Service-Tax

EU VAT registration - what you should know before buying an EU

Currently, EU transactions are an increasingly frequent phenomenon in economic turnover. However, as it turns out, entrepreneurs have some problems related to the settlement of individual economic events, especially with the tax on such transactions. In our article, we suggest how to approach this type of transaction and when EU VAT registration is mandatory.

First of all: register for EU VAT!

Before making the first purchase transaction concluded with an EU contractor, entrepreneurs should first of all check whether they are subject to the EU VAT registration for intra-Community transactions.

Obligation to register for active VAT payers

An entrepreneur who is an active VAT payer is obliged to register on the VAT R form before the first purchase. This applies to transactions:

intra-Community acquisition of goods (WNT) - this obligation applies to the purchase of goods from another company; the obligation to register for EU VAT does not apply to purchases from natural persons who do not conduct business activity, who have their place of residence in the EU,
intra-Community supply of goods (WDT) - i.e. the sale of goods to a contractor (company) from another EU country,
intra-Community acquisition of services (import of services under Article 28b), for which the place of supply is the seat of the buyer; in this situation, the obligation to calculate the tax rests exceptionally on the buyer,
intra-Community provision of services - provision of services to contractors from the EU, for which the place of provision is the country of business or residence of the buyer (other than Poland).

Registration obligation for taxpayers exempt from VAT

Entrepreneurs benefiting from the subject exemption from VAT (due to the turnover not exceeding PLN 200,000 from sales) who participate in EU transactions must also register for EU VAT, with regard to:

WNT - when the value of the purchased goods in a given tax year exceeded PLN 50,000; in other words, entrepreneurs will not be required to register if they have not exceeded the limit (Article 97 (2) of the VAT Act),
import of services from art. 28b (for which the place of performance is the buyer's country) - despite using the VAT exemption, taxpayers are obliged to register for EU VAT, because as buyers they are obliged to settle VAT.

Second: Qualify the purchase transaction appropriately

Pursuant to Art. 9 sec. 1 of the VAT Act, the intra-Community acquisition of goods is understood as the acquisition of the right to dispose of, as the owner of the goods, which, as a result of the delivery, are sent or transported to the territory of a Member State other than the territory of the Member State of commencement of shipment or transport by the person delivering the goods, the buyer of the goods or on their behalf. .

However, by importing services pursuant to Art. 2 clause 1 point 9 should be understood as the provision of services for the performance of which the taxpayer is the recipient of the service referred to in art. 17 sec. 1 point 4. Art. 17 sec. 1 point 4 of the Act and VAT:

1. Taxpayers are also legal persons, organizational units without legal personality and natural persons:

4) purchasing services, if the following conditions are jointly met:

the service provider is a taxpayer who has no registered office and no fixed place of business in the territory of the country, and in the case of services to which art. 28e, the taxpayer is not registered in accordance with article 5. 96 sec. 4,
the service recipient is:

in the case of services to which Art. 28B-the taxpayer referred to in art. 15, or a non-taxable legal person referred to in art. 15, registered or obliged to register in accordance with art. 97 sec. 4,
in the case of transfer of single-purpose vouchers, where the place of supply of services to which these vouchers relate is the territory of the country - the taxpayer referred to in art. 15, or a non-taxable legal person referred to in art. 15,
in other cases - the taxpayer referred to in art.15, having a registered office or a permanent place of business in the territory of the country or a non-taxable legal person referred to in art. 15, established in the territory of the country and registered or obliged to register in accordance with art. 97 sec. 4;

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Third: List the purchase transaction in the appropriate Billing Declaration

When making an intra-Community supply of goods and provision of services or an intra-Community purchase of goods or services, it should also be remembered that it should be indicated in the appropriate settlement transaction for VAT purposes.

Active VAT payers

With regard to intra-community acquisitions, VAT taxpayers are required to report the transaction in the EU VAT information, even if they did not manage to register for EU VAT before making the first purchase. Then the tax obligation arises at the time of issuing the invoice, but not later than on the 15th day of the month following the month of delivery. As a rule, the input tax is deductible in the same period as the due tax, provided that the invoice is received within 3 months from the end of the month in which the tax obligation arose.

If the taxpayer has received the invoice after 3 months from the end of the month in which the tax obligation arose, then the taxpayer is obliged to show the tax due in the month in which the tax obligation arises. If the correction of the declaration results in a tax arrears, it should be settled together with tax interest by making a payment to the account of the competent tax office. On the other hand, the input VAT may be indicated by the taxpayer in the declaration for the current period. If the taxpayer corrects the declaration part of the JPK_V7 file due to WNT, within a period exceeding 3 months from the end of the month in which the tax obligation arose, he has the option to deduct input VAT only in the current period. Therefore, WNT will not be tax neutral! In the case of importing services (for which Article 28b applies), the trader is also required to register for EU VAT. However, in this situation, it does not additionally submit EU VAT information, as if it were the case for intra-Community acquisitions of goods.

Taxpayers exempt from VAT

The entity exempt from VAT that performs the intra-community acquisition (i.e. if the transaction value exceeds PLN 50,000) must submit a VAT-8 declaration to the tax office. Importantly, non-VAT users, when making intra-Community acquisition transactions, are also required to show it in the EU VAT summary information.

On the other hand, when purchasing services from an EU contractor, an entrepreneur exempted from VAT must show VAT in the VAT-9M declaration, which will result in the payment due to the tax office. After paying the value of VAT, the non-VAT will be able to be fully included in the tax costs.

Fourth: check if you need to be billed monthly or you can choose the quarterly system

Both in the case of non-VAT taxpayers and active VAT payers, the matter is simple, as VAT-8 and VAT-9M settlement declarations are submitted on a monthly basis. On the other hand, EU VAT declarations may be submitted only in electronic form and only for monthly periods. Therefore, it is not possible to choose the quarterly EU VAT settlement.

Deadlines for submitting settlement declarations

The EU VAT summary information should be submitted for monthly periods until the 25th day of the month following the billing month in which the taxpayer made an intra-community service or intra-community service. However, for the periods in which these transactions did not occur, there is no obligation to submit VAT-EU information.

In a situation where the entrepreneur, despite being registered for EU VAT, does not submit summary information, he may be removed from the EU VAT register. To make this possible, in accordance with Art. 97 sec. 15 and 15a of the VAT Act, at least one of the following conditions must be met:

the taxpayer has not submitted a tax return for 3 consecutive months or one quarter (VAT-7K),
despite the EU VAT registration, the taxpayer did not submit the summary information for the period of 3 consecutive months.

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EU VAT registration - marking in the wFima.pl system

After registering for EU VAT, you must change the settings in the wFirma.pl system. To do this, go to the tab: SETTINGS »TAXES» VAT, and then select the option Entrepreneur registered in the EU (EU VAT).

How to generate EU VAT summary information in the wFirma.pl system?

In order to generate EU VAT summary information, go to the tab: START »TAXES» VAT TAX »ADD A DECLARATION» EU VAT INFORMATION, and then select the period for which the system is to generate the summary information.