WHT postponed for the third time?

On 9 December 2019, a new draft of the regulation concerning the exclusion or restriction of the application of the implementing of the obligation to withholding tax (WHT) collection (“Regulation”) was published by  the Minister of Finance. This draft version of the Regulation, postpones the new regulations concerning the withholding of tax collection made by one taxpayer that exceeds  2 million PLN, until 30 June 2020.

The above means that until 30 June 2020,  CIT taxpayers will be able to apply a lower tax rate to such payments, exemptions or non-collection resulting from the agreement on the avoidance of double taxation or special provisions, without the need to make a declaration or obtain an opinion on the use of the exemption. Other amendments regulating the withholding tax collection (among others the obligation to maintain due diligence and a new definition of the beneficial owner) remain unchanged.

Initially, the regulations were supposed to be implemented on 1 January 2019, but the date has been postponed twice, first until 30 June 2019 and then until 31 December 2019. If the Regulation enters into force, the implementation date for the new regulations will be postponed again, until 30 June 2020.

At the same time, as we have already mentioned before, work is currently underway to  amend the provisions on withholding tax collection, whose implementation is planned for the third quarter of 2020. We will keep you updated on the work on the amendment.