Rules for the emergence of the tax obligation in VAT. As is clear from the justification for the amendments to the act on tax on goods and services, the basis for their introduction is the EU Directive 2006/112 / EC and efforts to simplify and organize the regulations in force until the end of 2013.
The legislator did not modify the provisions of Article 19, but repealed it and introduced a new Article 19a, containing different regulations regarding the moment of tax liability arisen.
To illustrate the essence of the changes, refer to the previous legal status, in which, to simplify (omitting numerous exceptions), the emergence of the tax obligation was related to the date of issuing the invoice (when the activities should be confirmed by an invoice) or the date of delivery of the goods or performance of the service . In cases requiring an invoice, the taxpayer was required to issue it no later than on the seventh day from the date of delivery of the goods or performance of the service. Thus, for activities performed in the last days of the settlement period (month or quarter), and documented with an invoice issued with the seven-day deadline (but already in the next tax period), there was a temporary shift in the settlement of output tax.
At the beginning of 2014, as a general rule, the emergence of a tax obligation is completely detached from the “physical” issue of an invoice, ie preparation of a document in paper or electronic form (elimination of the “plus seven days” rule). Of course, there are still areas of economic activity in which specific regulations (including construction, telecommunications) regarding the emergence of a tax obligation will apply, but the catalog of exceptions is much smaller. The new Article 19a, section 1 contains a general rule: the tax obligation arises upon the delivery of goods or performance of a service.
As a consequence of the changes that eliminated the possibility of “postponing” the tax liability date for taxpayers settling monthly and using this solution in relation to deliveries from the end of 2013, there will be a one-off accumulation of VAT from December 2013 (according to date of invoice) and January 2014 (according to the date of delivery or service).
The phenomenon of accumulation will also take place in industries covered by special rules for determining the moment of tax liability until December 31, 2013, which as of January 1, 2014 are already subject to general regulation. Such a situation occurs in the case of transport companies, which in the previous legal state established the obligation to pay VAT on special terms, upon receipt of all or part of the payment, but no later than 30 days from the service provision, and are currently subject to general regulation. This may expose the indicated entrepreneurs to loss of financial liquidity for two reasons. First, by paying the tax on a monthly basis (for January 2014 to February 25, 2014), they will be obliged to pay VAT for services provided in December 2013 (under the old rules) and performed in January 2014 (according to the new regulations). ). Secondly, in the following months, a tax obligation will arise much earlier and regardless of the date of receipt of payment for the service. Similar problems may also appear in the shipping and development industry.
However, the tax obligation remains unchanged with regard to advances, advances, prepayments, etc. received by the taxpayer. As before, it arises upon receipt of all or part of the payment before the goods are delivered or a specific service is provided.
It is worth emphasizing that the moment when the tax obligation arises is also of great importance for the buyer of goods or services, who is an active VAT taxpayer and who wants to exercise the right to deduct input tax. This law is correlated with the disclosure of the tax due by the seller of a good or service and obliges the buyer to know the principles of the tax liability of the contractor – which is the first condition for deducting input tax. The second condition is to have an invoice documenting the transaction, and it is worth adding that according to the new general rule – the seller of goods or services now has time to issue it until the fifteenth day of the month following the month of issuing the goods or providing the service.
This article only provides an overview of the changes. Detailed regulations will be discussed in the following materials.