Bank accounts excluded from the white list of active VAT payers

As it turns out, not all types of bank accounts can be added to the so-called white list of VAT payers. The law defines clearly: among the excluded accounts, we can find popular personal accounts and foreign accounts with a different numerical structure. Therefore, entrepreneurs will need to set up a proper bank account by the end of 2019.

Regarding the white list, only billing accounts are taken into consideration, specifically accounts provided during the application for the Tax Number acquiring or upon CEIDG entry. This means that the rest are recognized as incorrect, not relevant for the tax settlement purpose. This can lead to a situation where the contractor knowingly provides an account he is using, but which is not accepted by the Ministry of Finance.

In such a case, one should inform the Tax Office about the transaction made to the wrong account within three days of making the transfer.

Accounts excluded from the white list

Among the excluded accounts we can find:

• trust accounts (escrow)
• deposit accounts
• personal accounts (in Poland: ROR)
• virtual accounts (i.e. sub-accounts created for and directly assigned to a specific contractor)

Regarding virtual accounts, those which are directly linked to the accounts included in the white list are treated as the correct ones (although they are not actually included in the list).

At the same time, virtual accounts, which are directly linked to the accounts from the list, are treated by the tax authorities as correct accounts. Using them does not involve the risk of financial penalties.

The Ministry of Finance announced the publication of a special software which enables faster verification whether the virtual account is linked to the listed account as soon as November, 2019.

White list of bank accounts and foreign entrepreneurs

The bank accounts of foreign entrepreneurs cooperating with Polish companies also pose a problem. The white list can only include polish bank accounts, as the confirmation system (STIR) used by tax offices simply does not accept the foreign accounts due to their different numerical structure. Thus, in practice, the new regulations are forcing foreign companies (registered in Poland as VAT payers) to set up accounts in Polish banks or SKOK’s. There is no indication that foreign companies could avoid such obligation anytime soon.