The Voivodeship Administrative Court in Opole in its judgment of 18 August 2010 case file I SA/Op 215/10 held that copies of VAT invoices can be stored in electronic form, if the files are properly secured and readable and the storage system allows for the reproduction of such invoices in the paper format at the request of tax authority, in its original form.
Archive for: Directive 2006/112/EC
Tax law, case I SA/Op 215/10
September 6th, 2010, Tomasz RychlickiTax law, case I SA/Wr 592/10
August 31st, 2010, Tomasz RychlickiThe Voivodeship Administrative Court in Wrocław in its judgment of 27 July 2010 case file I SA/Wr 592/10 held that the Directive 112 did not include the obligation to keep copies of invoices in the same form in which they were sent. Also § 21(2) of Regulation of the Minister of Finance on 25 May 2005 on the tax refund to certain taxpayers, the advance tax refund, invoicing, the storage of invoices and the list of goods and services, to which the exemptions from taxes on goods and services are not applicable (in Polish: Rozporządzenie Ministra Finansów z dnia 25 maja 2005 r. w sprawie zwrotu podatku niektórym podatnikom, zaliczkowego zwrotu podatku, wystawiania faktur, sposobu ich przechowywania oraz listy towarów i usług, do których nie mają zastosowania zwolnienia od podatku od towarów i usług), does not follow that restriction to the form in which to store invoice was associated with the way they have been sent to the customer or made available to. The Court also noted that the invoice should be issued in duplicate, but this does not mean that the invoice has to be kept identical in form, which is an invoice sent to the buyer. Invoice kept by the issuer and received by the buyer has to be identical in content and therefore the information contained on the invoice relates to the transaction.
Tax law, case I SA/Op 177/10
July 31st, 2010, Tomasz RychlickiThe Voivodeship Administrative Court in Opole in its judgment of 23 June 2010 case file I SA/Op 177/10, pointed to the lack of precision in the national legislation. The court stated that § 21(2) of Regulation of the Minister of Finance on 25 May 2005 on the tax refund to certain taxpayers, the advance tax refund, invoicing, the storage of invoices and the list of goods and services, to which the exemptions from taxes on goods and services are not applicable (in Polish: Rozporządzenie Ministra Finansów z dnia 25 maja 2005 r. w sprawie zwrotu podatku niektórym podatnikom, zaliczkowego zwrotu podatku, wystawiania faktur, sposobu ich przechowywania oraz listy towarów i usług, do których nie mają zastosowania zwolnienia od podatku od towarów i usług), does not provide that the limitation as to the form in which to store invoice is associated with the way they have been sent to the customer or have been made available in a different way. The VAC ruled that a literaly reading of the provisions included in Polish Regulation does not lead to the interpretation that if the invoice is made in a particular paper form, a copy must also be kept in the same form thereof.
Tax law, case I FSK 1169/08
August 31st, 2009, Tomasz RychlickiThe Supreme Administrative Court (SAC) in its judgment of 3 October 2009 case file I FSK 1169/08 did not share the views that the the Directive 112 provides the absolute obligation to keep copies of invoices in the same form in which they were sent. In the opinion of the SAC, the only thing that can be inferred from the Directive is that the copy of the invoice can be stored in paper or electronic form. It is also wrong to confuse the term “issue” and “send” with regard to invoices. The Polish legislator did not exactly implement standards resulting from the Article 27(2) of the Directive. The omission of the phrase “in which they were sent or issued”, leads to ambiguity in language interpretation of the law. There is no legislative impediment to the existence of “mixed” system for sending and storage of invoices. In addition, the SAC decided that the obligation to keep invoices on paper, where other methods of storage also enable the objectives of Article 246 Directive 112 to be fullfiled, is the excessive responsibility and violates the principle of proportionality.