Services provided partially since 2014.

General rule

Until the end of 2013, in accordance with the general rule, the tax obligation arose at the time of delivery of the goods or performance of the service, and if these activities were to be confirmed by an invoice - upon issuance of the invoice, but no later than within 7 days from the date of issue goods or service performance.

On the other hand, since January 2014, the tax obligation arises upon the delivery of goods or performance of a service. Thus, tax settlement generally takes place in the month of such delivery or service performance.

However, the legislator provided for a number of exceptions. Including partially performed services.

The new provisions of Art. 19a of the VAT Act

On January 1, 2014, Art. 19a paragraph. 2, which introduced the taxation of partial services. According to its instructions, in relation to services accepted in part, the service should be considered as performed also in the case of the performance of a part of the service for which the payment was determined.

The tax obligation will arise with the end of the month in which the given part of the service will be provided.

It is expected that the rule will apply to any type of service that is partially accepted, as long as payments are specified for the part of the service.

The obligation to settle the output tax will not arise if the payment for a specific part of the service is not specified.

In the justification to the amendment to the act on tax on goods and services, it was indicated that the provision was to apply to construction services that do not meet the criteria for continuous services.

Tax liability

In the previous legal status, i.e. until December 31, 2013, pursuant to Art. 19 paragraph 14 of the VAT Act - the tax obligation in the case of the provision of services documented on the basis of handover protocols arose on the date of receipt of all or part of the payment, not later than on the 30th day from the date of service provision.

It is in vain to look for an equivalent of this provision in the amended VAT Act.

From 1 January 2014, even partial performance of services, including those confirmed by the handover protocol or otherwise, will result in a tax obligation, as a rule, on the day of performance of this part of the service, provided that payment has been provided for this part.

When determining the moment when the tax obligation arises, one should also take into account the special provisions of art. 19a paragraph. 5 of the VAT Act makes the moment when the tax obligation arises, inter alia, from the moment of receiving all or part of the payment, the moment of issuing the invoice and the expiry of the payment deadline.

The tax obligation arises upon receipt of all or part of the payment in the case of:

• release of goods by the commissioner to the commission agent under a commission agreement,

• transfer of ownership of goods by order of a public authority or entity acting on behalf of such authority in return for compensation,

• the delivery of goods carried out in the course of execution, referred to in art. 18 of the Act,

• provision - on the basis of separate provisions - at the request of common, administrative and military courts or the prosecutor's office of services related to court or preparatory proceedings, with the exception of services to which art. 28b, constituting the import of services,

• the provision of tax-exempt services in accordance with Art. 43 sec. 1 items 37–41 of the Act (here, inter alia, insurance services, granting loans, sureties).

The tax obligation will also arise at the time of issuing the invoice in the cases referred to in art. 106b section 1, due to:

• providing construction or construction and assembly services,

• deliveries of printed books (PKWiU ex 58.11.1) - excluding maps and leaflets - and newspapers, magazines and magazines, printed (PKWiU ex 58.13.1 and PKWiU ex 58.14.1),

• activities consisting in printing books (PKWiU ex 58.11.1) - excluding maps and leaflets - and newspapers, magazines and magazines (PKWiU ex 58.13.1 and PKWiU ex 58.14.1), with the exception of services to which Art. 28B, which are the import of services.