Year 2019 is first, in which traders operating a retail or wholesale unit are required to settle the money collected from customers for the recycling charge.
Since last year to each lightweight foil bag sold (i.e. bags of a thickness of 15 to 50 micrometers) shop owners and wholesalers are obliged to charge a fee of 0.2 PLN. The recycling charge is therefore charged to the purchaser of the foil bag and cannot be borne from the trader's portfolio. This levy shall be increased by VAT, unless the seller is exempt from the duty on goods and services.
The amount of this charge is indicated in the Regulation of the Minister of the Environment on the rate of recycling charge. In addition, the Packaging and Packaging Waste Management Act iThe legislator has set its maximum height at 1 PLN, which may prove that in time it may be elevated.
It should also be stressed that a retail or wholesale entity may also charge an additional bag fee. Thus, the recycling charge may constitute the total cost of the bag for the consumer or may be added to the price of the bag determined by the commercial unit concerned.
Entrepreneurs must bear the consequences of not collecting a recycling fee, as the Provincial Inspectorate of the Commercial Inspection has the possibility to impose a penalty on them of 500 PLN to 20,000 during the inspection.
Clearance of the charge collected
Traders (retail and wholesale) are required to transfer funds from the collection of recycling charges for the release of lightweight plastic shopping bags to the relevant Provincial Marshal to a special bank account created by him, by indicating REGON and the period to which the fee relates. Under the current rules, there is no obligation to report on the collected recycling charge.
Where a trader operating a retail or wholesale unit has not paid a recycling fee collected from the purchasers of a light plastic shopping bag or paid a fee lower than that due, the Provincial Marshal shall, by decision, determine the amount of the arrears due on the recycling charge, using the rate of charge applicable in the calendar year in which that trader was obliged to collect the recycling charge. The entrepreneur has to pay 14 days.
If the obligation is repealed again, the trader will be required to regulate an additional recycling charge equivalent to 50% the amount not paid. In addition, the additional recycling charge will not be included in the cost of obtaining revenue, as is the case for the basic recycling charge.
Author
Leszek Dutkiewicz
Partner at Russell Bedford. From 2011 related to Russell Bedford Poland. In years 2008 – 2011 worked for leading consulting companies (Ernst&Young, KPMG, BDO) providing tax advisory services. He specializes in tax and economic law, primarily in international tax law, tax proceedings, VAT and transaction prices.
Author of a publication on tax, civil and international law issues. Lecturer in tax law training. He has legal education, in 2008 graduated from the Faculty of Law and Administration of the Jagiellonian University.