Month: January 2019

In the January issue of Przegląd Podatkowy, Andrzej Ladziński critically analyzes the changes introduced to the general anti-avoidance clause.

(…) the current wording of the general clause corresponds to the requirements of the ATA Directive. It seems that the new regulations are the result of partially incorrect understanding of provisions of the Directive, but also misinterpretation of the meaning of the previously existing provisions, especially misunderstanding of the legal nature of the general anti-avoidance clause. In addition, an important factor influencing the scope of introduced changes was, as it seems, striving for a significant reduction, and perhaps even elimination of the possibility of tax optimization. The Minister of Finance in the fight against the so-called tax optimization has gone so far as to qualify taxpayers’ activities, which, in fact, have nothing to do with aggressive tax optimization, in this category. As a result of these changes, we found ourselves in a situation where the general anti-avoidance clause seems to express the principle that taxpayers should act in such a way so that their material and economic goals would be burdened with the highest possible tax.

Article can be downloaded from: https://gww.pl/pl/publikacje/zmiany-w-ogolnej-klauzuli-przeciwko-unikaniu-opoda/ 

GWW was distinguished in the international competition The Lawyer European Award 2019 in the Most innovative technology initiative category for the JPK Insight tool. We are in an honorable group of finalists (7 law firms from all over Europe) of the competition, whose final will take place on 19 March 2019 in London.
 
JPK Insight is an application created by a team of analysts, programmers, and tax advisors of GWW, which is used to verify and control (on the basis of VAT records sent to the Ministry of Finance in the form of a Standard Audit File for Tax – JPK_VAT) information provided to tax authorities on the current balance of VAT settlements. Operation of our tool significantly improves audit work of tax advisors. As the only company on the market, we offer such a comprehensive tool that examines correctness of generated JPK_VAT files, combining formal (including technical) and substantive analysis. More information on JPK Insight at: http://jpk-insight.pl/ 

In the Most innovative technology initiative category, the jury assessed, inter alia,:
•             Innovative approach to the topic
•             Product impact on business benefits
•             Product functioning
 
The ranking is organized by The Lawyer magazine – a renowned British weekly published since 1987. The European Awards have been granted since 2009 and their purpose is to appreciate, each year, achievements of law firms in terms of services provided and high level of customer service, as well as highlight their position in the legal market. This year, the Most innovative technology initiative category appeared in the ranking for the first time, in which the jury chose the most innovative technological initiatives. 
 
Congratulations to the whole team involved in this project, and most of all: Rafał Mularczyk, Grzegorz Mularczyk, Magdalena Górecka, Ewa Kutner, and Krzysztof Kasprzyk.

A limited liability company (spółka z o.o.) should be notified of the change in ownership of shares. Such notification must be accompanied by evidence of transferring shares or part thereof onto another person. A contract of sale may be such evidence. Who should provide the notification to the company?

A new article by Marcin Borkowski, PhD, can be found in today's edition of Dziennik Gazeta Prawna daily.

Link to the article: https://gww.pl/pl/publikacje/nabywca-udziaow-musi-powiadomic-o-tym-fakcie-spoke/ 

Has the business of running escape rooms actually encountered legal loopholes or have the entrepreneurs failed to fulfill all their duties? You will receive an answer to this and other questions in this material.

The attorney Joanna Sebzda-Załuska was a guest of a morning TVP broadcast on 10.01.2019 and talked about the duties that rest on entrepreneurs running an escape room business.

Link to the program (conversation from minute: 13:25​): ​​​​​​https://www.tvp.info/40532144/10012019-0629 

The attorneys Jakub Obiegły and Michał Tuszyński became members of the Working Group for Distributed Ledger and Blockchain technology appointed in the Ministry of Digitization.

The Group aims at experience sharing in order to create a friendly and safe space for new engineering companies. The tasks undertaken by this initiative include, inter alia, improvement of cooperation mechanisms within the administration and elimination of development barriers.

“We want to critically identify areas in which the applications of blockchain technology create actual benefits to other technical solutions. We intend to promote standards and good practices contributing to the growth of trust in trading and public administration. We would like to inspire scientific circles for research related to the development and use of blockchain technologies, including in such areas as cryptography, cryptographic protocols, algorithms, cryptoeconomics, law of new technologies, distributed systems, cybersecurity.” – we may read on the website of the Ministry of Digitization.

Members of the Group include representatives of key stakeholders of the development of blockchain applications.

The Minister of Internal Affairs and Administration wants to introduce changes to the fire regulations applicable to buildings in which so-called escape rooms operate.

In today's issue of Wiadomości on TVP1 television channel, a commentary was given by the attorney Joanna Sebzda-Załuska, legal counsel, partner at GWW.

A driver who will not turn on the GPS, as of January will pay a fine of PLN 7.5 thousand, according to the excise tax regulations. From July, a penalty of PLN 500 will be charged for a minor error, even a typo, in JPK (Standard Audit File-Tax – SAF-T). What changes can we expect from the Ministry of Finance in 2019?  

Commentary by Radosław Graboś in the latest article for Prawo.pl

"(…) at the beginning of 2019, the legislator introduced provisions to the tax ordinance enabling the authorities to determine an additional tax liability, which will be charged to the taxpayer regardless of the tax originally due. A standard amount of this additional tax liability was set at 10%, and in the case of decisions issued under the anti-avoidance clause, up to 40% of the amount of unduly claimed or overstated tax loss and income not shown in whole or in part. Furthermore, depending on the situation, the additional tax liability may be doubled or even tripled. In addition, on the basis of the PIT Act, apart from the penalties mentioned above, the tax authorities also have the option of imposing a 75% sanction tax on revenues that were not disclosed in the tax return. Another thing to be mentioned is the penalties already applicable under the VAT Act. The additional tax liability may be determined in the amount from 20% (correction of the return taking into account all irregularities found and payment of the tax liability), up to even 100% – in the case of using a so-called “blank invoice.” – says Radosław Graboś.

“Apart from the sanctions mentioned above, the taxpayer may also be subject to criminal and fiscal or criminal liability. The list of penal measures and sanctions has been considerably expanded over the past few years. In addition to a fine (amounting to tens of millions of zlotys in the most severe version), the taxpayer may also be sentenced to the penalty of limitation or deprivation of liberty (even for 25 years) In addition to these penalties, the Criminal Code also provides for the possibility of depriving the perpetrators of their property, inter alia, by way of forfeiture of an enterprise.".

Link to the article: https://www.prawo.pl/podatki/kary-dla-podatnikow-w-polsce-rosna-blad-w-jpk-vat-import-kks-itp,354638.html 

Public Procurement Law regulations indicate which contracts constitute subcontracting agreements, but a question arises whether each entity participating in execution of a public contract is a subcontractor.

Marta Lipińska analyzes features of subcontracting agreements in the Przetargi Publiczne monthly and points out that “A subcontracting agreement should not be understood as contracts for deliveries signed with producers of, for instance, building materials or other products that do not form part of the public contract (i.e. they are not subject to take-over by the contracting authority, are widely available on the market, were not produced to complete the contract, were not produced according to the contracting authority’s exact specifications).” 
http://www.przetargipubliczne.pl/archiwum/art,8332,podwykonawcy-dostaw-lub-uslug.html 

At the beginning of the New Year, taxpayers will have to face next changes in the field of transfer pricing regulations. The legislator's purpose is to introduce some simplifications in the context of documentary obligations of entities effecting controlled transactions, while at the same time introducing solutions that will allow auditing taxpayers regardless of their revenues or costs, referring in this respect to solutions effective before 2017. 

“Since 1 January 2019, provisions of the CIT Act and the PIT Act will no longer make the obligation to prepare transfer pricing documentation conditional upon the taxpayer reaching a certain threshold of revenues or costs in the year preceding the documentation preparation. Currently, this threshold is 2 million euros.

One of determinants of the obligation to prepare local documentation for a controlled transaction will be the achievement of a specific documentation threshold, which will amount to PLN 10 million for a commodity transaction, PLN 10 million for a financial transaction, PLN 2 million for a service transaction, and PLN 2 million for transactions other than those referred to above.”

Link to the article: https://www.rp.pl/Podatek-dochodowy/312319996-Nowe-prawo-2019-mniej-obowiazkow-dokumentacyjnych-dla-MSP.html