Tax Code 2014 - General power of attorney in tax procedures

According to the draft amendment to the Tax Ordinance, the new regulations are to concern, inter alia, representation of the taxpayer in tax matters. Currently, it is postulated to introduce a new institution, the so-called powers of attorney in tax procedures.

Power of attorney - current legal status

It should be noted that, until now, representatives have to deal with excessive formalism in the form of submitting a separate power of attorney or a copy thereof for each case. The obligation to submit the authorization to the case file results directly from Art. 137 § 3 of the Tax Ordinance. In the justification to the draft one can read that the current solution does not meet the current expectations of taxpayers who demand comprehensive handling of their tax matters and full representation before tax authorities.

General power of attorney

The institution of a general power of attorney reflects the tendency of taxpayers to outsource representation in tax matters to other persons.

The catalog of activities performed by the general representative will include all tax and other matters that fall within the competence of tax authorities or tax inspection authorities. Most importantly, the authorization may be made when no tax procedure is pending or when no tax procedure is pending.

In principle, a general power of attorney can only be submitted by electronic means of communication. Detailed rules for submitting, specimen and forms of notification of its change, cancellation or termination will be specified in specific provisions issued on the basis of the regulation.

If a general attorney is empowered, the tax authority will print out the power of attorney if necessary (e.g. a notification of a change in scope, revocation or termination of the power of attorney) and attach it to the case file, for example, in the case of transferring the case to a voivodship administrative court.

How to submit a general power of attorney?

All general powers of attorney will be stored in an IT database called the Central Register of General Powers of Attorney (CRPO). Tax authorities, including local government authorities, and tax inspection authorities will have access to them at any time. The register will be kept by the minister responsible for public finances.

Each change related to the granted power of attorney will be made via e-mail in the CRPO, also before the initiation of the tax procedure.

In the event of failure to comply with the information obligation, the letter will be deemed delivered to the current address on the day the tax authority receives the returned letter.

In the draft to the act, it is postulated that the general power of attorney should be of a specific nature, similar to the one for signing tax declarations, hence it will not be subject to stamp duty.

It is worth adding that, in accordance with the draft, submitting a general power of attorney will also be possible via CEIDG, and from there it will be imported into the CRPO.

It should be borne in mind that the amendment to the Tax Code will not eliminate the institution of a special power of attorney (valid for a specific case). It will continue to apply in both paper and electronic form. It is assumed that the introduction of a general power of attorney will inhibit the excessive growth of formalism and simplify the representation of the party by an attorney. Changes in this respect in the Tax Ordinance should be assessed as positive and established in good faith for taxpayers.