Deadlines for reporting on sellers by the platform operator – what is worth knowing before the first reporting period?

From this article, you will learn:

• Within what deadline is the Platform Operator obliged to fulfill reporting obligations?
• How to properly fulfill reporting obligations so as not to expose the company to penalties and sanctions?

The EU directive DAC7 sets the deadline by which information about sellers should be submitted to the competent tax authority. According to the regulation, the platform operator is obliged to report information within two months from the end of the reporting period to which it relates. The Polish legislator shortened this deadline. What should we know about reporting according to the DAC7 directive? The scope of the basic reporting obligations of sales platform operators is presented below.

Changes in the field of e-commerce introduced by DAC7: what is the first period for which the platform operator is obliged to provide information?

Platform operators are obliged to provide information about sellers for specific reporting periods. The provisions of the DAC7 directive consider the calendar year to be the reporting period covered by the reporting obligation.

Moving this to specific dates, the legislator indicated the period from 1 January 2023 to 31 December 2023, as the first reporting period. The same time frame is included in the draft act implementing the directive.

Unfortunately, we still do not know the final content of the act, as well as the date of entry into force of the act, so meeting the reporting obligations by sales platform operators in a timely manner may prove to be quite a challenge.

Within what deadline is the Platform Operator obliged to fulfill reporting obligations?

The provisions of the DAC7 directive indicate that digital platform operators should report information on sellers using their platform within two months of the end of the reporting period. However, the Polish legislator shortened this deadline. According to the Polish bill, the reporting platform operator is obliged to provide information subject to reporting by the end of the month following the end of the reporting period. This means that the deadline for reporting to the Head of the National Tax Administration will expire at the end of January of the following year.

However, at the moment, the draft form on which the information would be submitted has not been published. 

Submitting the form will require signing with a qualified electronic signature, a trusted signature or the personal signature of the person indicated in the UPL-1 form.

How to properly fulfill reporting obligations so as not to expose the company to penalties and sanctions?

The reporting platform operator is obliged to complete due diligence procedures. They include, among others, collecting and verifying information obtained from sellers and determining their tax residence. The draft act provides that due diligence procedures must be completed by 31 December of the reporting period. In the case of sellers who were registered on the platform on the date on which the entity became the reporting operator of the platform, a deadline of 31 December of the second reporting period is also allowed.

The transitional provisions of the draft act indicate that the platform operator will be obliged to exercise due diligence for 2023 by 31 December 2024 in the case of sellers who were registered on the platform on the date the act entered into force.

Does the lack of implementation of the DAC7 directive exempt operators from the obligation to collect information for 2023?

The first reporting period has ended, so according to the draft Polish act, operators should report information on sellers by 31 January 2024. As we have already indicated, the legislator has still not decided what the act will sound like.

Considering that the DAC7 directive sets the first reporting period itself, it is rather unlikely that the Polish legislator will extend the reporting deadlines.

Therefore, it will probably not matter when the act is adopted, because the first forms should be sent to the Head of the National Revenue Administration in 2024 and include data for 2023.

Platform operators, due to the lack of a Polish act implementing the directive, may feel lost. However, it is worth monitoring legislative work and waiting for the solutions proposed by the legislator. This does not change the fact that in order to exercise due diligence and thus protect their interests, operators should collect data from sellers for 2023. It is also worth consulting your concerns with an experienced tax advisor who will clarify the issue of reporting information about sellers.

To sum up, the implementation of the DAC7 directive primarily means new obligations for digital platform operators operating on the e-commerce market. Regulations on e-commerce and the introduction of control mechanisms for online sales help to organise an important area of operation of companies deriving income from sales platforms.