On June 5th, 2023, an amendment to the Law on Value Added Tax and certain other laws was published. Are these changes revolutionary? Not really. Nevertheless, their introduction should be assessed as very beneficial. Some changes are forced by the case law of the Court of Justice of the EU, e.g. in the area of VAT sanctions or settlement of VAT, while others are already functioning in practice.
The simplifications included in the SLIM VAT3 package concern the following areas:
Improved financial liquidity of companies
The limit for small taxpayers' sales value has been raised from the current 1.2 to 2 mln EUR, allowing a larger number of entities to benefit from quarterly VAT settlements and the use of the cash accounting method.
The possibility of using funds in the VAT account has been expanded, allowing them to be used, for example, to pay taxes on the extraction of certain minerals, retail sales tax, so-called sugar tax, shipbuilding tax, "jigger fee," and tonnage tax.
A system of VAT penalty gradation has been introduced, requiring consideration of the taxpayer's economic situation. This means that tax authorities, when determining VAT penalties, will take into account specific circumstances of each case, and the penalties will be individualized.
Reduction of formalities in international trade
The requirement to have an invoice for intra-Community acquisition of goods (WNT) when deducting input tax on this account was abandoned. Provisions have been introduced to allow corrections to be submitted outside the OSS and IOSS systems directly to the Łódź Tax Office.
Reduction of the number of adjustments to be prepared and introduction of VAT-friendly accounting
The rules for the use of the conversion rate for correcting invoices where the invoice is issued in a foreign currency have been clarified, as well as the possibility of using the rate from the day before the issuance of the collective correcting invoice.
Introduction of the possibility of waiving the adjustment if the difference between the preliminary proportion and the final proportion does not exceed 2 percentage points.
The obligation to agree in the form of a protocol with the head of the tax office on the proportion to deduct input tax was eliminated. However, the necessity to notify the head of the tax office of the adopted proportion was introduced.
The amount allowing the recognition that the proportion of deduction determined by the taxpayer is 100%, in a situation where the proportion exceeded 98%, was increased from the current 500 PLN to 10000 PLN.
The transfer of funds between VAT accounts in a group has been regulated - the possibility of transferring funds from the VAT account of a group member to the VAT account of the group representative has been introduced.
Simpler invoicing and fewer responsibilities
Simplification was introduced in the scope of reporting settlements related to invoicing (e.g. adapting the conditions for issuing invoices to e-receipts) and keeping sales records using cash registers (e.g. the possibility of waiving the obligation to print fiscal documents by taxpayers). A new electronic receipts distribution system was introduced.
Easier and more transparent access to tax knowledge
Consolidation of issuing binding tax information by designating a single authority responsible for issuing WIS (binding individual tax interpretations), WIA (binding tax rulings), WIT (binding tax information) and WIP (binding tax opinions), which will be the Director of the National Tax Information.
The regulations regarding the principles of issuing and applying WIS and WIA, i.e., binding national tax information, have been harmonized. The fee for requesting the issuance of WIS has been abolished.
Most of the changes come into effect on July 1, 2023, while some of them are already in force, such as the provisions regarding VAT penalties.
