The Finance Ministry has provided a new draft of amendments to the VAT Act called SLIM VAT 3 (draft dated 8 November 2022, “New Proposal”). The New Proposal features some important changes over the previous proposal after the Ministry took into account certain solutions proposed during the public consultation process.

Changes between the New Proposal and the previous version:

  • commencement dated moved from 1 January 2023 to 1 April 2023;
  • previously the taxable persons were required to translate currencies at the NBP or ECB rate prevailing on the last business day before issuance of summary correcting invoice (where Polish or foreign party issues a summary correcting invoice due to a discount or price reduction), now they would have the option of doing so; taxable persons could also rely on the general rule and apply the same rate as in the original invoice;
  • the authorities resigned from additionally extending the current VAT exemption for investment fund management services onto special investment funds based in other EU Member States;
  • the authorities resigned from allowing taxable persons the option to waive issuing an advance payment invoice if they receive all or some of the payment for the transaction in the same month as the transaction;
  • changes were made to statement of payment recipient (in the event of creditor change) with respect to exoneration from solidary liability and flow of VAT account funds;
  • with respect to quantification of penalty VAT at 100% of input tax in contested invoices, the process was refined by providing that the irregularity must result from intentional conduct of the taxable person or of his counterparty if known to him (previously the irregularity had to result from intentional involvement of the taxable person in a VAT fraud);
  • the authorities scrapped the law which allowed them to charge maximum penalty tax where the irregularities resulted from intentional involvement of the taxable person in a VAT fraud;
  • the New Proposal defers to 1 July 2023 the commencement date of the law that allows VAT account to be used to also pay the so-called sugar tax, additional sugar tax and any interest on the tax.

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