Invoice Terms in Poland

Mate of mine is thinking of coming to Poland to live with gf, wants me to find out what the typical invoice terms are here e.g. 30 days.

Is it usual to write your terms on the invoice?

He's a teacher so will probably go down the self-employed route.

Ta

ps. apologies if this is already on a thread somewhere, did look, could not find..

They'll likely be bills and not invoices. Bills (rachunki) are what I use. Invoices (faktury) are generally for VAT-registered users (VATowcy). If you have a financial guy, you can give him documents as proof of purchase with your stamp and theirs. He will deduct a sum from your tax based on the documents thereof.

It depends what your friend arranges with his school. My schools get 14 working days from the date of submission of the bill. You can write przelewem (by transfer) if you wish.

What do you mean by terms, blueboy?

Probably just the terms and conditions of payment - ie, pay me by the 14th or you owe me the money plus interest, discounts for prompt payment, etc etc.

You can never be sure these days. That's all negotiable with the school. It's usually by the tenth unless otherwise stated.

Yes, it is called "Termin płatności", and is a standard part of a VAT invoice. But like Seanus said, if your friend is just going down the self employment route he will not be generating Invoices, but bills. (me thinks)


Just from my experience it is typically 7, 10, or 14 days. Which does seem quite short. I don't recall having seen anything longer than 14 days, unlike the typical 30 days I am accustomed to outside of Poland. I don't know if this cultural or part of the accounting standards here.

Our terms are for 7 days payment because we have to pay the VAT man every month (as a sp. z o.o.) based on the invoices we've issued (regardless of whether they've been paid) so I don't want to be out of pocket!

Seems horrifically short, given that many smaller businesses will survive on credit.

But as the cheese person says, if they've got to pay VAT based on invoices, no wonder they have such short payment terms.

Thanks for the replies all - very helpful!