In April we wrote about the amendment introducing a list of taxpayers (entrepreneurs) with bank account numbers and the consequences of paying invoices to an account not included in the list (the so-called White List of VAT taxpayers). Today we can write more about this change, especially since the regulations already come into force on September 1, 2019.
# WHITE LIST (LIST)
On that day, the so-called White List of VAT taxpayers, a list of information on VAT taxpayers maintained on the website of the Ministry of Finance and in CEIDG, will start operating. It will replace the previously functioning lists of taxpayers: registered unregistered and deleted and restored to the VAT register.
In the List, the company will check:
- Whether the contractor is an active VAT taxpayer;
- whether the contractor was denied registration, deleted from the register or reinstated as a VAT payer;
- the number of the contractor's bank account to which payment for the VAT invoice should be made in order to relieve itself of liability for VAT not paid by the contractor.
The information listed will be searchable by TIN / REGON / bank account number or company name.
# FREQUENCY
Taxpayer data will be updated once a day, which means that until you implement in your own company (including electronic banking) automatic checking of the account in the Directory, such verification should be done before each transfer, or periodically / randomly (all depends, of course, on the size of the company, its capabilities and accounting systems).
# SANCTIONS
The sanctions will take effect on January 1, 2020, but you should already be aware of them. If an entrepreneur, as of that date, pays an invoice amount of more than PLN 15 thousand to a different bank account than the one listed, then:
- will not be allowed to include in deductible expenses the amount to the extent that the payment exceeds the amount of PLN 15 thousand (regardless of the number of transfers made);
- will bear the risk of being jointly and severally liable with its counterparty for tax arrears if it fails to pay the VAT due on the transaction.
# SPLIT PAYMENT TRANSFER
Payment for a VAT invoice by Split Payment transfer is exempt from liability, which, unfortunately, combined with another amendment to the VAT Act (extension of mandatory Split Payment to new goods and services from 1.11.2019), may lead to an increase in the number of transfers made in the Split Payment Mechanism.
# TRANSFER TO WRONG ACCOUNT
In the case of a mistaken transfer to an account not indicated in the List, the sanction can be relieved within 3 days of making the transfer by notifying the Head of the Tax Office with jurisdiction over the seller.
# ASSIGNMENT OF RECEIVABLES / FACTORING
We have detailed the problems associated with the impact of the amendment on the factoring industry IN THIS ARTICLE.. Most of the problems signaled there for the factoring industry are still not clearly resolved. Consultations of the industry with representatives of the Ministry of Finance are continuing all the time. We hope that at the 10th International Factoring Congress (19.09.2019), within the framework of the panel discussion "Legislative offensive in Poland and Europe - an opportunity or a threat?" we will get some answers to the still existing doubts concerning, among other things, assignment / technical / virtual / escrow accounts - because in their scope arise the biggest problems related to the lack of publication in the Inventory and the associated potential shift by the debtor to Split Payment or in the worst case - to the account of the issuer of the invoice (assignor / factor).
I would also like to point out that the List, with its current functionality, gives the possibility to check the data on the White List also "by account number". This situation generates the risk of revealing silent factoring Where a non-escrow factor assignment account is used. This is because if the recipient on a silent assignment takes the FV and checks the account number on it indicated in the Schedule, and this number is the factor's assignment account (and not an escrow account or a restricted account maintained for the factor) - then he will know that he is making a payment based on a silent assignment.
