- This title is taken from Ernst & Young, Joint & Several Liability for your Suppliers Unpaid VAT (2013), www.ey.com/Publication/vwLUAssets/Joint_and_Several_Liability_EN/$FILE/Joint%20and%20Several%20Liability_EN_sec.pdf,1. Translations of the Polish Civil Code are taken from T Bil, A Broniek, A Cincio and M Kiełbasa, Kodeks cywilny. Civil code. Przepisy dwujęzyczne (Kodeks cywilny. Civil code. The bilingual provisions) (Warsaw, 2011); of the Polish Ordinance Tax from LEX OMEGA (the Polish electronic legal program) 2011; and of the Polish VAT Act from LEX OMEGA 2013. All websites accessed November 2013.
- The amendment was published in the Journal of Laws of 2013, item 1027, http://dziennikustaw.gov.pl/DU/2013/1027/1. Its justification is available at www.sejm.gov.pl/sejm7.nsf/druk.xsp?nr=1515.
- But the provisions concerning the guarantee deposit are binding as from 20 September 2013.
- The Polish goods and services tax is equivalent to the value added tax (VAT). See A Olesińska, Polskie prawo podatkowe (Polish tax law) (Toruń, 2012) 351.
- See S Shaheen, ‘A New Age Dawns for Indirect Tax’ [2012] International Tax Review (online, December/January).
- J Owens cited in E Powell, ‘EU: Harmony or Discord?’ [2013] International Tax Review (online, June).
- According to a ranking drawn up by Ernst & Young, Poland is also in the top half of the most globalised countries in the world (http://ey.media.pl/pr/236274/raport-ey-polska-jest-bardziej-globalnym-krajem-niz-panstwa-bric, 7 March 2013). It is one of the 25 so-called ‘rapid growth’ states, which are to drive the global economy in the years to come (http://ey.media.pl/pr/241458/ey-polska-mimo-slabszych-prognoz-liderem-wzrostu-w-regionie, 14 May 2013).
- VAT represented 43.5% in 2011 (while tax revenues consisted of 87.6% of total central revenues): Sprawozdanie z wykonania budżetu państwa za okres od 1 stycznia do 31 grudnia 2011 r. Omówienie. (Report on the state budget execution for the period from 1 January to 31 December 2011: Discussion) (Warsaw, 2012), www.mf.gov.pl/index.php?const=5&dzial=36&wysw=2&sub=sub1,38.
- There is no official data on the tax gap (see the official response of the Ministry of Finance: http://sejm.gov.pl/sejm7.nsf/InterpelacjaTresc.xsp?key=6E824DDC) but there are some reports on this topic. See PwC and Instytut Badań Strukturalnych, Straty Skarbu Państwa w VAT (Treasury's loss in VAT), 27 May 2013, www.pwc.pl/pl_PL/pl/publikacje/assets/pwc_straty_skarbu_panstwa_w_vat.pdf.
- For more on this topic see W Surmacz, Witajcie w lunaparku VAT (Welcome to a VAT amusement park), www.forbes.pl/witajcie-w-lunaparku-vat-polska-rajem-dla-karuzeli-podatkowych,artykuly,157233,1,1.html, 26 June 2013; J Duży, Zorganizowana przestępczość podatkowa w Polsce: zwalczanie przestępnego nadużycia mechanizmów podatków VAT i akcyzowego (The organised tax crime in Poland: tackling fraudulent abuse of the VAT mechanisms and excise duties' mechanisms) (Warsaw, 2013) 16, 27.
- Duży, ibid, 257.
- Uzasadnienie nowelizacji (Justification of the amendment), 1 and 8.
- Press information: General Manager in Singapore Jailed for GST Fraud, 10 July 2012, www.smbworldasia.com/en/content/general-manager-singapore-jailed-gst-fraud; Canadian system of reporting GST fraud: www.ehow.com/how_6534586_report-gst-tax-fraud-canada.html; data on GST fraud in Australia: Australian Taxation Office, Targeting Tax Crime: A Whole-of-Government Approach (February 2011), www.ato.gov.au/corporate/content.asp?doc=/content/00271327.htm&page=5&H5,8; Australian Taxation Office, GST Administration Annual Performance Report2011–12 (February 2013), www.ato.gov.au/Business/Bus/GST-administration-annual-perfor-mance-report-2011–12,32.
- European Parliament, Report on Fight against Tax Fraud, Tax Evasion and Tax Havens (2013/2060(INI), 2 May 2013, www.europarl.europa.eu/sides/getDoc.do?pubRef=-//EP//NONSGML+REPORT+A7–2013–0162+0+DOC+PDF+V0//EN,4.
- J Podlipnik, ‘Missing Trader Intra-Community and Carousel VAT Frauds—ECJ and ECtHR Case Law’ (2012) 8 Croatian Yearbook of European Law & Policy 457.
- European Commission, Tax Reforms in EU Members States: Tax Policy Challenges for Economic Growth and Fiscal Sustainability, 2013 Report, 56.
- Ernst & Young, Indirect Tax in 2013: A Review of Global Indirect Tax Developments and Issues, www.ey.com/Publication/vwLUAssets/Global_indirect_tax_developments-the_shift_in_2013/$FILE/Indirect_tax_2013.pdf,15.
- See www.sejm.gov.pl/sejm7.nsf/PrzebiegProc.xsp?nr=1515.
- See www.sejm.gov.pl/sejm7.nsf/PrzebiegProc.xsp?id=40F8F84258B1B20DC1257BA2003A29D7.
- Act of 11 March 2004 on Goods and Services Tax (consolidated text: Journal of Laws of 2011, no 177 item 1054 as amended), hereinafter ‘VAT Act.
- Act of 29 August 1997 Tax Ordinance (consolidated text: Journal of Laws of 2012, item 749 as amended), hereinafter ‘Tax Ordinance Act’.
- These goods are specifically set out in Annex 2 to the amendment (as Attachment No 13 to the VAT Act). These are primarily steel pipes, rods, nets, petrol, diesel oil, and gas for internal-combustion engines. Uzasadnienie nowelizacji (Justification of the amendment), 5.
- These are as follows: taxes which paying agents or tax collectors failed to collect or collected but failed to pay; goods and services tax advances that were not paid on time, including interest thereon; and the costs of enforcement proceedings.
- R Dowgier, The commentary to art 107 of the Tax Ordinance Act (LEX OMEGA, 2013).
- Olesińska (n 4) 104.
- ibid, 105.
- Dowgier (n 24).
- ibid.
- ibid. See also A Olesińska, Odpowiedzialność osób trzecich za zobowiązania podatkowe (Third person liability for tax obligations) (Lublin, 2000) 50–51, where the author strongly emphasises the subsidiary nature of the liability. In turn, Babiarz decidedly supports a division between joint and several liability and joint and several liabilities (meaning: duties): S Babiarz, ‘The Commentary to Art 107 of the Tax Ordinance Act' in S Babiarz, B Dauter, B Gruszczyński, R Hauser, A Kabat and M Niezgódka-Medek, Ordynacja podatkowa: Komentarz (Warsaw, 2010) 567.
- Uzasadnienie nowelizacji (Justification of the amendment), 2.
- See I Lejeune, S de Maeijer and L Vermeire, ‘Quick Reaction Mechanism against EU VAT Fraud’ [2013] International VAT Monitor (March/April) 94–98.
- I Lejeune, S Kotanidis and E Cortvriend, ‘Joint and Several Liability relating to Intra-Community Acquisitions', [2009] International VAT Monitor (September/October) 364–5.
- Case C-384/04 Commissioners of Customs & Excise and Attorney General v Federation of Technological Industries and others [2006] ECR I-04191.
- ibid, the judgment's proposition no 1.
- See Case C-499/10 Vlaamse Oliemaatschappij NV v FOD Financiën [2011] ECR I-0000, point 25, and the judgments in Federation of Technological Industries, point 33; Teleos, point 65, and Netto Supermarkt, point 24, all quoted therein.
- A Kiełbasiński, Propozycje podatkowe ministerstwa finansów: uczciwy zapłaci za oszusta (Tax proposals of the Polish Ministry of Finance: the honest will pay for the fraudsters), http://wyborcza.biz/biznes/1,100897,13550888,Propozycje_podatkowe_ministerstwa_finansow__uczciwy.html#ixzz2a3gVO3k2.
- ibid.
- For example: S Presnarowicz, The Commentary to Art 122 of the Tax Ordinance Act (LEX OMEGA, 2013); B Brzeziński and A Nita, Glossary to the judgment of Supreme Administrative Court [NSA] from 21 October 2011 (II FSK 775/10), Przegląd Orzecznictwa Podatkowego 2013, no 2, 116–17.
- Ernst & Young (n 2).
- See the Polish language version of the judgment of the CJEU in Case C-499/10 Vlaamse Oliemaatschappij NV v FOD Financiën [2011] ECR I-0000, point 24, phrase 1. In the English version, the CJEU uses the term ‘strict joint and several liability’.
- As stated earlier, the procedure of holding a third party jointly and severally liable ends with a formal decision by the tax authority.
- Case C-25/07 Alicja Sosnowska v Dyrektor Izby Skarbowej we Wrocławiu Ośrodek Zamiejscowy w Wafbrzychu [2008] ECR I-05129.
- Podlipnik (n 15) 472.
- Case C-285/11 Bonik EOOD v Direktor na Direktsia ‘Obzhalvane I upravlenie na izpalnenieto’ —Varna pri Tsentralno upravlenie na Natsionalnata agentsia za prihodite [2012] ECR I-0000; see the judgment's proposition.
- J Strzelecki, Nieudolne i leniwe rozwiązania podatkowe urzędników (Incompetent and lazy solutions of tax officials), http://wgospodarce.pl/opinie/7222-nieudolne-i-leniwe-rozwiazania-podatkowe-urzednikow.
- P Morton, ‘Modern VAT Systems: A Business Perspective’, Brussels, 31 March 2009, http://ec.europa.eu/taxation_customs/resources/documents/taxation/gen_info/conferences/taxforum2009/pres_Morton.pdf,33s.
Not your business but your liability: new VAT third party liability in Poland
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