Linkedin
Facebook
Email
more
Tax services tailored to your needs
Hundreds of invoices each month are both issued for and issued by local and foreign businesses. Tax-exempted transactions, differently tax rated transactions, Intra-Community transactions, and import business – in such a maze of external conditions and economic events, crucial for proper VAT settlement, it is easy to make a mistake that might generate quite substantial additional costs for a business. Global VAT compliance services provided by an experienced VAT accountant are therefore a solution that every entrepreneur involved in business in Poland should consider.
Thanks to the VAT compliance services and the support of RSM Poland VAT specialist, you no longer have to wonder about the rules according to which your company should settle VAT in Poland. The role of our clients is limited to sending us source documents – we take care of the rest. We verify the correctness of the documents sent, prepare the relevant VAT registers, and submit the appropriate declaration to the tax office.
What is VAT compliance and why is it worth using VAT accountant’s support?
International VAT compliance services are an increasingly popular solution, used especially readily by foreign taxpayers who are registered in Poland only for VAT purposes.
Outsourcing of VAT settlements is a comprehensive service. Our VAT compliance specialist dedicated to your business assists you in implementing Polish regulations regarding tax on goods and services in the company and provides continuous support in meeting the obligations arising from them. An entrepreneur who cooperates with RSM Poland and is subject to VAT can tailor the VAT compliance support services to their own needs and expectations and receives all the data necessary to be included in the company's books of accounts. Such assistance provided by our VAT specialist accountants in the field of tax settlements requires only minimal involvement of the client's employees, which translates into lower costs on the part of the Polish business.
Thanks to VAT compliance services, the entrepreneur no longer has to bear the costs of employing their own employees and ensure that they are trained each time VAT changes are introduced in Poland or prepare an internal VAT compliance checklist. Customers of RSM Poland incur costs only on the basis of the number of documents provided to the VAT accountant and the actual working time of the VAT specialist devoted to the preparation of VAT returns or communication with the tax office.
Our services include both domestic and international VAT compliance. As part of the VAT compliance services:
- we guide you through the registration process for VAT/VAT-EU purposes,
- we keep VAT registers (and on the basis of the information and documents provided we calculate VAT resulting from completed transactions),
- we prepare and send tax returns and recapitulative statements to the tax office,
- if necessary, we carry audit processes and implement them for e-invoicing using KSeF (National System of e-Invoices),
- we support in obtaining a VAT refund,
- we support during verification activities, tax inspections and tax proceedings.
Outsourcing of VAT settlements in Poland – benefits for the entire organisation
- your company does not have to adapt or change the financial or accounting software for the purposes of VAT settlement,
- you avoid potential disputes with tax authorities resulting from misunderstanding of the Polish regulations,
- you minimise the costs of training your employees on Polish tax law and VAT changes introduced by the regulations.
- you gain access to the professional knowledge of an experienced VAT accountant specialized in the field of Polish tax law,
- if you have any problems, you can use the services of ongoing tax consulting in the field of VAT settlements in Poland.
- VAT compliance services in their full scope allow you to focus entirely on your core business,
- thanks to specialists experienced in contacts with the Polish tax office, you improve the process of settling Polish VAT,
- make the necessary digitisation of settlements easier and faster (ViDA, e-invoicing),
- using the services of RSM – an international consulting company – you can closely cooperate with global VAT compliance specialists and tax advisors from other countries,
- by using an external VAT accountant, you gain an objective view of the company's business – as well as a broad perspective guaranteed by the specialization in VAT settlements and the cooperation of our experts with many industries,
- you relieve employees of your internal accounting departments.
- you receive support offered by qualified European VAT compliance specialists and tax advisors,
- you can be sure of secure data transmission.
Is it enough to have an accounting team to avoid misstatements in Polish VAT returns?
The economic reality is becoming more and more complex, and, as a result, so is the tax legislation. There are certain tax areas which require specialized support, which means that the VAT compliance checklist grows, and people working in accounting are no longer able to be experts in everything.
From the perspective of people dealing with accounting in a company, the biggest advantages of outsourcing VAT settlements include:
- the ability to focus entirely on bookkeeping and reporting for internal purposes,
- departure from the need for in-depth analysis of tax regulations,
- having a person – an experienced VAT accountant – who takes over the obligation to contact the tax authorities.
The matter becomes even more complicated when the company carries out activities subject to VAT in another country. Then there is a need to adapt to foreign regulations in the field of international VAT compliance.
Internal accounting may not be able to properly register VAT (and then settle this tax) in another country due to differences in tax law and language barriers. Thanks to the global VAT compliance services, neither this nor even ongoing contact with foreign tax authorities will be a problem.
Avoid VAT fraud: what is a VAT carousel?
A carousel scheme is a popular way to extort VAT from the state budget and is a tax fraud based on a chain of fictitious supplies from several to even several dozen entities. The carousel scheme, which uses the practice of missing taxpayers, is – due to the high VAT rate as compared to other European countries – a tax crime commonly committed in Poland.
Entities involved in the VAT carousel scheme may face criminal, penal-fiscal and financial liability, including: refusal to deduct input tax, double VAT liability and additional VAT sanctions.
Entities that are in a higher risk group and must be particularly careful not to become entangled in the tax carousel scheme are companies whose activities concern:
- easy to transport goods with high unit value and small size,
- goods such as fuels, electronics, metals and scrap,
- automotive, construction, food and electronics industries,
and entities whose activity consists - at least partially - in the purchase and resale of goods, having many contractors, at least some of whom rotate.
A tool that is intended to serve the taxpayer to avoid getting entangled in the carousel scheme is the so-called due diligence procedure. The entrepreneur using it should perform a preliminary verification of the contractor each time at the beginning of the cooperation, as well as periodically. It is necessary to take into account the increasingly frequent examples of tax fraud using an entity with an established position on the market.
When examining a contractor, special attention should be paid to the following elements:
- no economic risk of the transaction and a non-market price of goods that is not justified;
- unjustified change in the contractor's industry;
- questionable payment terms – cash payment, artificial splitting of payments above PLN 15,000, payment to a bank account outside the so-called white list, failure to apply the mandatory split payment mechanism;
- the apparent nature of the contractor's business activity, lack of appropriate technical and organizational support, lack of presence of a given taxpayer on the Internet.
As part of the VAT compliance service, we offer an individual approach to each client and we work on source documents, which allows us to identify and monitor potential threats in the area of your business. In case of any doubts, we offer additional advice aimed at mitigating risk, including activities helping to design and implement internal due diligence procedures.
VAT settlements in Poland
The decision to start a business in Poland usually results in the need to register for Polish VAT. For foreign entrepreneurs who do not know either the Polish tax law or the Polish language, both the registration itself and subsequent current tax settlements are usually quite a challenge.
Dynamically changing regulations and changes in VAT introduced by the Polish government (mainly in terms of increasingly extensive and detailed reporting) pose a barrier to foreign entrepreneurs that make it difficult to focus on the subject of their business activity.
Preparing the necessary data on time – and constantly updating knowledge in the VAT compliance area – can involve a disproportionately high degree. For such entities, the ideal solution is to use the VAT compliance service. A local VAT accountant will ensure proper implementation of the Polish VAT regulations in the company and support you in meeting the VAT payer's obligations towards tax authorities, so there is no doubt that with the help of international VAT compliance specialists who are well acquainted with the VAT system in Poland conducting business in Poland is a lot less stressful.
Facts about VAT accounting in Poland
- In 2020, the Polish VAT system was unfortunately rated as the most complex and time-consuming of all the countries of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD).
- VAT compliance in Poland is problematic for taxpayers, as evidenced by the fact that most tax rulings concern this tax.
- VAT accounting is a sensitive area in any organisation, as practically all transactions are involved, it must be carried out on a regular basis (every month), and it is most frequently audited by tax authorities.
- Poland is one of the leaders in introducing digitization of VAT returns as part of the European ViDA (VAT in Digital Age) project – Polish VAT returns may be your first experience with, for example, e-invoicing.
What is the full scope of VAT compliance support?
- Our VAT specialist will guide you through the registration process for VAT/VAT-EU purposes;
- We keep VAT registers based on the data and documentation we receive and submit tax returns and information;
- We help clients in the VAT refund process;
- We contact the tax authorities and provide the necessary information in the case of verification activities, tax inspections, and tax proceedings;
- We provide the necessary assistance in the field of tax advisory – if problems are identified in the company that go beyond the scope of VAT compliance services.
