Split Payment in Poland

last updated on August 19, 2019 | reading time approx. 3 minutes
 

New regulations on mandatory split payment for certain transactions will come into force as soon as September 1, 2019.

Pursuant to the bill which landed in the lower chamber of the Polish parliament (Sejm) on July 9, 2019, goods and services which have so far been taxed in the reverse charge procedure are now supposed to be taxed on general principles but invoices exceeding PLN 15 thousand (gross) will have to be paid in the split payment procedure.
 

UPATE: The Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki announced on July 17, 2019 the post­pone­ment of the entry into force of the mandatory split payment mechanism. According to that announce­ment, the mechanism will come into force on 1 November 2019 instead of September 1, 2019, as planned, i.e. 2 months later.

The Prime Minister's statement is a response to the numerous objections raised by companies to the date of implementation of the new regulations. In particular, the entrepreneurs pointed out the problems of adapting the financial accounting and reporting to the new requirements.

Please note that this announcement only refers to the effective date. Regarding the planned regulations themselves, the Government does not envisage any changes to the draft law, as described below.

According to the bill, the mandatory split payment mechanism will apply to:

An additional obligation which is to be introduced to the act is to add the words “split payment” to invoices.

It is permitted to pay collectively for all invoices received from the same supplier during a month.

Another obligation imposed by the bill and important from the taxpayer’s point of view is that taxpayers covered by the split payment laws (that is all, regardless of the place of establishment) must have a bank account in the Polish currency.

The bill provides for a reimbursement of the costs of maintaining the bank account to taxpayers not established in Poland or not having a fixed establishment in Poland.

Failure to comply with the obligations imposed by the bill will involve stringent sanctions:

• in the case of a buyer who does not use the split payment mechanism despite being obliged to do so – sanctions in the form of:

1. disqualification of the expense from tax-deductibility (from January 2020),
2. an additional tax liability of 30% of the VAT amount shown in the invoice if the seller fails to pay the entire tax amount shown in that invoice;
3. a criminal sanction, i.e. a fine of up to 720 day-fine units (in 2019 this may reach up to PLN 21.6 million);

• the seller who does not include the mandatory split payment note on the issued invoice  – consequences in the form of an additional tax liability of 30% of the VAT amount shown in the invoice.