One of the conditions in the case of cross-border payments, taking advantage of preferential taxation by Polish entities or the possibility of not collecting the tax is proving the tax residency of the receivable recipient with a certificate of residency.
In the era of a pandemic, obtaining a current tax residence certificate may be troublesome in the case of some countries/jurisdictions. For example, on the website of the Polish Post Office there is detailed information which shipments to given countries are currently carried out through it.
The legislator, with the draft law on the so-called anti-crisis shield 4.0., intends to make it easier for payers transferring receivables abroad by addressing the following issues:
- In the case of a certificate of residence without a period of validity, for which the next twelve months expire during the period of an epidemic emergency or an epidemic declared in connection with COVID19 , the taxpayer will be able to take this certificate into account for the duration of these states and for a period of 2 months after their revocation.
- The bill allows taxpayers to confirm their residence also by means of a copy of the certificate – provided that the information resulting from the submitted copy of the certificate of residence does not raise reasonable doubts as to its conformity with the facts.
The current provisions of the Corporate Income Tax Act (Personal Income Tax Act) allow confirming the taxpayer’s place of residence with a copy of the certificate of residence only for income on account of advisory services, accountants, market research, legal services, advertising services, management and control, data processing, employee recruitment and staff acquisition services, guarantees and warranties and benefits of a similar nature.
The right is entitled to payers if the amount of receivables paid to the same entity does not exceed PLN 10 000 a calendar year.
- Moreover, the bill assumes that the remitter will be able to document the tax residence of the receivable recipient with a residence certificate issued for 2019, provided that it has a taxpayer’s statement as to the validity of the data contained therein. Such right will not apply in case of change of the taxpayer’s registered office. The change in question will require obtaining a valid certificate of residence taking into account the new place of the taxpayer’s registered office.
The payer will be able to use the above rights (extended term of validity of the certificate of residence, possibility to confirm the residence by means of a copy or a certificate issued for 2019) during the period of validity of the epidemic emergency and state of epidemic announced in connection with COVID-19, as well as during the next 2 months after their revocation.
The planned date of entry into force of the regulations in question has been set for the day following the date of announcement of the Act.
Author: Michał Mika