As reported in the press, some taxpayers (individuals selling via e.g. Allegro, OLX, Vinted) are getting the first calls from sales platforms to provide them with their more complete personal data. Do they have anything to be afraid of?
On July 1, 2024, the regulations implementing in Poland the provisions of the EU’s DAC7 directive, about which you can read more here, came into force. It regulates, among other things, the reporting of online commerce conducted by individuals.
It should be noted that the directive does not impose a new type of tax on anyone at all – a misconception. The directive imposes an obligation on sales platforms to report (report) information on certain people selling through them. Hence, recently some sellers have received letters asking them to provide their fuller data – the platforms are thus fulfilling their obligations.
Importantly, only certain sellers are subject to reporting – those who, during the reporting period (i.e., the previous year):
- made at least 30 sales transactions through the platform, or
- made sales through the platform for an amount greater than the equivalent of €2,000.
It should be noted that reporting refers to real transactions made through the platform. A transaction, on the other hand, is not the simple posting of an announcement on the website (and any subsequent settlement with the buyer outside the platform).
However, such reporting of a taxpayer (or a prior request to the taxpayer to provide data) does not in itself mean that some kind of tax or penalty has been (or will be) automatically imposed on such a person.
No consequences should be worried by those who made sales of their private property (outside the framework of business activity), even if the number of transactions made and their value exceeded the limits indicated above. However, it is important to remember that, if necessary, you should be able to prove that the sales were not made on a regular and organized basis, but completely occasional and unrelated to business activity.
We will not pay tax if we sell the goods at a price lower than its purchase price. On the other hand, if we sell the goods with a profit, we will not pay tax if at least six months have passed from the date of acquisition of the item to the date of sale. It should not be a problem if we sell our used clothes or old books. However, selling a dozen computers or identical clothes may arouse the suspicion of the tax authorities.
What if it turns out that a person has conducted a business activity through such an e-sale (the prerequisites for it were met)? Potential consequences may relate to PIT (e.g. taxation of previously generated business income), VAT (payment of output tax); relevant interest on liabilities will also be charged. In addition, it may be necessary to pay the relevant Social Security contributions. In some cases, it is also possible to impose sanctions from the Fiscal Penal Code. It can be assumed that those who have made the highest value sales will be subject to potential control first.
It is worth noting that this week (December 16), the Ministry of Finance, as part of its work related to the implementation of the directive for platform operators, made available on its website tools for, among other things, preparing and submitting aggregated information about sellers operating through a given platform. The Ministry of Finance has provided:
- a WEB DPI application, which allows users to complete DPI-FR and DPI-IS forms and visualize them;
- a Data Exchange Component, which enables the submission of forms and the InitUpload file without using the REST API key.
Additionally, further information on this topic has been published on the ministry’s website.
Platform operators should submit the relevant information by January 31, 2025 (separately for 2023 and 2024).
