The year 2020 was not too easy for companies in Poland. The next one will not be easier – especially if we look at changes in the tax law. We will have a big revolution in the rules of taxation of incomes earned by limited partnerships and general partnerships. Starting from January, they will have to pay double tax.
Today's material begins a series of articles on Prawo.pl concerning changes in income taxes, written by GWW experts .
Whoever decides to issue and send structured electronic invoices via the ministerial platform may hope for tax benefits.
We will find an interview on the introduction of the National System of e-invoices with Wojciech Śliż, tax advisor and GWW partner, in today's issue of Gazeta Prawna.
How do you find the plan to introduce an ICT system that would allow businesses to issue and send structured invoices to their contractors?
Introduction of such a possibility is a clear signal that the Ministry of Finance has decided to use the Italian model, in which this solution was effective in years 2017–2018. As of 2019, structured electronic invoices are essentially the only form of issuing VAT invoices in Italy. An assumption should be made that the Ministry of Finance’s intention is to have this solution as the target one also in Poland. The Italian example showed that the widespread introduction of structured invoices significantly limited the possibility of committing invoice-related offenses and resulting VAT fraud. However, it should be remembered that the closing of loopholes took place in Italy only with the introduction of the obligatory, not voluntary, form of a structured invoice. The period of operation of the voluntary system is the time of testing the ICT system. Therefore, the benefits included in the Polish assumptions and published in the government's catalogue seem not to be fully thought out.
Why do you think so?
It is about exemption from the obligation to store and archive structured invoices. I must admit that I do not quite understand the essence of this incentive. Maybe it is rather that structured invoices will be stored and archived for a company in the ICT system of the Ministry of Finance? The proposal that taxpayers issuing only structured invoices could receive refunds of the excess of input tax over the output tax at an accelerated pace is even more surprising. It is obvious that the specified time limit for the refund of the excess VAT is used by the tax authorities to verify purchase invoices and the input tax they contain. But how would the issuing of sales invoices by companies in a structured form affect this verification? I truly hope that the Ministry of Finance will be able to explain this in the justification to the draft amendment.
Could obligatory structured invoices replace single audit files (JPK files) in the future?
I think that both these solutions could and should coexist in the future. Existence of structured invoices without JPK reporting would deprive the tax administration of information about which invoices were finally included in the VAT return. It would therefore not allow automatic analysis of the correctness of returns or the planned preparation by the tax administration of pre-filled VAT returns.
Link to the whole interview: https://podatki.gazetaprawna.pl/artykuly/1498314,krajowy-system-e-faktur-coraz-blizej-do-wprowadzenia.html
In the adopted amendment to the PIT and CIT Act, which will come into force on 1 January 2021, apart from many other essential changes, Article 27 c was added, pursuant to which selected taxpayers will be required to prepare and publish on their websites a report on the implementation of the tax strategy for a given tax year.
This applies to entities with revenues in excess of EUR 50 million and to Tax Capital Groups.
You will find more information in the alert to be downloaded below.
We already know who will be entitled to the financial aid under the Financial Shield 2.0. – businesses from 38 industries that had to limit or suspend their activities due to the epidemiological situation related to COVID-19 may apply for support.
Deadline for submitting applications is planned for January and February 2021.
You will find more information in the tax alert, which can be downloaded from the link below.
Companies are obliged to submit VAT records in a changed formula by the end of November. Tax authorities may impose a fine of PLN 500 for each error in the new JPK file. What changes should taxpayers expect and what should they pay attention to when preparing files for sending?
A summary of the changes related to the submission of new Standard Audit Files (JPK) was prepared by Rafał Kacprowski, a tax advisor in the tax reporting outsourcing team.
The article was published on the Lexplorers legal portal: http://lexplorers.pl/nowe-zasady-skladania-plikow-jpk-vat/
Improper performance of duties by a member of the management board may be harmful to the company. What conditions must be met so that the court would order payment of an appropriate compensation by such a member of the management board in the event of being sued by a company?
This issue is clarified in an article by Marcin Borkowski, Ph.D., published in Dziennik Gazeta Prawna.
The government is working on the e-Commerce package, a major VAT reform. The changes will primarily affect taxpayers selling goods or providing services via the Internet. New obligations will also arise for online sales platforms, auction portals or even social networks where the sale takes place.
COMMENTARY by Magdalena Verdun, tax advisor in the VAT proceedings team.
– At first glance, it would seem an excellent legislative measure for the post-pandemic period – on the one hand, it provides Member States with an additional cash injection, and on the other hand, it allows companies to make savings on VAT settlements. Unfortunately, although the e-commerce VAT package is aimed at eliminating some of the existing legal gaps that result in losses in VAT revenues in e-commerce transactions, it still does not combat illegal VAT evasion in online commerce – says Magdalena Verdun.
The expert explains that after the entry into force of the e-commerce VAT package, there will be no need to register and submit VAT returns in countries of residence of goods recipients. Sellers will however still be required to charge VAT in the country of the goods recipient but this VAT will be declared in the form of a quarterly return to one tax administration within the framework of the One Stop Shop (OSS) system. In comparison to local registrations, a disadvantage of OSS is that it does not allow businesses to claim deduction of input VAT on expenses incurred in the Member State of the goods recipient.
The article was published on the Prawo.pl legal portal: https://www.prawo.pl/podatki/zmiany-w-rozliczaniu-vat-sprzedazy-przez-internet,504751.html
Judyta Watoła and Wojciech Czuchnowski are the winners of the 16th edition of the Radio ZET Andrzej Woyciechowski Award. Journalists of Gazeta Wyborcza received the Award for a series of articles related to gross irregularities in the purchase of masks and respirators by the Ministry of Health, which were published in the period between May and July 2020.
Honorable mentions were awarded to Zbigniew Nosowski (Więź.pl) and Janusz Schwertner (Onet). In a special additional resolution, the Jury also distinguished Karolina Baca-Pogorzelska (BiznesAlert.pl) and Piotr Czaban (TVN24) for organization of the #uwolnićomara campaign.
GWW Law Firm is a partner of the Radio ZET Andrzej Woyciechowski Award. As every year, also during this year's edition, we watched over the proper course of the competition.
More information available on: https://wiadomosci.radiozet.pl/Polska/Judyta-Watola-i-Wojciech-Czuchnowski-laureatami-Nagrody-Radia-ZET-im.-Andrzeja-Woyciechowskiego
Application of CIT to limited partnerships will affect tens of thousands of Polish businesses. There is a risk that tax offices will accuse those partnerships that transform their legal form of tax avoidance. Do the new regulations discriminate some partners in partnerships and will they lower competitiveness of Polish businesses?
COMMENTARY by Mateusz Pietranek
– in the case of transformation of a limited partnership into another form, e.g. general partnership or professional partnership (especially right before the amendment becomes effective), there is a risk that the circumvention clause will be applied, since the tax authorities will be likely to claim that such action was performed mainly for tax purposes – The imprecise mention on the artificial nature of the transformation is the most problematic – he emphasizes.
The article was published in today's edition of prawo.pl:
https://www.prawo.pl/biznes/podwojne-opodatkowanie-spolek-komandytowych,504767.html
The digital market is with no doubt one of the fastest growing sectors of the economy, not only in the European Union but also in the world. According to estmates, it is worth, in the EU alone, over EUR 400 billion and forecasts for the coming years show this value will be at least twice as high. Such a dynamic development of this market and its value could not escape the attention of our government, which assumes that by 2025 the value of digital services in Poland may exceed 12% of Polish GDP, which amounts to over PLN 200 billion.
Andrzej Marton discusses consequences of the digital tax in the Polish legal system in Dziennik Gazeta Prawna.
