Electronic VAT declaration in Poland is mandatory for all companies through the JPK_VAT file
05/04/2018
Poland has completed its adoption calendar of the electronic VAT declaration through the JPK_VAT file as a method of electronic reporting of invoicing data in the case of it being required by the tax authority. SAF-T includes several files to declare, but only one of them is mandatory on a monthly basis, the JPK_VAT. The report of this file became mandatory in July 2016 for large companies and, subsequently, was adopted by medium-sized companies. Since January 2018, this obligation also extends to SMEs and micro SMEs. As of July 2018, all companies must be ready to issue the rest of the SAF-T files at the request of the tax authority. The companies affected are those registered for VAT purposes in Poland, even though they do not have their tax residency in the country.
The standard SAF-T is made up of seven different files that will be reported to the tax authority when requested, with the exception of the JPK_VAT file that should be sent before the 25th day of each month, and which contains information related to the company`s VAT records. The JPK_VAT file and e-accounting files must be issued in XML, following the SAF-T format.
The SAF-T format, introduced by the OECD in 2005 for submission of taxpayers’ accounting information to the tax authorities is being adopted by several European countries using different local applications.
Since Portugal introduced the SAF-T file in 2008, other countries such as Luxembourg, Austria, France, Lithuania or Poland have also adopted this format to collect businesses’ invoicing information. Hungary is preparing to implement the invoicing information report system as of July 1, 2018, known as RTIR.
It is no surprise that Poland is one of the countries that has been involved in the large-scale use of the SAF-T electronic file for reporting accounting and invoicing information. In recent years, the country has been positioning itself as one of the chosen destinations for large multinationals where they consolidate their shared services centers.
The Polish economy has grown at an annual rate of 4% since the 1990s, with the country making efforts to implement secure and open market policies. This has generated a stable and attractive economic scenario for investors from all over the world.
Moving towards electronic invoicing and accounting systems
Directive 2014/55/EU of the European Parliament and Council of April 16, 2014 related to electronic invoicing of public contracting, requires governments from all member states to accept electronic invoices in public contracting processes. It also involves the use of a European common standard that ensures interoperability. We are, therefore, before an ever more mature digital ecosystem, both within a legal and practical framework.
This allows that, after the expansion of electronic invoicing, countries to continue to advance towards other electronic tax compliance procedures such as VAT declarations.
The tax institutions are finding, in the electronic reporting of invoicing information, a way of controlling businesses’ tax activities as well as detecting possible tax fraud. In relation to this, there are an ever-increasing number of governments that require electronic compliance of companies, both in relation to invoicing and VAT tax.
Companies will need to see this transformation as an opportunity to increase efficiency. A vital objective, as, according to the Paying Taxes 2017 report, companies spend an average of 251 hours on tax compliance.
How to comply with electronic VAT declarations at a global level from a single platform?
To prevent this problem the EDICOM Platform has been created, a global solution for B2B2G electronic communications. Through this platform, companies can submit their EDI electronic invoicing and electronic VAT declaration for any region of the world. It is therefore, possible to centralize all transactions in a single platform, speeding up these tasks and reducing financial costs.