Confirmation of the intra-community delivery of goods from 1 January 2020

So far Art. 42 has been binding in Poland, which in section 3 stipulated that the evidence confirming export of goods from Poland and delivery to the territory of the other EU states comprises most of all:

• Shipping documents received from the carrier (forwarder) from which it explicitly stems that the goods were delivered to the place of their destination on the territory of other EU state;
• Specification of particular items of the load;

If the export is carried out directly by the seller or the buyer, then apart from the specification of the load items, the seller shall have a document including at least:

• the data (including address) of the entity carrying out of the delivery and the buyer of these goods;
• address, where the goods are transported;
• specification of the goods and their amounts;
• confirmation of the goods acceptance by the buyer in the place of destination, located on the territory of the other EU state;
• type and registration number of the transport vehicle (or number of flight), by which the goods are exported.

Additionally, if the above documents did not explicitly confirm that the delivery on the territory of the other EU state took place, one may make use of other documents, among other:

• business correspondence with the buyer, including the order;
• documents concerning insurance or costs of freight;
• documents confirming payment for the goods;
• the evidence confirming accepting by the buyer of the goods on the territory of the EU state other than Poland.

Starting from 01 January 2020 a presumption will be binding, that the tax payer, holding at least 2 documents stipulated in the Regulation, carried out of the intra-community delivery of goods and the tax authority would have to prove that there was no delivery of the goods on the territory of the other EU state. Pursuant to the Regulation, first of all the following documents are accepted as a proof of shipping or transportation:

• relating to the shipping or transport of the goods, such as consignment note CMR, bill of lading, invoice for the air freight of goods or an invoice from the goods carrier.

As additional documents (together with one of the above documents) the following may be used:

• insurance policy in relation with the shipping or transport of goods or bank documents confirming payment for the shipping or transport of goods;
• official documents issued by the public authority, for example a notary public, confirming arrival of the goods to the destination member state;
• a certificate of collection issued by the entity operating the warehouse in the destination member state, confirming storing of the goods in the member state.

These documents have to be issued by two different parties that are independent of each other, from the seller and from the buyer. Whereas, if the seller points out that the goods were shipped / transported by it or a third party acting thereof (for example a forwarder, transport company) 2 not contradicting with each other documents concerning the shipping will be sufficient (for example CMR, bill of landing, invoice from the goods carrier) or one of the documents concerning the shipping and one of the additional documents (for example insurance policy, bank documents confirming payment for the shipment or transport of good, official confirmation of the goods’ arrival, certificate of collection issued by the destination warehouse in the destination state). 

If it is the buyer that directly or via a third person acting for the buyer transports the goods, the seller shall have:

• a written statement of the buyer confirming that the goods were shipped or transported by the buyer (or a third person operating thereof), indicating the member state of the goods destination; the statement shall stipulate:
  • date of issue,
  • name or first name and surname and address of the buyer,
  • amount and type of goods;
  • date and place of the goods arrival;
  • identification of the person accepting the goods for the buyer;
  • in the case of transport means: identification number of vehicles;

(the buyer shall submit the said statement by the tenth day of the month following the month in which the delivery took place);

and

• at least 2 not contradicting with each other documents concerning the shipping (for example CMR, bill of lading, invoice from the goods’ carrier) or one of the documents concerning the shipping and one of the additional documents (that is insurance policy, bank documents confirming payment for the shipping or transport of goods, official confirmation of the goods arrival, certificate of collection issued by the destination warehouse in the destination state).

The documents received at present are already worth analyzing, since in many cases it may turn out that applying of 0% rates fo the intra-community delivery of goods is hampered.