When preparing invoices, there are in practice mistakes consisting in entering the wrong NIP number of the buyer of the goods or service on the invoice. This mistake can be corrected by issuing a corrective invoice or corrective note. The correcting invoice is issued by the seller, and the correcting note – by the buyer.
The tax office checks the invoices
/123RF/PICSEL
The taxpayer has the right to deduct VAT resulting from invoices received by him for the purchase of goods and services to the extent that the goods and services are used to perform taxable activities.
As emphasized by tax authorities, in the light of VAT regulations, invoices are documents confirming actual business transactions made by the taxpayer. The invoice plays a special evidentiary role in the correct assessment of VAT, therefore it is extremely important to correctly mark all its elements. A correctly issued invoice should include the data listed in art. 106e of the VAT Act, including names and surnames or names of the taxpayer and the buyer of the goods or services and their addresses, as well as the number by which the taxpayer is identified for the purposes of the tax under which he received the goods and services.
In practice, there are situations when an invoice is followed by economic events affecting its content or the invoice contains errors. In such a situation, the legislator indicates the obligation to correct the invoice by issuing a correcting invoice. The rules for issuing corrective invoices are specified in art. 106j paragraph 1 of the VAT Act. As follows from this provision, if, after issuing an invoice, inter alia a mistake was found in the price, rate, tax amount or any other item of the invoice, the taxpayer issues a correcting invoice. It should be emphasized that this provision does not indicate any objections as to the nature of these errors, and thus they can be any possible mistakes.
Therefore, it can be stated that the corrective invoice is issued in order to provide the correct, correct and factual amounts and other data that determine the reliability of the issued document.
In addition, mistakes related to information relating to the buyer may be corrected by issuing a corrective note. As indicated in art. 106k in the event that the buyer has received an invoice containing errors regarding any information related to the buyer or the designation of the goods or services (except for mistakes in invoice items specified in Article 106e para. 1 items 8-15 of the Act), he may issue a corrective note.
The legislator in art. 88 section 3a of the VAT Act listed situations in which the taxpayer has no right to deduct VAT. It does not follow from this provision that the invoice, on which there is no NIP of the buyer, is considered a document depriving the taxpayer of VAT deduction. Also, the Director of the KIS in the individual interpretation of 29 October 2019, No. 0114-KDIP4.4012.539.2019.2.RK, indicated that the lack of the tax identification number on the invoice does not cause the loss of the right to deduct VAT indicated in this document.
According to the authority, the lack of the taxpayer’s NIP tax invoice with the correct indication of PESEL and other data identifying the buyer is a technical defect, which does not exclude the possibility of verifying the economic event and the correct identification of the buyer, and at the same time is irrelevant to the amount of the tax liability.
Therefore, it can be considered that when the purchase invoice contains the buyer’s data enabling his identification (despite the lack of NIP), he has the right to deduct the resulting VAT. This is of course possible provided that there is a connection between the purchase and taxable activities.
Also, the Director of the KIS in the individual interpretation of 11 January 2019, No. 0114-KDIP1-3.4012.15.2019.1.JG, stated that if invoices appear, so-called minor defects, there is no basis for questioning invoices, including the right to deduct input VAT. Nevertheless, according to the authority, these errors should be corrected in such a way that the invoice reflects the actual transaction between correctly identified business entities. The NIP missing on the invoice can be completed by a corrective invoice issued by the seller or by a corrective note issued by the buyer.
From January 1, 2020, new regulations apply to issuing invoices for sale recorded at the cash register for taxpayers. According to them, issuing an invoice for the purchaser (VAT payer) for sales registered using a cash register depends on placing on the receipt documenting this sale the NIP of the buyer.
It is known that in practice, errors may appear when entering the tax identification number. In my opinion, when an incorrect NIP of the buyer is given on the receipt and on the invoice prepared for it, the seller has the right to correct it by preparing a correcting invoice. In this case, the buyer also has the right to correct this error by issuing a corrective note.
An alarming position on this subject was presented by the KIS Director in the individual interpretation of 23 January 2020, No. 0112-KDIL3.4012.41.2019.1.EN. According to the authority, if an incorrect NIP of the buyer is provided on the receipt (due to an error), it will not be possible to identify the buyer (because the receipts do not contain any other data) and the taxpayer will not be entitled to issue an invoice containing the NIP to such receipt. The authority also decided that the taxpayer has no right to issue a corrective invoice or accept a corrective note (with the NIP indicated by the customer) if the original invoice (and receipt) did not contain the buyer’s NIP or if the wrong NIP was provided on the receipt.
A similar position was presented by the KIS Director in the individual interpretation of 20 December 2019, No. 0111-KDIB3-2.4012.590.2019.3.SR. The taxpayer in the application for interpretation explained that art. 106b paragraph 5 of the Act prohibits invoices for fiscal receipts without a NIP, however, this does not apply if the NIP is clearly indicated in the receipt (e.g. 999999999) or incorrect due to human error, e.g. with rearranged digits, containing too little or too a lot of numbers. In the taxpayer’s opinion, if the buyer indicated an incorrect tax identification number on the receipt, the seller will be able to issue an invoice or accept a corrective note with the correct tax identification number, without negative tax consequences. The director of the KIS disagreed with this position.
The position of the authorities presented above is very strict and in my opinion too far-reaching and contrary to the principle of VAT neutrality. The provisions on VAT allow the right to correct an incorrect tax identification number (NIP) on the invoice, which documents sales not recorded in the cash register. Therefore, in my opinion, all the more there are no grounds to question the right to correct an incorrect NIP of the buyer just because the sale was previously registered at the cash register. Unless the tax authority proves to the taxpayer that his knitting was aimed at tax fraud.
The amount of input tax is the sum of the amounts of tax resulting from invoices received by the taxpayer for:
a) purchase of goods and services,
b) making all or part of the payment before purchasing the goods or performing the service.
Legal basis: The Act of 11.03.2004 on VAT (Journal of Laws of 2020, item 106)
author: Aleksandra Węgielska
Gazeta Podatkowa No. 47 (1713) of 2020-06-10
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