Polish government encourages customers to take receipts in bid to curb tax evasion by businesses

Poland’s government and tax authorities have launched a campaign to fight tax exasion by encouraging consumers to make sure they take fiscal receipts and to report businesses that fail to issue them.

“The receipt, although on the surface it may seem insignificant, is of great importance for the functioning of the entire economy,” said the finance ministry, announcing the campaign. “The receipt is confirmation that the tax has gone into the state budget and not into the pocket of the dishonest business owner.”

The authorities note that, if a business does not issue a receipt, it can evade paying income tax and VAT. If it does issue a receipt but the customer does not take it, a dishonest business owner can cancel the receipt or issue a false invoice against it, defrauding the state of VAT tax.

“Such behaviour is unfair to the customer, who has paid tax in the price of goods or services, and to all citizens. After all, the state budget is everyone’s money,” said the ministry, adding that it also creates unfair competition for businesses that pay taxes fully.

The ministry notes that a card printout only constitutes proof of payment by debit or credit card and does not replace the fiscal receipt. It has also encouraged consumers to check that receipts are correctly issued, including elements such as the name and tax number of the company and the receipt number.

Consumers can report not receiving a receipt to a 24-hour free hotline, at a tax office, by email and through the e-Paragony (e-Receipts) app.

That app allows customers to scan and save their receipts and manage their expenses. First launched by the finance ministry at the end of 2021, this year it will be expanded to allow customers to download fully digital receipts.

Digital receipts are intended to make it easier to store and manage proof of purchase in the event of a need to file a warranty claim and do not require a physical copy, making them better for the environment.

The finance ministry, in cooperation with the development ministry, has been working for several years on the widespread implementation of e-receipts. This is another step aimed at reducing tax evasion.

Since coming to power in 2015, Poland’s Law and Justice (PiS) government has made improving tax collection and tackling fraud a priority.

Between 2016 and 2020, Poland recorded the European Union’s joint second-largest improvement in VAT collection, narrowing its “VAT gap” – a measure of the difference between the expected revenues from value-added tax (VAT) and those actually collected – by 9.1 percentage points to 11.3%.

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Main image credit: Karolina Grabowska / Pexels 

Alicja Ptak

Alicja Ptak is senior editor at Notes from Poland and a multimedia journalist. She previously worked for Reuters.