Polish Parliament has completed work on the government bill amending the act on corporate income tax, the act on tax on goods and services, the act on the exchange of tax information with other countries and some other acts. On June 22, 2020, the bill was signed by the President of Poland.

One of the three pillars of this regulation are the provisions clarifying the regulations in the scope of information contained in tax patterns (MDR). The adopted amendment is the second stage of implementation of the MDR directive. It aims at completing the transposition of the MDR Directive by imposing on the Head of the KAS an obligation to use EU state information on cross-border schemes.

The Act imposes on intermediary, beneficiaries and supporting entities an obligation to provide information on cross-border tax schemes, if the first activity related to their implementation was carried out in the period from June 26, 2018 to June 30, 2020 (obligation of retrospective reporting). Similarly, as in the past, the reporting order will be as follows:

• As the first information about the cross-border scheme will be provided by the intermediary (eg tax advisor, legal advisor, lawyer) by 31 July 2020;
• If the beneficiary is not informed by the intermediary about the NSP of the cross-border scheme, he will provide the Head of the KAS with information on the cross-border tax scheme by 16 August 2020. This term also applies to information on the use of the scheme (MDR-3);
• Lastly, the responsibility will be on the supporting entities. If the supporting entity is not informed about the NSP of the tax scheme by the intermediary or the beneficiary, he will be obliged to provide information on the cross-border tax scheme to the Head of the KAS by 31 August 2020;
• In addition, the intermediary and supporting entity are required to resubmit MDR-4 by 31 August 2020 (ie information about beneficiaries that they have made available a standardized cross-border tax scheme in the period from 26 June 2018 to 30 June 2020).

A certain novelty is the imposition of a retrospective obligation to report tax schemes on the supporting entity (ie notary, accountant, bank or other financial institution, as well as their employee). This is a new solution that was not present under the previous act. In connection with the proposed changes, supporting entities will be required to retrospectively verify events that took place from 26 June 2018 to 30 June 2020 in terms of determining whether they were cross-border tax schemes in which they played a supporting role.

What is important, if, under the new regulations, more than one entity will be required to provide information on the cross-border tax scheme, and the original information about this scheme has been forwarded to the Head of the KAS by 30 June 2020, this entity will be responsible to report the cross-border scheme again.

The deadlines indicated in the amending Act may, however, be extended. In accordance with the published draft of decree of Minister of Finance of June 26, 2020, in connection with the current state of epidemic, it is proposed to extend the deadlines related to the exchange of tax information and provisions postponing the obligation to report cross-border tax schemes. Thus, the Minister of Finance makes use of the option provided for in the provisions of the Directive.

The draft regulation extends the following deadlines specified in the amending act (for cross-border schemes reported retrospectively):

1. by January 31, 2021, the deadline for the intermediary to provide the Head of the National Tax Administration with information on the cross-border tax scheme;
2. by February 14, 2021, the deadline for forwarding information to the Head of the National Tax Administration by the beneficiary about the cross-border tax scheme;
3. by February 28, 2021, the deadline for forwarding information on the tax scheme to the Head of the National Tax Administration by supporting entity; at the same time, the supporting entity will be required to inform the intermediary or beneficiary that in his opinion the reconciliation constitutes a cross-border tax scheme,
4. by April 30, 2021, the deadline for forwarding data on beneficiaries to the Head of the National Tax Administration by the intermediary or supporting entity;
5. by April 30, 2021, the deadline for forwarding to the Head of the National Tax Administration information on the tax scheme (MDR-3).

What is important, for cross-border schemes made available or implemented from 1 July 2020 to the end of the year, the deadlines indicated in the Tax Code are to start running from 1 January 2021.

A draft regulation on the extension of certain deadlines related to the submission of information on tax schemes and the exchange of tax information with other countries is currently in public consultation.