Electronic filing of VAT returns in Poland
Following the changes announced last month, the Polish authorities have clarified that all VAT returns in Poland will need to be submitted electronically as from 1 January 2017, such is the case of ES(P)L returns as well.
VAT returns in Poland for online submission only
This is an important change for non-established companies that are VAT registered in Poland, as many of these businesses were filing VAT returns using the paper form published by the tax authorities.
The new requirement will allow a transition period for certain businesses. Exceptionally, paper returns will be allowed until 1 January 2018 when the following conditions are met:
- No intra-Community transactions are carried out in Poland
- No reverse-charge transactions are carried out in Poland
- There is no obligation to report other tax declarations electronically
A number of businesses will benefit from this transition period, particularly online distance sellers, conference organizers charging an admission fee to the event and other companies making domestic transactions only.
In addition to the above changes on electronic filing, taxpayers will be automatically deregistered where there are no activities reported in the VAT returns for a period longer than six consecutive months. These de-registrations will be carried by the Polish tax authorities without the prior consent of the taxpayer.
VIES deactivation
Also, the VIES registration of the Polish number will be deactivated when no ES(P)L returns are submitted or no activities are reported in the VAT return for at least three months. This is particularly important for non-established companies only making sporadic intra-Community transactions, as they may need to reactivate their VIES number if automatically deregistered by the authorities.