On 24th May, 2016 the Polish Ministry of Finance published the draft of new law on taxation of retail sales.
According to the draft …
A. Taxation of a Retail Sale
On 24th May, 2016 the Polish Ministry of Finance published the draft of new law on taxation of retail sales.
According to the draft:
- the new tax will be levied on the income from the retail sale,
- by ‘income’ it will be understood the net amount received from the sale of goods to natural persons who do not conduct business activities and farmers who settle VAT on the base of the flat-rate scheme,
- by ‘tax base’ will be understood the surplus of the income from the retail sale, obtained in a given month, over the amount of PLN 17m (approx. EURO 3,800,000),
- there will be two tax rates:
- 0.8% applicable to the tax base below PLN 170m,
- 1.4% applicable to the surplus over PLN 170m,
- there will be obligation to file the appropriate tax declaration and pay due tax by the 25th day of the following month,
- the retail sale via Internet will not be covered by this tax,
- there will be a few exemptions from the obligation to pay this tax, e.g. certain drugs or goods supplied such as restaurant services.
The Act will come into force on 31st day after its publication in the Official Journal of Laws. The above draft of the new law will be analysed by the Polish government and afterwards it will be sent to the Polish Parliament for further processing.
B. ECJ will assess if the Polish tax authorities has to return unduly VAT charged after the limitation periods
In the decision dated 19th May 2016 (case No I FSK 224/15) the Polish Supreme Administrative Court decided to pass to the Court of Justice of the European Union question whether the tax authorities has to return VAT unduly charged after the limitation periods.
The case concerned the Company which, following the ECJ’s judgment C-224/11 BGZ Leasing submitted a request for refund of overpaid tax for the years from 2005 to 2007. The tax authorities refused the Company the refund due to the expiry of the limitation period. The standpoint of the authorities was also upheld by the Polish Voivodship Administrative Court.
However, the Polish Supreme Administrative Court had doubts whether the situation in which, due to the expiry of the limitation period, taxpayers are unable to obtain a refund of VAT collected against the EU law, is in line with the general principles of the European Union regulations. Therefore, the Polish Supreme Administrative Court decided to ask ECJ the question in this respect.
C. Tax Alert No 07/2016: Since 1st June 2016 INTRASTAT declarations in Poland have to be submitted via the new customs platform “PUESC”
Polish Ministry of Finance informed that since 1st June 2016 INTRASTAT declarations have to be submitted via the new customs platform “PUESC” ( https://puesc.gov.pl/ ).
All INTRASTAT declarations submitted via the PUESC platform have to be electronically signed using either Polish electronic signature or special free-of-charge unqualified electronic signature issued by the customs authorities.
As a special temporary measure there will be a possibility to submit INTRASTAT declarations for May 2016 without any electronic signature.
Dorota Baczewska-Golinska
Independent Tax Advisers
