Source Gospodarka
For two days, companies can use the electronic list of active VAT payers. As it turns out – for now it is full of holes.
The white list does not have all the account numbers registered with the tax office. Treasury employees blame the ongoing data migration .
However, taxpayers are afraid that if the situation does not improve quickly, they will lose their contractors. You will give up doing business with a company whose accounts are not on the list. The reason is simple – from January 1, 2020, who will pay for transactions worth more than 15 thousand. PLN to an unregistered account, will not be able to include the expense in tax costs. In addition, he will be exposed to joint and several liability with the seller for VAT.
As one of our readers indicates, entrepreneurs also have problems who want to check whether their contractor was listed in the VAT register in the past (this is relevant for the purposes of deducting input tax ). The information on the white list turns out to be false. They show, for example, that a customer who should appear as deleted from the register has never really been in it.
Another reader warns that the date of registration of his company does not match the documents he received from the tax office. – I called there, but I was told that since I have a document with a different date, it is binding. But what of it, since my contractor sees something else on the white list? – he adds. According to experts, problems require prompt intervention of the Ministry of Finance
– If it is to be a tool, the use of which will prejudge, among others about the possibility of deducting VAT, it is in everyone’s interest that the data included in the list is 100% correct – comments Marcin Madej , tax advisor at nip-inspektor.pl. Paweł Jurek , spokesman for the Ministry of Finance, admits in an interview with DGP that the ministry was facing difficulties in the first days of the new list’s operation. – That’s why we wanted to test the last quarter of 2019. We gave up sanctions during this period. We do everything to make the list fully functional as soon as possible – informs the spokesperson.
The VAT whitelist is already working, but with obstacles
For two days, entrepreneurs can use the electronic list of active taxpayers. However, not everything worked out as expected
Readers alert that all account numbers registered at the tax office have not been added to the electronic list . They are afraid that their contractors will give up doing business with the company when they realize that their bank account number or the account at the cooperative savings and credit union is not on the “white list”.
Entrepreneurs who also want to make sure that their contractor was listed in the VAT register also have problems. The information found on the “white list” appears to be untrue. There are also sporadic mistakes in the dates of registering your own business as an active VAT taxpayer .
When asked by DGP about problems with the “white list”, the press spokesman of the Ministry of Finance Paweł Jurek admits that the ministry was facing difficulties in the first days of the new list’s operation.
– The introduction of such an unprecedented change may unfortunately be associated with temporary difficulties, which is why we wanted to treat the last quarter of 2019 as a test. We gave up sanctions during this period. We do everything to make the list fully functional as soon as possible, and any signals about problems will only help us in this – says the spokesperson.
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What’s on the list
I am talking about launching September 1 this year. by the head of the National Treasury Administration an electronic list of active VAT payers (colloquially called the whitelist). It contained the most important information about taxpayers, including whether they are active VAT payers, whether they were deregistered by the tax office and whether registration was restored.
The interested party may check this up to five years back.
The “white list” also includes bank account numbers and credit unions reported to the tax office.
In four months, from January 1, 2020, who will pay for transactions worth more than PLN 15,000 PLN to another account than the one on the “white list”, will not be able to include the expense as tax deductible costs and will be jointly and severally liable with the seller for unsettled VAT on this transaction (in accordance with the amended: Article 22p of the PIT Act and Article 15 d of the Act about CIT).
Without all bills
For now, entrepreneurs are checking how the “white list” works. And they are already alarming that they do not find in the list all the bank account numbers known to the tax authorities. It was supposed to be a key change.
– We checked one of our contractors who has 20 bank account numbers reported to the tax office. Unfortunately, only six are on the “white list”. When I call the tax office, I hear confirmation that all 20 numbers have been correctly reported. So why can’t you see them? Apparently, the problem may be data migration to the “white list” – says the reader, asking for anonymity.
Officials assured that this was a temporary difficulty. The reader hopes so, otherwise – he says – payment to unregistered accounts will be a business suicide from 2020.
– When customers realize that the list does not have a bill on the list, despite the fact that it has been correctly reported, they will turn away from such a company – our interlocutor is afraid.
The past is lying
Readers also check whether their contractor is or has been registered for VAT purposes on a specific date in the past. The right to deduct input tax for that period depends on this .
We know from signals from readers that they have problems verifying contractors who were active taxpayers in the past but were deregistered by the tax office.
– On September 1, I checked the NIP of the company, which in mid-2018 was removed from the VAT register for submitting ‘zero declarations’ too long. I verified her status both today and on the last day of 2017, when she was undoubtedly a taxpayer. In both cases, the answer was identical: “not listed in the VAT register” – says another DGP interlocutor, also asking for anonymity.
We verified what he says in the editorial office, using the NIP of another entity (initially registered and then deregistered). The result was identical.
– If this state of affairs persists for a long time, then one of the biggest advantages of the “white list” would remain only in the sphere of promises. Let me remind you that the opportunity to check the tax status of the contractor on a specific day from the past was to protect honest entrepreneurs from the trouble with the tax office. If the list works as it does now, then there is no way – says Marcin Madej, tax advisor at nip-inspektor.pl.
Where is the problem?
According to Marcin Madej, the problem may arise directly from the VAT Act. Basically, according to art. 96b paragraph 2, most of the taxpayer’s data on the “VAT white list” is made available “as of the selected day”. However, the regulations provide for exceptions and some information is available only as of the date of the check (current). According to the expert, the way of formulating the provisions would indicate that verification for past periods works in practice only in relation to taxpayers who have never disappeared from the register.
– I hope that the Ministry of Finance did not share this interpretation and that the problems with the “white list” are temporary, strictly technical – says Marcin Madej.
– It indicates that currently using the list may expose taxpayers to losses, because receiving an incorrect verification result, they may come to the conclusion that they did not have the right to deduct VAT, even though at that time the contractor was not yet removed – notes Marcin Madej.
Data errors
Not only readers who verify the status of a contractor have problems . Another reader warns that the company’s registration date on the list does not agree with the documents he received from the tax office. – I don’t know what to think about it. I called the office, but there I was told that since I have a document with a different date, this date is binding. But what of it, since my contractor sees on the “white list” something else? – the reader is worried.
No foreign accounts
The first days of the list operation also confirmed the difficulties of companies trading with foreign entities. We wrote about it extensively in DGP.
It is half of poverty if a foreign contractor is not an active Polish VAT payer, because then by definition we should not find him on the “white list” (tax settlements should be carried out on the current basis).
Worse, however, if a foreign contractor has registered in Poland for VAT purposes . In such a situation, he should appear on the list together with the number of his company bank account or kept at SKOK. And here the stairs begin.
– Foreign companies often provide their foreign account number as a payment invoice. However, we cannot find such an account on the “white list”. The reason is prosaic. The white list maintains information only about bill numbers 26 characters long, because this structure of the bill number is used in Poland. Meanwhile, bank account numbers of varying lengths are used in the world, 16 to 28 characters are used in the European Union alone – explains Marcin Madej.
In his opinion, in the light of the VAT Act, there is no reason why an active VAT payer’s foreign account should not be included in the list. Therefore, the expert postulates a quick supplement to the list. Otherwise, from 2020, taxpayers who want to include payments in such an account as tax deductible costs will be condemned to submit notifications to the tax offices competent for their contractor. They will only have three days to make the transfer.
– You don’t need a lot of imagination to realize how much potential bureaucracy we are talking about – comments Marcin Madej.
No limits for now
The good news, however, is the lack of announced contractor checking limits using the application programming interface (API). It was assumed that 10 queries of up to 30 entities could be asked per day.
– There are no such limits yet. Apparently the API is not yet completed – Marcin Madej guesses.
He adds that this state of affairs will not last long.
– The Ministry of Finance has already announced that a fully functional API including checking limits will be delivered by September 6 – the expert hopes.
Time for quick fixes
According to Marcin Madej, with such a large scale of problems, the Ministry of Finance should think about a special procedure for submitting comments on data included in the “white list”.
– The topic is extremely important. If it is to be a tool, the use of which will determine the possibility of deducting VAT, joint and several liability with the seller for unsettled VAT or inclusion of expenses in tax deductible costs, it is in everyone’s interest that the data included in the list is 100%. correct. Time is short. This must be a priority on the list of tasks of the Ministry of Finance – sums up the expert.