In accordance with art. 18a p. 1 of the Polish VAT Act, a taxpayer who does not have a registered place of business or a permanent place of business in the territory of a Member State and who is subject to the obligation to register for VAT purposes in Poland is required to appoint a fiscal representative (tax representative or FR). However, based on the Regulation from 23rd February 2021 on the lack of obligation to appoint a fiscal representative, the taxpayers who are established or have the fixed establishment in Norway and United Kingdom of Great Britain and North Ireland are exempt from this obligation.
Fiscal representative can be the entity that meets the conditions set forth in the art. 18b Polish VAT Act. The FR is obligated to operate a business based in Poland and have the registration to Polish VAT purposes. Additionally, this entity cannot have arrears for the last 24 months in the payment of taxes constituting the state budget in an amount of more than 3% of the amount of individual tax liabilities in each of taxes. Furthermore, the entity should be authorized to provide bookkeeping services or be a tax advisor. It is worth to mention that the Custom Agent can be fiscal representative too.
The establishment of a fiscal representative is made by means of a written agreement between the taxpayer and the entity establishing the fiscal representative.
According to art. 18c and art. 18d PL VAT Act, the fiscal representative performs in the name and on behalf of the taxpayer the obligations regarding to preparation of VAT returns, storage the documents related to VAT and other activities to which he has been appointed. However, already the signature of the VAT returns by fiscal representative is not within the scope of the powers granted to him and requires an additional authorization.
It is worth noting that the fiscal representative is jointly and severally liable with the taxpayer for the tax liability that they settle in the name and on behalf of that taxpayer that is why this function is very risk burdened.
If you need to establish a fiscal representative for your company please do not hesitate contact us.
Read more about our VAT Reporting Services https://polishtax.com/services/vat-reporting-poland/