Apart from the introduction of important amendments relating to the identification of transactions subject to documentation and improvement in the scope of the arrangement of transfer pricing documentation, the amendment to pricing transfer regulations, which became effective on 1 January 2019, has also changed the existing reporting of related party transactions. CIT-TP and PIT-TP forms have been replaced with TPR-C and TPR-P returns.

The new forms require the provision of a much greater amount of information concerning the taxpayer, including – to give an example – the financial information of a given entity in the form of selected financial ratios, as well as other detailed information concerning the transactions concluded with related entities.

Who is obliged to prepare TPR-C/TPR-P returns?

Transfer pricing reporting under the new obligation is obligatory for entities which conclude controlled related party transactions fulfilling the criteria for their inclusion in transfer pricing documentation, as well as (in a limited scope) entities qualifying for the so-called domestic exemption under which they are not obliged to prepare transfer pricing documentation.

Such an exemption from the documentation obligation referred to hereinabove is applicable in the case of conclusion of transactions by and between domestic entities if none of such entities suffered a tax loss in the year subject to the documentation, enjoyed the exemptions related with the business activity in special economic zones and/or other tax exemptions.

What is important, the TPR-C/TPR-P return may also be prepared for the transactions concluded with independent entities in the scope in which a Polish taxpayer makes the payment of the amount due or concludes a deed of a company/partnership not being a legal person (after exceeding specified limits) for the benefit of an entity carrying out the business activity in a country applying harmful tax competition.

Information provided under TPR-C/TPR-P returns

As stated hereinabove, the information provided under TPR-C and TPR-P returns is definitely more detailed than the information required under CIT-TP/PIT-TP.

The most important elements include, first of all, information concerning the related entities, information about the transfer pricing methods of determining and verifying the prices, and – what is more important – the profit level indicators applied in each benchmarking analysis prepared for a documented transaction. Taxpayers are obliged to indicate the results of benchmarking analyses , both in the scope of full ranges of results and interquartile ranges.

Such detailed data enable the tax authorities not only to assess the financial results generated by individual taxpayers but also to verify the profitability of individual transactions concluded with related entities. In consequence, it will be possible to select for control – in a precise way – not only the taxpayers(as was the case of CIT-TP/PIT-TP returns) but individual transactions, without the necessity of commencing any verifying activities.

Deadlines and manner of submission of TPR-C/TPR-P transfer pricing information

Pursuant to the CIT Act and the PIT Act, the TPR-C and TPR-P forms are submitted in an electronic form to the Head of the National Revenue Administration by the end of the ninth month after the end of the tax year.

However, the year 2020 (during which the transactions concluded by taxpayers in the tax year beginning after 31 December 2018 are reported) will be a specific year as – because of the COVID-19 pandemic – the deadline for TPR-C/TPR-P reporting has been prolonged until 31 December 2020 (if the deadline for the submission of transfer pricing information is expiring between 31 March 2020 and 30 September 2020) or by three months (if the said deadline expires between 1 October 2020 and 31 January 2021).

Transfer pricing information (TPR-C/TPR-P) should be submitted by means of electronic communication with the use of the form made available in the Bulletin of Public Information.

What is the future of the TPR-C/TPR-P return?

The new reporting will surely provide taxpayers with numerous problems related with the selection of the relevant data for inclusion in the return and the collection of relevant information from the group. Nevertheless, Poland is not isolated in the implementation of the reporting, which imposes full transparency in the scope of the transactions concluded with related entities. It is very important how such type of reference data will be analysed and what conclusions will be drawn because the occurrence of the indicators/ratios exceeding certain limits in some situations may have a full economic and business justification.

It could be said that in 2020 there should be no fundamental changes in the formula of TPR-C/TPR-P, whereas it may be expected that the scope of the data provided under transfer pricing reporting will be expanded in the coming years.

In the future, the data obtained from the TPR-C/TPR-P form may be used in the automatic analysis to search the deviations from – to give an example – the typical results, which will enable the authorities to select taxpayers and transactions for inspection in an even more efficient way.  

Authors:

Jakub Roszkiewicz, Senior Manager in Transfer Pricing Team at KPMG in Poland
Marta Krawcow, Consultant in Transfer Pricing Team at KPMG in Poland