Biznes Fakty
The tax office is checking online buyers. „It's a surprise to me.” Sales on Allegro, OLX, and Vinted under scrutiny.
For the past year, regulations have been in effect in Poland mandating online marketplaces to report data to tax authorities. The tax office utilizes this information to verify buyers, leading to tax demands for Polish citizens, as reported by Gazeta Wyborcza.
The EU DAC7 directive requires sales platforms to supply information regarding sellers and their transactions, which includes e-commerce, accommodation bookings, and car rentals.
„The new regulations compel online services to provide data concerning sellers and their transactions to the tax office. This law impacts millions of individuals who sell on platforms like Allegro, OLX, or Vinted,” the newspaper highlighted.
Platforms transmit data to the tax office
„The process is straightforward: e-platforms collect sellers’ information and subsequently relay it to the tax office. The tax office verifies whether an individual trading on Allegro, for instance, is fulfilling their tax obligations or evading them,” she clarified to Gazeta Wyborcza.
The tax office also employs these regulations to scrutinize buyers.
The Ministry of Finance elaborated in response to an inquiry from Gazeta Wyborcza that „the National Tax Administration may utilize the information acquired to validate the accuracy and correctness of tax obligations fulfilled by sellers” and „based on sales data, the National Tax Administration may request from a specific platform the data needed to identify the buyer, for example, to verify whether the necessary tax on civil law transactions has been settled, which is the buyer’s responsibility in the case of sales contracts.”
The tax on civil law transactions (PCC), which is set at 2% of the market value of the purchase, applies to transactions exceeding PLN 1,000 conducted by individuals who are not entrepreneurs.
„It’s a surprise to me”
„This comes as a surprise to me, as assurances were previously made that only sellers would be subject to examination. However, naturally, state authorities are entitled to pursue outstanding tax from buyers as well,” stated legal advisor Konrad Kurpiewski, as quoted by Gazeta Wyborcza.
He further mentioned that while most individuals remember to pay tax after acquiring a vehicle, they tend to overlook this obligation when buying electronics or other items that do not require registration.
The new regulations stemming from the DAC7 directive enhance the transparency of transactions on e-commerce platforms, yet they also introduce new tax challenges for users. Consequently, especially during online shopping, users must be more vigilant to avoid unexpected tax notifications.
What information does the tax office receive from platforms? „The tax office is mandated to submit data solely regarding sellers who have completed at least 30 transactions on a specific platform within the year. This requirement also pertains to those who have sold items on a platform (e.g., clothing on Vinted) for an aggregate amount exceeding €2,000 during the year, irrespective of the number of transactions or listings,” the newspaper clarified.
