Poland is to require all large VAT registered businesses to submit monthly Standard Audit Files for Tax (SAF-T) from 1 July 2016. The obligation will be extended to all VAT registered businesses by 2018.
The previous plan was to introduce the obligation to be able to produce SAF-T files on demand only.
Polish SAF-T requirements
The monthly filing deadline will the 25th of the month following the reporting month. This includes tax payers filing VAT returns on a quarterly basis – who must nevertheless submit their SAF-T reports monthly. The report should include:
- All accounting transactions in the ledgers
- Bank statements
- VAT transactions, including invoices
- Stock movement documentation e.g. invoices and GNR’s.
Standard Audit File for Tax
SAF-T is a standarised computer format, developed by the OECD, for the electronic exchange of tax and accounting information with the tax authorities. So far in the EU it has been adopted by: Portugal; Luxembourg; Austria; Lithuania and France. Poland is the latest country, starting next month.
The aim is enable tax authorities to collect complete accounting records in a way that they can interrogate using analytical software to determine tax assessments, and identify any potential VAT fraud.
This new requirement excludes companies which maintain their accounts in manual, non-compuetrised format.
Phased introduction for small businesses
Small companies (<250 employees or <€50m annual turnover) are exempted from the requirement until 1 January 2017. Micro-businesses are exempted until 1 January 2018.