Recently, a lot of Amazon sellers have received a notification email from the platform about the uploading of Polish VAT number, which is another European country that has been notified by Amazon to register VAT after England, Germany, Italy, France and Spain in Europe.
Email notifications received by Amazon sellers
In fact, the registration requirements for Poland have a long history, according to the European tax regulations, as long as there is a warehouse in Europe, or remote sales exceeding the threshold, you need to register VAT in the country, as we all know, if you open the Amazon pan-European program, then there is a warehouse in the Czech Republic in Poland, has already met the conditions of the need to register the local VAT.
So why did Amazon only send out a registration notice recently?
Green Circle understands that Amazon will open Polish website at the beginning of next year, in this way, the website pattern of Pan-European five countries will be broken, and Poland, as an emerging website country, will strengthen the tax compliance requirements accordingly. Therefore, the demand for VAT registration in Poland is growing day by day.
With Green Circle's many years of experience in dealing with European tax issues, the Polish tax authorities have limited human and material resources, so if there is likely to be a pile-up of applications after the official opening of the new website, resulting in delays in processing. Therefore, we suggest all sellers and friends, if they have inventory in Poland and use Pan-European, they must avoid the peak and apply as soon as possible.
Poland VAT Registration and Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
01
Poland VAT tax rate
In most cases, the Polish VAT rate is 23%, and there is also a special rate in Poland, but this is mostly for local services, which are not covered by cross-border e-commerce.
In the case of a local Polish business with an annual turnover of less than 200,000 PLN, the owner of the business is exempt from VAT registration. A monthly report must be submitted to the VAT department, the report and payment will be made on the 25th day after the period to which the report relates. Input VAT can be deducted if there is still VAT reported on the VAT return in the reporting period in which the VAT issue arose.
Similarly, there is no tax baseline for cross-border e-commerce businesses that do not operate a company in Poland.
02
Documents required for VAT registration in Poland
1、Original Business License, Translated copy
2、Original and translated ID card of the legal person
3、Briefly introduce the main business and transaction process.
4. VAT information for other EU countries
03
Documents required for VAT declaration in Poland
1. Sales Report
2、Customs Clearance Bills
3、If there is zero declaration, then a zero declaration letter is required.
04
Penalty rules for Polish taxes
1. Polish penalties can be up to 30% of the VAT if a business claims an excess VAT refund or pays less than the amount applicable for the relevant period.
2. If there are inconsistencies between the invoices and the fees, and the IRD discovers these inconsistencies during the audit process, the penalty can be as high as 100%.
05
Poland VAT Refund Rules
Poland's import VAT is refundable at the Polish VAT rate, and the VAT credit is in principle automatically carried forward to the next period, unless a refund has been claimed. According to the current Polish rules, the Polish authorities pay a time limit of 60 days to reimburse the VAT refund.
Of course, this limit will be reduced to 25 days if you fulfill some specific conditions, such as providing proof of payment by the bank of the invoice, payment of the invoice in cash for a total amount of less than 15,000 PLN. If the above conditions are not met, the 60-day limit will still apply.
Poland's official website
Non-Polish local businesses (most cross-border e-commerce businesses apply)
Can a foreign company register for VAT in Poland?
Foreign companies from both EU and non-EU member states can register for VAT in Poland. In order to obtain a Polish VAT and EU VAT number, it is not necessary for the foreign entity to have a permanent establishment, branch or subsidiary in Poland.
Mandatory VAT registration in Poland
As a general rule, the following transactions are subject to VAT in Poland under Polish VAT law
1. plans to sell goods or provide services within Poland;
2. Export of goods (outside the EU);
3. Import of goods (from outside the EU);
4. Procurement within the European Union;
5. Sales within the European Union.
Therefore, any foreign company carrying out one of the specified transactions is obliged to register for VAT in Poland and obtain a Polish tax number (NIP)
# Case 1#
A German limited liability company sends goods from Germany to a warehouse in Poland (which is not a consignment warehouse) and sells the goods to Polish customers. The German company is obliged to register for VAT and obtain a Polish NIP, however, it should be kept in mind that the Polish VAT law provides for special rules that may exclude the obligation to register for Polish VAT, such as the reverse taxation mechanism, the commissioning of a warehouse organization or the so-called distance selling.
# Case 2#
A UK limited company does not have a fixed place of business in Poland, but sometimes buys and sells goods within Poland, from Polish suppliers to Polish customers (who are Polish VAT-paying entities). The goods do not leave Polish territory. The sale of goods from a UK limited company to a Polish customer will be subject to the reverse charge mechanism, which means that the taxable entity is the Polish customer, not the UK company. Therefore, the UK company does not need to be registered for VAT in Poland.
Equally importantly, foreign companies cannot benefit from the exemption due to the low amount of transactions. The exemption only covers Polish taxpayers whose turnover in the previous year did not exceed the threshold of 200,000 PLN. This means that foreign taxpayers must first register for VAT before they can carry out the first transaction that gives rise to a registration obligation.
About Tax Payment
Starting from January 1, 2020, taxpayer clients with VAT payment obligations in Poland will be provided with a dedicated segregated account through which all VAT payments will be made. In other words, each VAT payer will have a unique bank account information when paying Polish taxes. Therefore, you will find that the account information is different for different companies. If you are a Middle East vat customer, you will find that this account is similar to the Middle East UAE's tax payment account, and you can pay directly to the tax office without an agent, which means that the Polish tax office accepts direct transfers from overseas accounts, so you can pay directly to the tax office through the bank's IBAN, and you don't need to pay through the tax agent.
You can find out the separate tax payment account assigned to you by the Polish tax office through your Polish VAT number at the following link:
https://www.podatki.gov.pl/generator-mikrorachunku-podatkowego
At present, due to tax planning and branding considerations, many of Green Circle's clients have also begun to register and operate European companies. E-commerce friends who are interested in the declaration of Polish local enterprises can pay attention to the Green Circle, and we will launch the theme of taxation of Polish local enterprises in the near future. If you have any specific questions, please ask Green Circle's tax account manager!
EN 
ZH_TW 
ZH