Service-Tax

Registration for VAT and EU VAT - everything you need to know!

Taxpayers who want or must be active VAT payers are required to submit a notification in this regard to the head of the competent tax office. Registration for VAT is made on the VAT-R form, also for the purposes of reporting to EU VAT.

Possible exemption from registration for VAT

The legislators provided for an exception when the entrepreneur is not obliged to register for VAT. Pursuant to Art. 113 paragraph. 1 and 9 of the VAT Act, this necessity does not occur in the case of taxpayers whose sales value did not exceed the total amount of PLN 200,000 in the previous tax year. In the case of entrepreneurs starting business activity in a given year, this limit is taken into account proportionally to the period of conducting business.

In the above case, entrepreneurs are treated in advance as taxpayers exempt from VAT due to the amount of turnover and thus are not required to submit the VAT-R form to the tax office.

The legislators also provided for a group of activities, the performance of which excludes the possibility of taking advantage of the VAT exemption for low turnover. This applies, inter alia, to:

delivery of construction sites,
deliveries of new means of transport,
providing legal services,
provision of consultancy services, except for agricultural consultancy related to the cultivation and breeding of plants as well as animal breeding and breeding, as well as related to the preparation of a development plan and modernization of a farm,
taxpayers who do not have their registered office in the territory of the country.

When to register for VAT?

Taxpayers are required to submit a registration application:

before the date of performance of the first activity subject to VAT, when the taxpayer starting business resigns from the exemption due to the amount of turnover;
before the date of the first delivery of goods or services other than those exempt from tax - in the case of commencement of this delivery or provision of services;
before the date on which the taxpayer loses the right to exemption - in the event of loss of the right to exemption;
before the beginning of the month in which the taxpayer resigns from the exemption - in the case of resignation from the exemption.

The VAT-R form indicates, inter alia, the frequency of VAT settlements (monthly or quarterly) and whether the taxpayer will use the cash settlement method.

Start a free 30-day trial period with no strings attached!

Confirmation of registration for VAT

For issuing a confirmation of registration of a VAT payer as an active VAT payer or an exempt VAT payer, the head of the tax office charges a stamp duty in the amount of PLN 170.

However, entrepreneurs from 2015 are not obliged to obtain the above confirmation and thus there is no need to pay. While the first submission of the VAT-R registration declaration may result in the necessity to pay a stamp duty, the update of this declaration no longer involves any fees.

Registration for VAT-EU

Registration for VAT-EU is obligatory for:

active VAT payers who make an intra-Community acquisition of goods or an intra-Community supply of goods;
entities that are not required to register as an active VAT taxpayer, and legal persons who are not taxpayers, if they make intra-Community acquisitions of goods (hereinafter: intra-Community acquisition of goods), and the total value of these acquisitions will exceed PLN 50,000 during the tax year - then these entities will be obliged to settle VAT on intra-Community acquisition of goods, despite the lack of the obligation to settle VAT in the scope of other business activities;
entities that purchase services to which art. 28b of the VAT Act, i.e. they constitute intra-Community import of services (e.g. purchase of IT services);
service providers to which Art. 100 sec. 1 point 4 of the VAT Act, for VAT payers or non-taxable legal persons identified for the purposes of value added tax (e.g. for IT services provided to VAT-EU taxpayers from other European Union countries).

The declaration of the intention to perform the above-mentioned activities is made by submitting or updating the VAT-R form with part C.3 completed. There you should specify your intention:

performing all activities subject to the reporting obligation (intra-Community supplies, purchases of goods, rendering and purchase of services referred to in Article 28b of the VAT Act) by a taxpayer registered as an active VAT payer, who is reported by marking item 58 of the VAT-R form;
making intra-Community acquisition of goods by an entrepreneur not subject to the obligation to register as an active VAT payer (registering voluntarily or obligatorily after exceeding the limit of PLN 50,000 from intra-Community acquisition of goods), which is reported by checking box 59;
import of services or provision of services by a taxpayer who is not subject to the obligation to register as an active VAT payer, to which art. 28b of the VAT Act; then box 60 is marked.

After registering as a VAT-EU taxpayer, the entrepreneur obtains the right to use the VAT-UE number, which is his NIP number preceded by the prefix PL.

How to generate a VAT-R form in the wfirma.pl system?

In order to generate the VAT-R form in the wfirma.pl system, go to the START tab »TAXES» VAT TAX »ADD» VAT-R APPLICATION.

The VAT-R declaration can be sent directly from the system only if the user has his own qualified signature. Otherwise, the form should be printed and submitted in person to the tax office. More information on this subject can be found in the help article: VAT-R form - how to generate in the system?