VAT tax (part13) - Special taxation procedures part. AND

General principles of VAT settlement should be well known to entrepreneurs - this is the knowledge necessary to correctly and profitably manage your own business. In terms of value added tax, however, specific taxation procedures - concerning selected groups of taxpayers or transactions - cannot be ignored. The provisions regarding these different settlements have been collected in section XII of the VAT Act.

Small entrepreneur - i.e. subjective exemptions

The first exception that was included in the provisions of the Act is a small entrepreneur. It is about a taxpayer whose income from sales taxed in the previous year did not exceed PLN 150,000. In such a situation, there is a privilege in the form of personal exemption from VAT. What does it mean?

A small entrepreneur does not have to settle VAT on sales and company purchases. The settlement is simple - costs include expenses not reduced by the input VAT, while the revenue is the entire sales price, also without tax. Thus, being a passive VAT taxpayer simplifies accounting and reduces the number of obligations related to settling accounts with the tax office.

New entrepreneurs who are just starting their business may also take advantage of the subjective exemption. In such a case, the anticipated value of sales in proportion to the period of operation in a given tax year is taken into account.

Important! The VAT exemption is in no way influenced by the form of income taxation chosen by the entrepreneur.

However, there are activities that, even in the case of a taxpayer exempt from VAT, are subject to VAT. It is about the import of goods and services, intra-Community acquisition and delivery of goods for which the buyer is the taxpayer. Importantly, a taxpayer who would like to perform any of the above-mentioned activities does not have to worry about the complete loss of the right to exemption - in such a situation, only this specific, specific transaction is subject to taxation.

In addition to quantitative restrictions, the VAT Act also provides for certain qualitative restrictions in obtaining a VAT exemption - this privilege cannot be used by taxpayers who:

• they supply articles of precious metals or with the use of those metals, the list of which is included in the annex to the invoice regulation;
• deliver goods subject to excise duty, with the exception of electricity and tobacco products within the meaning of the excise duty regulations,
• they deliver new means of transport, construction sites and areas intended for development,
• provide legal services,
• provide consultancy services, with the exception of agricultural consultancy related to the cultivation of plants and animal husbandry or related to the preparation of a development and modernization plan for a farm,
• provide jewelery services,
• they are not established in the territory of the country.

VAT with flat-rate farmers

Who is a flat-rate farmer? This term is defined as taxpayers supplying agricultural products from their own business or providing agricultural services, who at the same time benefit from VAT exemption pursuant to art. 43 sec. 1 point 3 of the VAT Act and are not required to keep accounting books pursuant to the accounting regulations.

In addition to the exemption from the need to settle the tax, flat-rate farmers also benefit from a number of other benefits - they are exempt from:

• issuing invoices documenting the sale made, referred to in art. 106 of the VAT Act,
• keeping records of deliveries and purchases of goods and services,
• submitting tax declarations to the tax office for the purpose of settling VAT,
• submitting a registration application for the purpose of entering into the register of active VAT payers.

As you can see, flat-rate farmers, like small entrepreneurs, include expenses in gross prices in their costs. In order to compensate for the tax that has not been deducted, the legislator provided for a certain mechanism - a flat-rate return of input tax when purchasing goods and services necessary for production. Such a return is made by the buyer of agricultural products, provided that he is an active VAT taxpayer and his purchases are made as part of his business. The lump sum rate is 7%, and it is calculated on the basis of the amount owed to the farmer.

At this point, it is necessary to mention a special invoice model, which shows the sale of flat-rate farmers - the VAT-RR invoice. Interestingly, this document is issued not by the seller, but by the buyer of the goods. In the VAT-RR invoice it is necessary to include:

• name and surname or name or short name of the supplier and buyer and their addresses,
• tax identification number or PESEL number of the supplier and buyer,
• the supplier's identity card number or other document confirming his identity, the date of issue of this document and the name of the authority that issued it, if the farmer delivering the products is a natural person,
• the date of purchase as well as the date of issue and the sequence number of the invoice,
• names of purchased agricultural products,
• units of measure and quantity of agricultural products purchased and indication (description) of the class or quality of these products,
• unit price of the purchased agricultural product without the flat-rate tax refund,
• value of purchased agricultural products without the amount of the flat-rate tax refund and the value including the amount of this refund,
• flat-rate tax refund rates and amounts,
• the total amount due together with the flat-rate tax refund, expressed in numbers and words,
• legible signatures of persons authorized to issue and receive invoices,
• the phrase “I declare that I am a flat-rate farmer exempt from tax on goods and services pursuant to Art. 43 sec. 1 point 3 of the Act on tax on goods and services ”.

The status of a flat-rate farmer is not obligatory - a taxpayer may resign from it in favor of settling VAT on general terms. In such a situation, it is also possible to choose to settle as a flat-rate farmer again, but only three years after resignation.

VAT on tourist services

Another exception that can be encountered under the VAT Act is tourist services. Their definition is based on the concept of a package, as indicated in Art. 2 of Council Directive 90/314 / EEC of 13 June 1990 on package travel, package holidays and package tours. This provision stipulates that a package is treated as a combination of at least two of the transport, accommodation and other travel services that are part of the package, offered jointly at a single price over a period of performance longer than 24 hours or including an overnight stay.

Tourist services are always taxed in the country in which the taxpayer who provides the service is established or resident. The tax base for such activities is the margin, calculated as the difference between the amount paid for the service by the buyer and the costs incurred by the seller for the purchase of goods and services from other taxpayers in order to transfer them to the buyer.

Tourist services are subject to the basic VAT rate of 23%. The exception here are those services that are provided in the territory of the European Union - in this case the VAT rate is 0%.

When invoicing travel services, remember to include the phrase "margin procedure for travel agents".

Margin - special procedures for second-hand goods, works of art, collectors' items and antiques

In the margin procedure, a specific aspect is the method of determining the tax base - VAT is charged on the difference between the total amount paid by the buyer of the goods and the purchase amount of the goods minus the tax price - in accordance with Art. 120 paragraph 4 of the VAT Act. It is this difference that is referred to as the margin.

The margin procedure is applied to the sale of second-hand goods, works of art, collectors' items and antiques. Pursuant to Art. 120 paragraph 1, in such a case, works of art include:

• paintings, collages and similar decorative plates, drawings and pastels made entirely by the artist,
• original engravings, prints and lithographs made in a limited number of copies, black and white or in color, consisting of one or more copies made entirely by the artist,
• original sculptures and statues made entirely by the artist, as well as sculpture casts in the number of up to 8 copies made under the supervision of the artist or his heirs,
• tapestries and wall fabrics made by hand on the basis of original designs provided by the artist, up to 8 copies,
• photographs taken by the artist, published by him or under his supervision, signed and numbered, limited to 30 copies in all sizes and bindings.

The following should be considered collectors' items:

• postage or fiscal stamps, postage stamps, first-circulation envelopes, stamped stationery and the like, postmarked, and if unframed, considered invalid and not intended for use as valid means of payment,
• collections and collectors' items of zoological, botanical, mineralogical, anatomical, historical, archaeological, palaeontological, ethnographic or numismatic value,
• coins of gold, silver or other metal and banknotes that are not normally used as legal tender or that have numismatic value.

The same provision states that items other than works of art and collectors' items that are more than 100 years old should be considered antiques.

Second-hand goods are tangible movable goods, fit for further use in their current state or after repair, other than those listed as works of art, collectors' items, antiques, and precious metals and precious stones.

The VAT-margin invoice issued by taxpayers selling the above-mentioned goods should contain: the date of issue and the sequential number, names and surnames or names of the taxpayer and buyer of goods or services and their addresses, NIP numbers of the seller and buyer, name of the goods or services, date of making or completion of delivery of goods or performance of a service (if different from the date of issue), unit of measure and quantity of goods sold or type of services rendered. In addition, it is important to remember to include the appropriate phrase on the document: "margin procedure - second-hand goods", "margin procedure - works of art" or "margin procedure - collectors and antiques".