An invoice for PLN 16,400 gross for IT hardware. The buyer pays by ordinary bank transfer, because that is what they always do. The seller left out the annotation, because their software never flagged it. Both sides have just exposed themselves to an additional VAT liability of 30% of the tax on that invoice, and the buyer additionally to a corporate income tax cost disallowance and personal fiscal-penal liability.
Mandatory split payment, known in Poland as MPP (mechanizm podzielonej płatności), has applied since 1 November 2019 and did not disappear with KSeF (Poland's national e-invoicing system). The EU Council extended the derogation allowing it until 28 February 2028. From 1 January 2027 a new element arrives: the KSeF invoice number inside the split-payment transfer message.
Below: the two conditions that must occur together, the actual penalty figures, how to repair a wrong transfer, and what the VAT amendment passed on 4 September 2026 changes.
Two conditions, both required at once
The obligation under Article 108a(1a) of the Polish VAT Act arises only when:
The total amount due on the invoice exceeds PLN 15,000 (or its equivalent in a foreign currency), and
at least one line item on that invoice covers goods or services listed in Annex 15 to the VAT Act.
Technical conditions follow: a B2B transaction, payment by bank transfer in Polish zloty, and both parties holding a business settlement account (the bank opens the linked VAT sub-account automatically).
Three nuances that usually decide the case in practice:
"Exceeds", not "equals". An invoice for exactly PLN 15,000.00 gross falls outside the obligation. PLN 15,000.01 does not.
The whole invoice counts, not just the sensitive line. An invoice for PLN 16,000 gross where Annex 15 goods account for PLN 2,000 meets the threshold. The MPP obligation covers payment for that PLN 2,000, but paying the entire invoice through MPP is simplest and perfectly permitted.
A VAT exemption does not release the buyer. A VAT-exempt seller adds no annotation, because they show no tax. A VAT-exempt buyer receiving a qualifying invoice must still pay through MPP. This follows directly from the Ministry of Finance tax explanations of 23 December 2019.
What is in Annex 15
Annex 15 holds roughly 150 entries identified by PKWiU codes (the Polish classification of goods and services). The groups that matter most to SMEs:
Group Examples Electronics processors, HDDs and SSDs, phones, game consoles, digital cameras Steel and metals flat products, bars, tubes, scrap, waste and secondary raw materials Fuels and coal petrol, diesel, hard and brown coal Automotive motor vehicle parts and accessories Construction construction, installation and finishing works, equipment hire with operator
Two frequent errors are worth naming. A company's PKD business activity code settles nothing; what counts is the classification of the specific good or service. And in reverse: an annotation placed on an invoice that does not meet the conditions carries no penalty, but neither does it create any MPP payment obligation for the buyer.
Seller obligations and exposure
The seller must place the words "mechanizm podzielonej płatności" on the invoice (Article 106e(1)(18a) of the VAT Act). The Polish wording is prescribed; an English translation does not satisfy the requirement.
In a structured invoice this is not free text in a notes field. It is the P_18A marker inside the Adnotacje block of the FA(3) schema:
<Adnotacje>
<P_16>2</P_16>
<P_17>2</P_17>
<P_18>2</P_18>
<P_18A>1</P_18A>
</Adnotacje>
If the annotation reaches only a description field while P_18A stays at 2, the invoice formally does not contain it.
The penalty for a missing annotation: an additional tax liability of 30% of the VAT attributable to the Annex 15 items (Article 106e(12)). Not the whole invoice, only the sensitive portion. No penalty is assessed if the buyer paid through MPP anyway despite the missing annotation. For an individual, no additional liability is assessed where they bear fiscal-penal liability for the same act.
Buyer obligations and exposure
A buyer who bypasses mandatory MPP faces three independent consequences.
1. Additional tax liability of 30% (Article 108a(7)), calculated on the VAT attributable to the Annex 15 goods and services shown on the invoice being paid. It is not assessed against individuals who bear liability for a fiscal offence or misdemeanour for the same act (Article 108a(8)).
2. Fiscal-penal liability under Article 57c of the Fiscal Penal Code: a fine of up to 720 daily rates, or a misdemeanour fine in minor cases. In 2026 the daily rate ranges from PLN 160.20 to PLN 64,080, so the theoretical ceiling runs into eight figures. Real audit outcomes sit far lower, but the exposure is personal rather than corporate.
3. Disallowance as a tax-deductible cost (Article 22p(1)(3) of the PIT Act, Article 15d of the CIT Act). This one has a different trigger from the other two: it is set off by paying outside MPP an invoice that does carry the split-payment annotation. If the seller omitted the annotation, the buyer still faces the VAT consequences, but the cost disallowance condition is not met.
What it costs: one invoice, real numbers
Invoice: PLN 15,000 net plus PLN 3,450 VAT equals PLN 18,450 gross, entirely for Annex 15 hardware. The buyer pays by ordinary transfer.
Additional VAT liability: 30% × PLN 3,450 = PLN 1,035
PLN 15,000 disallowed as a cost, at the 19% flat rate: PLN 2,850 of extra income tax
Fine under Article 57c: open-ended
Close to PLN 3,900 on a single invoice, plus personal fiscal-penal risk, for one unticked field in a bank transfer.
How to repair a wrong transfer
If the invoice was settled by ordinary transfer, the situation can be reversed. The buyer agrees with the seller that the amount received is returned, then pays again, this time using the MPP transfer message. Practitioners treat this as the route to avoiding both the additional liability and the fiscal-penal consequences. It requires the counterparty's cooperation, so the sooner the error surfaces the better.
KSeF does not abolish MPP, it changes the transfer message
The structured invoicing obligation, which covered the largest taxpayers from 1 February 2026 and the remaining active VAT payers from 1 April 2026, changed nothing about the MPP obligation itself. It changes two operational things:
The annotation is a field, not a sentence. The
P_18Amarker is schema-validated, which makes a missing annotation far easier to catch automatically.From 1 January 2027, the KSeF number goes into the transfer message. Article 108g of the VAT Act requires a buyer who is an active VAT payer to state the invoice's 35-character KSeF number, or a collective identifier for a batch of payments, in the transfer title. The obligation explicitly covers MPP payments. Until 31 December 2026 it remains voluntary.
The practical takeaway for the coming months: check now whether your online banking accepts a 35-character identifier in an MPP transfer title, and decide who in the company generates collective identifiers.
What the 4 September 2026 amendment changes
On 4 September 2026 the Sejm accepted the Senate's amendments to the bill amending the VAT Act and the Taxpayer Identification Act (parliamentary print 2677). The act awaits the President's signature, so until publication in the Journal of Laws everything below is enacted text rather than binding law.
Joint and several liability will extend to intangible services listed in a new Annex 16 (advisory, management, accounting, advertising, market research and others). Thresholds: an invoice above PLN 15,000 gross, or more than PLN 50,000 net of such purchases from a single supplier in a month.
Paying through MPP will still shield the buyer from joint liability. The original draft narrowed that protection; the Senate amendment accepted by the Sejm preserves it for buyers of intangible services who pay via MPP.
Annex 15 goods are to be classified by CN codes instead of PKWiU. Services stay on PKWiU. The change is described as housekeeping, but it means remapping product catalogues.
Effective dates for the various blocks fall between 1 October 2026 and 1 January 2027. The final schedule will be known once the act is promulgated.
Checklist: how to stay out of the penalty
Flag Annex 15 goods in the product catalogue, not on the invoice. A flag on the product works every time; human memory does not.
Automate the MPP switch for invoices above PLN 15,000 gross that contain at least one such line.
Verify
P_18A, not the notes field. Check it on the XML sent to KSeF, not on the PDF visualisation.On the purchasing side, set a control threshold on every invoice above PLN 15,000 gross, whether or not the seller added the annotation.
Verify the counterparty's account on the VAT white list and confirm it is a business settlement account rather than a private one.
Test an MPP transfer carrying a KSeF number in your bank before the obligation bites on 1 January 2027.
Catch errors within the same month. Return and re-payment through MPP only work with the counterparty's cooperation.
Summary
Mandatory MPP comes down to two simple conditions and three painful penalties. The difficulty is that the conditions must be checked on every invoice, on both sides of the transaction, and one of the penalties reaches the personal assets of an individual.
In Biurko you set the Annex 15 flag once in the product catalogue, and the system switches the MPP marker on for any invoice above the threshold and maps it to P_18A in the FA(3) schema. Create a free account and check it against your own data.
FAQ
Is split payment mandatory on an invoice of exactly PLN 15,000? No. The provision refers to a total amount due that exceeds PLN 15,000. An invoice for exactly PLN 15,000.00 gross falls outside the obligation, even if it consists entirely of Annex 15 goods. From PLN 15,000.01 gross the obligation applies.
What happens if I pay without MPP when it was mandatory? The buyer faces an additional tax liability of 30% of the VAT attributable to Annex 15 items, disallowance of the expense as a tax-deductible cost, and a fine of up to 720 daily rates under Article 57c of the Fiscal Penal Code. The seller who omitted the annotation faces the same 30% additional liability on that VAT.
Do I pay the whole invoice through MPP or only the sensitive part? The obligation covers payment for the Annex 15 goods and services. Paying the entire invoice through MPP is permitted and simpler in practice, because it removes the risk of miscalculating the covered portion.
Has KSeF abolished the split payment obligation? No. KSeF changes how invoices are issued, not the payment rules. The MPP annotation is the P_18A field in the FA(3) schema, and from 1 January 2027 the MPP transfer message must additionally carry the invoice's KSeF number or a collective identifier.
Does a VAT-exempt business have to apply MPP? As a seller it adds no annotation, because it shows no VAT. As a buyer it must pay through MPP whenever the invoice qualifies: above PLN 15,000 gross and covering Annex 15 goods or services. Holding a business settlement account is the practical prerequisite.