It is aimed at minimising the risk of unintended participation by the taxpayers in the VAT Carousel through simplification of business partner's verification (the information will be centralised instead of separate registers operated thus far).
What will it include?
Apart from the basic data such as business name, Tax Identification Number (NIP), Statistical Number (REGON), Personal Number (PESEL), number of entry into the National Court Register (KRS), address, data of persons composing the body authorised to represents the entity, it will include:
- dates of registration and refusal to register, or dates of de-registration or reinstatement of registration as VAT taxpayer together with the legal grounds therefor,
- the data will take into account the taxpayer's status in the period of the last 5 years (thus far, it was only possible to verify whether a given business partner is an active VAT taxpayer at the moment of verification, which precluded the observance of due diligence in relation to earlier events).
- numbers of bank accounts notified with the use of NIP forms.
Business partner's bank account included in the white list will have a great significance to taxpayers from 1 January 2020 as this is the date when new provisions will become effective pursuant to which the transactions between VAT taxpayers exceeding the value of PLN 15 thousand gross will have to be paid only by bank transfer to the recipient's bank account provided for in the register.
- Any payment to another bank account will entail the purchaser's risk of joint and several liability for any VAT arrears arising from the incorrectly paid invoice.
- Furthermore, the amendments to the PIT and CIT Acts introduce the exclusion of the possibility of treating the expenses from "incorrectly" paid invoices as tax deductible cost.
We recommend the verification of the bank accounts notified to tax offices as the data in the register will result mainly from the information already held by tax authorities.
Mandatory split payment in some sectors of industry
From the beginning of November, the split payment mechanism will become mandatory for the sectors which are exposed the most to VAT fraud, for example electronic, steel, construction, scrap processing or coal sectors. It will be applicable to the transactions the value of which exceeds PLN 15 thousand gross (obligatorily paid by means of the bank account).
- An element notifying about the mandatory application of the mechanism to a given transaction will be the information placed in an invoice.
- The law will also introduce the possibility of using the VAT account not only to pay the VAT dues, but also other public law liabilities (income taxes, excise duty, customs duties and contributions to the Social Security Institution). It is the response to the taxpayers' anxiety about financial liquidity.
- The failure to apply the mechanism in spite of such an obligation may result in sanctions in the scope of VAT and income tax - the lack of possibility of treating the following cost as tax deductible cost: the cost in the part (or decreasing the amount of costs) in which the payment concerning the transaction of value exceeding PLN 15,000 covering goods and services subject to the obligation to apply the mechanism has been made in another manner.
New matrix of rates
- On 1 November 2019, the Effective Rate Information Institution will come into being. Its purpose is to assist the taxpayers in the determination of a correct VAT rate for the sold goods and services. However, they will be officially binding upon the tax authorities not earlier than from 1 April 2020. The Effective Rate Information can be applied only and exclusively to the new matrix of VAT rates and will be used pursuant to the principles similar to individual tax interpretations.
- It is planned, that as of 1 April 2020, the 2008 Polish Classification of Goods and Services [PKWiU from Polish "Polska Klasyfikacja Wyrobów i Usług"] that is used at present will be transformed into the Combined Nomenclature CN codes (for goods) or the 2015 Polish Classification of Goods and Services (for services).
- A simplified matrix of VAT rates will be introduced as of 1 April 2020. Majority of the amendments refers to the changes of the rate into the lower one and is focused mainly on foodstuffs. However, some of the regulations become effective as early as on 1 November 2019 and they refer to the reduction of rates for e-books (5%) and e-press (8%).
VAT-7 and VAT-7K returns no longer effective
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Beginning on 1 January 2020, the VAT-7 and VAT-7K returns will be replaced with the Standard Audit File. It is to reduce the load on taxpayers who are currently obliged to file both the Standard Audit File (JPK_VAT) and the returns;
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The new Standard Audit File (JPK_VAT) will be an electronic document which combines the data from the VAT return and VAT register.
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Appendices VAT-ZZ, VAT-ZD, VAT-ZT as well as additional applications enclosed thus far with the returns as separate documents will also disappear. They will be replaced with selection fields taken into account in the new Standard Audit File.
