KPMG Weekly Tax Review 02 SEP - 09 SEP 2024

On 3 September 2024, a preliminary paper on the bill amending the Value-Added Tax Act, the Excise Duty Act, and certain other acts was published on the website of the Chancellery of the Prime Minister. The bill provides, inter alia, for applying the standard VAT rate to supplies of cannabis sativa products and prolonging the reverse charge mechanism for gas in the gas system, electricity in the power system and services consisting in trading in greenhouse gas emission allowances, as well as eliminating the obligation to integrate cash registers with payment terminals, in favour of the introduction of a substitute obligation to report data on payment transactions by acquiring agents, and introducing the possibility of refund of excise duty on passenger cars temporarily registered in the country for export abroad.

https://www.gov.pl/web/premier/projekt-ustawy-o-zmianie-ustawy-o-podatku-od-towarow-i-uslug-ustawy-o-podatku-akcyzowym-oraz-niektorych-innych-ustaw

On 3 September 2024, a bill amending the Act on CEIDG [Central Register and Information on Business Activity] and the Business Information Desk was published. The bill introduces amendments relating to publishing in CEIDG information on civil law partnerships, where a partner is an entrepreneur already entered in CEIDG, online registration of business activity, access to data available in CEIDG and via the mObywatel app, as well as extending the scope of information provided in CEIDG with information on attorneys. The bill is currently being assessed.

https://legislacja.rcl.gov.pl/projekt/12389003/katalog/13078502

On 3 September 2024, a new version of the bill amending the Act on the Agricultural Tax, the Act on the Local Taxes and Duties, the Act on the Forest Tax, and the Act on the Stamp Duty was put under assessment. Compared to the previous version, the bill brings a raft of important changes, including in terms of the real estate tax. These include, among others, changes to the definition of “building” and “non-building structure”, taxation of vehicle parking facilities in residential buildings at the rate applicable to residential buildings and bringing the possibility to file the real estate tax return for 2025 by 31 March 2025.

https://legislacja.rcl.gov.pl/projekt/12386262/katalog/13064860

The Ministry of Finance published the latest revision of the TPR guidebook. The guidebook presents practical examples of how the transfer pricing reports should be filled in, to simplify the transfer pricing information reporting process and ensure data integrity.

https://www.podatki.gov.pl/ceny-transferowe/wyjasnienia/informator-tpr-pytania-i-odpowiedzi-edycja-piata-04092024/

During the meeting of the Monetary Policy Council held on 4 September 2024, it was decided to keep the NBP interest rates unchanged, i.e.:

• reference rate at 5.75% annually
• lombard loan interest rate at 6.25% annually
• deposit rate at 5.25% annually
• rediscount rate at 5.80% annually
• discount rate on bills of exchange at 5.85% annually.

According to the judgment of the Supreme Administrative Court dated 3 September 2024 (case file I FSK 1212/18), when determining whether the employer bears responsibility for issuing false invoices by its employee, it is of key importance to examine, first, whether the employee acted outside the knowledge and consent of the employer, and second, whether the employer acted in good faith. Good faith can only be asserted when the employer has exercised the utmost care in terms of supervision. In the examined case, the employer did not in any way control the computer of the employee responsible for issuing invoices, over a long period of time, and there was no system in place to monitor the reliability of the implementation of the invoice issuing procedure. At the same time, the fact that a private or work computer is used for invoicing has no relevance. Therefore, in the examined case, due to the failure to exercise due diligence, the employer is responsible for the false invoices issued by the employee. 

On 5 September 2024, the CJEU rendered judgment in case C-83/23, according to which, in the light of the principles of effectiveness and of VAT neutrality, the VAT directive must be interpreted as meaning that the recipient of a service may not request directly from the tax authority of the Member State in whose territory it is established, the refund of the VAT which it paid to the supplier of that service – which invoiced in error the national VAT of that Member State instead of the VAT legally due in another Member State and paid it to the tax authorities of the first Member State – where those tax authorities have already refunded the VAT to the supplier, which has gone into liquidation, of the service.