On 15 March The Regulation of the Minister of Finance was published dated 14 March 2018 extending the deadlines for the implementation of certain tax documentation obligations.
According to the regulation, the time limits for drawing up tax documents have been extended (for the time being) first in accordance with the new rules applicable from 1 January 2017 originally marked in the text of the Income Tax Act.
The time limits for submitting a simplified report and a statement of tax documentation were also extended.
According to the time limits laid down in the Income Tax Act, these obligations are to be fulfilled within the time limit laid down by the date of the tax return, and therefore in the case of corporate tax taxable persons to the end three months after the end of the tax year.
The Regulation in question amends that term by marking it as the end nine months after the end of the year.
The Regulation extended the time limit for the submission of the CIT-TP, which is an annex to the tax return, and thus raised doubts as to whether the submission of the tax return earlier (in accordance with the statutory deadline) should indicate in its content that the CIT-TP is not submitted by the taxpayer and then, after its preparation, to correct the previously filed CIT-8.
Consequently, for the majority of taxpayers, this means that the deadline for drawing up documentation and reporting obligations will be put in place by the end of September. 2018, for the year 2018. The Regulation provides for a change of time limits for responsibilities for the year 2017 and 2018, and therefore in the case of documentation produced for 2018 taxpayers will have until the end of September 2019 (if their tax year corresponds to the calendar year).
Such a change is certainly beneficial for taxpayers who, when faced with new documentation requirements, are faced with the need to involve considerable work and their own resources in order to meet extended tax documentation obligations.
Since the adoption of the new legislation from many parties, there have been signs that the statutory three-month deadline (in many cases the end of March) is very unfortunate due to the short period of time to collect the information needed to produce the documentation, with the extensive and detailed scope of the information required by the amended law, and due to the numerous obligations arising from the other provisions that the financial and accounting departments have to deal with during that period.
However, the further consequences of the amendments should also be considered.
After first extension of time limits only for two first years in which taxpayers must meet extended documentation obligations. If there are no further changes, then two years, this deadline for drawing up documentation will still be shorter - such as for submitting a tax return. However, the mandatory scope of the dossier is not reduced.
Of course, such a solution can be justified by the statement that a longer period of time is necessary to adapt the procedures for drawing up documents on the part of taxpayers, in a way to gain practice in the field of "new documentation" and obligations, and after that period, taxpayers will no longer have difficulties as at the beginning of the regulation.
However, it is worth noting that there are new economic events on the taxpayer's side each year requiring documentation, the development of a new approach, and the beginning of the year still remains a very intense period of increased work.
These aspects will certainly not change, so it is worth considering the implementation of extended deadlines permanently, as a base solution rather than a temporary one (maybe it would be appropriate to consider such a change in the rank of the bill).
Especially for entrepreneurs operating in large capital groups, for which the application of the new requirements means the need to implement fairly extensive procedures for collecting information, data to benchmarks, etc., such a temporary change is not important because the preparation of procedures has been taking place for a long time, and the perspective two years in the absence of certainty about the change of the deadline for subsequent periods is too doubtful a basis for deciding on changes to the solutions already implemented.
After second there have been significant doubts about the correct solution to be applied now, e.g. by making declarations CIT-8 and CIT-TP.
The Regulation extended the time limit for the submission of the CIT-TP, which is an annex to the tax return, and thus raised doubts as to whether the submission of the tax return earlier (in accordance with the statutory deadline) should indicate in its content that the CIT-TP is not submitted by the taxpayer and then, after its preparation, to correct the previously filed CIT-8.
The explanatory memorandum to the draft Regulation indicates that ‘the addition of a simplified report within the extended period under this Regulation’ will not require any correction or update of the tax return.
However, the problem is that for the moment CIT-TP is foreseen as an annex to CIT-8 and the possibility of generating it appears when a basic statement is made CIT-8, after stating in the appropriate place that such an annex will be submitted together with the declaration.
At the moment, there is no separate mode available for the attachment itself.
However, in the explanations concerning the extension of the transfer pricing deadlines presented by the Ministry of Finance just after the publication of the Regulation, it was announced that work is being carried out to enable taxpayers to submit CIT-TP / PIT-TP separately from the tax return.
A new regulation amending the simplified report was foreseen to be drawn up by the end of May 2018.
Therefore, the MF confirms that it intends to provide the taxable persons with a technical solution that allows them to submit a simplified report within a prolonged period of time without having to correct the previously submitted tax return.
After third doubts arose as to whether the introduced regulation extending the time limits for drawing up tax records does not exclude the application of the rules which provide for the power for tax authorities to request the submission of documents within the time limit seven days (the corresponding documentation for the specified transaction is produced within the time limit 30 days).
In the current state of the law, in principle, no provision excludes the possibility for the tax authority to require the presentation of tax records for the current settlement period, after the entry into force of the new regulation, the Regulation does not refer in any way to the question of that period. seven days three days.
However, in this respect, the Ministry of Finance states in the published explanations concerning the extension of the transfer pricing deadlines that the seven-day deadline provided for in the Income Tax Act refers only to the documentation to which the deadline for drawing up it has expired.
In the opinion of the MF, the tax authority has no right to require the submission of the tax documentation within a seven-day period if the time limit for drawing it up for the taxpayer has not expired.
In conclusion, the extension of time limits for the performance of documentation obligations must certainly be assessed positively. We are looking for further changes to address these aspects.
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.