on behalf of the Minister of Finance, states that the Applicant's position presented in the application of March 28, 2011 (received on April 12, 2011) for a written interpretation of the tax law regarding value added tax as regards the correctness of storing electronic invoices - is correct.

JUSTIFICATION

On April 12, 2011, the above-mentioned application for a written interpretation of tax law provisions in an individual case regarding tax on goods and services with regard to the correctness of storing electronic invoices.

The following future event is presented in the present application:

The applicant (hereinafter also the Company) is an active VAT taxpayer. The Applicant issues VAT invoices for the sale of goods and the provision of services. All invoices issued by the Company are issued in paper form. The main recipients of the Company are VAT taxpayers conducting business activity. The company issues several thousand VAT invoices annually. Invoices are issued through an integrated IT system.

Issuing an invoice through an integrated IT system is associated with the automatic recognition of the invoice in the accounting system and the output tax register. After issuing the invoice, the system permanently stores in its databases records enabling the identification of the issued invoice, invoice amount, invoice date and data identifying the invoice recipient. In addition, the system allows you to reprint the invoice at any time or save it as a PDF file. In the integrated IT system, the invoice is issued, ie it begins to exist in this system at the moment you press the show button. Some of the Company's customers want to receive invoices issued by the Company electronically in the PDF format created automatically by the application at the time of issuing the invoice, compliant with the ISO 32000-1: 2008 standard, which can be read using Acrobat Reader or another dedicated tool. The rest of the contractors, however, still want to receive paper invoices.

The company wants to save on the costs of printing and archiving the issued sales invoices, plans to store copies of all issued invoices only in electronic format in PDF files created automatically by the application at the time of issuing the invoice, or in a dedicated tool for scanning documents in paper form, without user interference in the content stored documents and read using the Acrobat Reader computer program or another dedicated tool, compliant with the ISO 32000-1: 2008 standard. As a result of the above, for customers wishing to receive invoices in electronic format, the Company would issue an invoice in a PDF file, which would be sent to the contractor by e-mail or made available to the customer on the Company's website. On the other hand, for customers wishing to receive invoices in paper form, the Company would issue the original invoice in a paper version, while a copy of the invoice constituting an image of the paper invoice would be issued in an electronic version, also in PDF format.

All copies of issued invoices would be stored in PDF format in the financial and accounting system. The issued invoices would be stored in PDF format broken down into reporting periods. The invoices described above would not have a secure electronic signature and would not be sent in EDI format.

The integrated IT system owned by the Company ensures a high level of data security. This system makes it impossible to modify the issued invoices. The company has internal data protection and data security procedures aimed at securing financial and accounting data against loss or destruction.

Each VAT invoice issued by the Company receives a unique number at the time of being issued by the integrated IT system. Thanks to this number, you can find the invoice at any time in the system and print it again, e.g. at the request of the tax authorities. The authenticity of the origin of the copies of invoices saved in PDF files would be ensured by imposing a unique number of each invoice and saving its data in the databases of the accounting system, the integrity of the content would be ensured by saving the invoice in PDF format.At any time, at the request of the relevant authorities, access to these invoices would be provided through a separate computer workstation with an installed financial and accounting program. It would also be possible to easily find invoices through the financial and accounting system, in which invoices sorted by number would be stored broken down into settlement periods.

The following question was therefore asked:

Does the above-described method of storing all copies of issued sales invoices in PDF files comply with the applicable provisions of the tax on goods and services?

In the opinion of the Applicant, the method of storing copies of all issued invoices (both those whose original was issued in PDF format and those whose original was issued in paper version) presented in the description of the future event, only in the PDF file, complies with the provisions on tax on goods and services .

In the light of the applicable legal status, the position of the Applicant regarding the legal assessment of the presented future event is considered correct.

In accordance with Art. 106 sec. 1 of the Act of March 11, 2004 on tax on goods and services (Journal of Laws No. 54, item 535, as amended), hereinafter referred to as the VAT Act, taxpayers referred to in Art. 15, are required to issue an invoice stating, in particular, the sale, date of sale, unit price without tax, tax base, tax rate and amount, the amount of the duty and the data of the taxpayer and the buyer, subject to paragraph 2. 1a, 2, 4 and 5 and article. 119 paragraph. 10 and art. 120 paragraph 16.

On December 17, 2010, the Minister of Finance issued an ordinance on sending invoices in electronic form, rules for their storage and the procedure for making them available to the tax authority or the fiscal control authority (Journal of Laws No. 249, item 1661).

Pursuant to § 3 sec. 1 of the quoted regulation, invoices may be sent, including made available, in electronic form in any electronic format, provided that the recipient of the invoice has previously approved this method of sending invoices, hereinafter referred to as "acceptance". Acceptance or its withdrawal may be expressed in writing or in electronic form (§ 3 (2) of the Regulation). The concept of the authenticity of the origin of an invoice - pursuant to § 2 para. 1 point 1 of the quotation of the regulation - it means certainty as to the identity of the person delivering the goods or the service provider or the issuer of the invoice. However, due to the integrity of the content of the invoice - pursuant to § 2 para. 1 point 2 of the quotation of the regulation - it is understood that the data that should be included in the invoice has not been changed in the invoice.

Pursuant to § 2 sec. 2 of the quoted regulation, the authenticity of the origin and integrity of the content of the invoice are preserved, in particular when using:

a secure electronic signature within the meaning of Art. 3 point 2 of the Act of 18 September 2001 on electronic signature (Journal of Laws No. 130, item 1450, as amended), verified with a valid qualified certificate, or
electronic data interchange (EDI) in accordance with the contract on the European Electronic Data Exchange Model, where the concluded contract relating to this exchange provides for the application of procedures guaranteeing the authenticity of the origin of the invoice and the integrity of its data.

The above-mentioned methods of ensuring the invoice features in question are only an exemplary calculation, which means that the taxpayer will be able to apply any other means of ensuring the authenticity and integrity of the invoice, including sending invoices in the form of a PDF file.

Pursuant to § 6 of the cited regulation, invoices sent electronically are stored broken down into settlement periods in any way that ensures:

the authenticity of the origin, integrity of the content and legibility of these invoices from the time of their issuance until the expiry of the tax liability limitation period;
easy to find them;
the tax authority or the tax inspection authority upon request, in accordance with separate regulations, immediate access to invoices.

Pursuant to § 9 of the above-mentioned regulation, the acceptance for issuing and sending invoices in electronic form, expressed on the basis of the existing provisions, remains valid for the purposes of applying § 3 para. 1.

On January 1, 2011, the Regulation of the Minister of Finance of November 28, 2008 on tax refunds to certain taxpayers, issuing invoices, how to store them and the list of goods and services to which the exemption from VAT exemptions does not apply was amended. (Journal of Laws No. 212, item 1337, as amended).

Regulation of the Minister of Finance of 9 December 2010 amending the regulation on tax refund to certain taxpayers, issuing invoices, their storage and the list of goods and services to which the VAT exemption does not apply (Journal of Laws No. 244 , item 1627) sec. 2 § 19 of the regulation of the Minister of Finance of November 28, 2008. Therefore, from January 1, 2011, it was allowed to issue invoices without marking them with the words "original" and "copy".

At the same time, § 21 of the above-mentioned regulation of 28 November 2008 was replaced by the following:

Taxpayers are required to store invoices and corrective invoices, as well as duplicates of these documents, until the tax liability expires.
Taxpayers keep invoices, correction invoices, and duplicates of these documents, broken down into accounting periods, in any way that ensures:
- the authenticity of the origin, integrity of the content and legibility of these invoices from the moment they are issued until the tax liability expires,
- easy to find them,
- the tax authority or the tax inspection authority upon request, in accordance with separate regulations, immediate access to invoices, and in the case of invoices stored in electronic form, enabling these authorities to also process the data contained therein
The authenticity of origin referred to in paragraph 2, point 1, means certainty as to the identity of the supplier of goods or service provider or the issuer of the invoice
The integrity of the content referred to in paragraph 2, point 1, means that the data that should be included in the invoice have not been changed in the invoice.

The above regulation has also remained unchanged in § 21 of the new act, i.e. the Regulation of the Minister of Finance of March 28, 2011 on tax refunds to certain taxpayers, issuing invoices, their storage and the list of goods and services to which the exemption from tax does not apply. tax on goods and services (Journal of Laws No. 68, item 360).

The presented future event shows that the Applicant (hereinafter also the Company) is an active VAT taxpayer. The Applicant issues VAT invoices for the sale of goods and the provision of services. All invoices issued by the Company are issued in paper form. The main recipients of the Company are VAT taxpayers conducting business activity. The company issues several thousand VAT invoices annually. Invoices are issued through an integrated IT system. Issuing an invoice through an integrated IT system is associated with the automatic recognition of the invoice in the accounting system and the output tax register. After issuing the invoice, the system permanently stores in its databases records enabling the identification of the issued invoice, invoice amount, invoice date and data identifying the invoice recipient. In addition, the system allows you to reprint the invoice at any time or save it as a PDF file. In the integrated IT system, the invoice is issued, ie it begins to exist in this system at the moment you press the show button. Some of the Company's customers want to receive invoices issued by the Company electronically in the PDF format created automatically by the application at the time of issuing the invoice, compliant with the ISO 32000-1: 2008 standard, which can be read using Acrobat Reader or another dedicated tool. The rest of the contractors, however, still want to receive paper invoices. The company wants to save on the costs of printing and archiving the issued sales invoices, plans to store copies of all issued invoices only in electronic format in PDF files created automatically by the application at the time of issuing the invoice, or in a dedicated tool for scanning documents in paper form, without user interference in the content stored documents and read using the Acrobat Reader computer program or another dedicated tool, compliant with the ISO 32000-1: 2008 standard.

As a result of the above, for customers wishing to receive invoices in electronic format, the Company would issue an invoice in a PDF file, which would be sent to the contractor by e-mail or made available to the customer on the Company's website. On the other hand, for customers wishing to receive invoices in paper form, the Company would issue the original invoice in a paper version, while a copy of the invoice constituting an image of the paper invoice would be issued in an electronic version, also in PDF format. All copies of issued invoices would be stored in PDF format in the financial and accounting system. The issued invoices would be stored in PDF format broken down into reporting periods.

The invoices described above would not have a secure electronic signature and would not be sent in EDI format. The integrated IT system owned by the Company ensures a high level of data security. This system makes it impossible to modify the issued invoices. The company has internal data protection and data security procedures aimed at securing financial and accounting data against loss or destruction. Each VAT invoice issued by the Company receives a unique number at the time of being issued by the integrated IT system. Thanks to this number, you can find the invoice at any time in the system and print it again, e.g. at the request of the tax authorities. The authenticity of the origin of the copies of invoices saved in PDF files would be ensured by imposing a unique number of each invoice and saving its data in the databases of the accounting system, the integrity of the content would be ensured by saving the invoice in PDF format. At any time, at the request of the relevant authorities, access to these invoices would be provided through a dedicated computer workstation with an installed financial and accounting program. It would also be possible to easily find invoices through the financial and accounting system, in which invoices sorted by number would be stored broken down into settlement periods.

Taking into account the above-mentioned provisions, it should be noted that the current legal regulations allow for the possibility of storing copies of invoices in paper or electronic form. It is also allowed to store invoices issued in paper or electronic form in an electronic format. Such actions are equivalent in tax consequences to storing invoices in paper form, provided that the authenticity of origin and integrity of the content of the invoices referred to in the above-mentioned ordinance of the Minister of Finance are ensured.

The invoice stored by the exhibitor and received by the buyer is to be identical in terms of the content, i.e. the information contained in the invoice, and the issuer and the buyer must ensure the authenticity of the origin, integrity of the content and legibility of these invoices from the moment of their issuance until the expiry of the tax liability limitation period and easy finding them, also at the request of the tax authority.

Therefore, the method of storing copies of all issued invoices (both those whose original was issued in PDF format and those whose original was issued in paper version) only in a PDF file, provided that the authenticity of origin and integrity of the content of the invoices in question are ensured, will be consistent with the applicable VAT regulations.

Thus, the position of the Applicant should be considered correct.

It should be emphasized that the Applicant must maintain the authenticity of the origin and integrity of the invoice content.

It should also be noted that the actual assessment of the Applicant's compliance with the requirements set out in applicable regulations may be verified only in the course of the control or tax procedure under the relevant procedural provisions.

The interpretation concerns the future event presented by the Applicant and the legal status in force on the date of issuing the interpretation.