New register of VAT payers and new obligations

Under the amendments to the VAT Act, the Head of KAS (National Tax Administration) will keep an electronic list of entities:

1) in relation to which the head of the tax office did not register or which he deleted from the register as VAT taxpayers;

2) registered as VAT taxpayers, including entities whose registration as VAT payers has been restored

The new register will operate on the existing register referred to in Article 96b of the VAT Act. However, the scope of information will be extended to:

1) status of the entity:

1. in respect of which registration has not been carried out or which has been removed from the register as a VAT taxpayer,
2. registered as an „active VAT payer” or „VAT payer exempt”, including the entity whose registration has been restored”;

2) the address of the permanent place of business or the address of the place of residence, in the case of not having a permanent place of business – in relation to a natural person;

3) legal basis for refusal of registration, deletion from the register and restoration of registration as a VAT payer;

4) numbers of billing accounts or personal accounts at credit unions, – indicated in the identification application or update notification and confirmed using STIR within the meaning of art. 119, item 6 of the Tax Ordinance.

In addition to the new taxpayer register, an obligation to make payments to the bank account of the invoice issuer indicated in the register in the case of transactions exceeding PLN 15,000 has been imposed.

In the case when the taxpayer makes a transfer to an account other than indicated in the register, from January 1, 2020 he is awaited by severe sanctions: the lack of the possibility of recognizing such expenditure as a tax cost within the meaning of income tax and joint and several liability for not entering the VAT Office of the seller up to the amount VAT resulting from payment.

The new regulations may prove to be burdensome for taxpayers, because with payments above PLN 15,000, they will be required each time to verify the counterparty’s bank account.

The new regulations introduce a new register of VAT taxpayers, where the taxpayer’s bank account number will also be included. In the case of payments above PLN 15,000, taxpayers will be required to make transfers to accounts specified in the register. Otherwise, from 1^st of January 2020 their sanctions await: the lack of recognition of such a transfer to tax costs and joint and several liability for an unpaid VAT invoice issuer. This also results in the need to verify bank accounts when making payments.