Standard Audit File for VAT (‘SAF-T’, in Polish “JPK”) is a .xml file, prepared based on the .xsd schema presented by the Ministry of Finance, through which taxpayers report VAT data to tax authorities.

The main objectives of introducing electronic data flow between business and tax administration were: reduction the operational costs, elimination of paper declarations, access to data in an easily analyzable format, automatization of control processes and improvement of their effectiveness.

The history of SAF-T in Poland dates back to 2016. Since then, the scope of reported data has evolved. Currently, SAF-T contains declarative data (summaries of values and types of transactions conducted) and record data (names of transactions’ parties, dates, amounts).

When applicable, taxpayers are obliged to include some additional remarks in the SAF-T which provide further information about the conducted transactions.

These additional markings pertain to:

  • some sales documents (e.g., “WEW” – internal document),
  • some types of transactions (e.g., “TP” – existing relationships between transaction parties),
  • commodity and service groups (in Polish “GTU”) particularly prone to tax fraud (e.g., fuel, electronic devices, waste/recyclable materials).

Marking are assigned to each transaction reported, not to a whole population of sales or purchase data. Thus, to properly fill the SAF-T in, quite broad awareness on business model and transactions performed is needed at the level of preparing the VAT evidence.

Support needed?

Proper preparation of the SAF-T requires knowledge and experience in applying Polish tax regulations, as well as a good understanding of the business model and transactions carried out by the taxpayer.

From technical perspective preparation of the SAF-T file is possible only with support of a tool / program that presents entered data in SAF-T scheme (.xml format).

Submission of SAF-T is done generally by an authorized person who possess an electronic signature.

At CRIDO we provide complex VAT compliance services aimed at preparation and submission of the SAF-T but also own program – for companies who needs only a tool.

Additionally, if you are able to prepare SAF-T, but the process is time-consuming or significantly manual, we are ready to shadow the process and propose changes or automations that make VAT reporting more convenient for staff involved.

Future changes

Further modifications to SAF-T structure are expected once National System of e-Invoices enters into force in Poland (expected in 2026).