PCC tax on purchases over PLN 1,000. When and how to pay tax on items used online?

Three things about PCC that you need to know if you bought movable things

The PCC problem only applies to people who acquire moving things with a value exceeding PLN 1,000 from people who do not run a business.

In the case of PCC, three issues are crucial from moving things.

Firstlyin accordance with art. 9 point 6 of the Act on tax on civil law transactions, the sale of movable items is exempt from tax, if the tax base does not exceed PLN 1,000. This means that If the amount of purchase of movable items exceeds PLN 1,000, then there is no exemption, i.e. there may be an obligation to pay PCC (pay attention to the third issue, below).

Secondly, as the expert explains, The catalog of moving things is wide and covers Ingredients that are not real estate or property rights – i.e. Furniture, bikes, cars, motorcycles, RTV equipment or agricultural machinery.

Thirdly, as Agnieszka Wnuk indicates, a tax advisor and partner at Quidea, if the transaction is subject to VAT (including exempt from VAT), then the obligation in PCC will not arise. In other words, if you bought a bicycle, furniture, car, RTV equipment from a VAT taxpayer (you got a receipt or texture), you will not pay PCC, even if the price exceeds PLN 1,000. Basically in the case of movable things The rule is: either VAT or PCC.

You will have to pay tax on civil law transactions if you bought movable things from a private person, i.e. not conducting business activity.

– The PCC rate is 2 percent. the market value of the movable property, and the obligation to pay it on the buyer – adds Jarosław Józefowski. Most often, the market value is the price for which you paid for the goods.

Who and for what in practice must pay tax on civil law transactions – examples

Example 1

Jacek bought a bicycle on the website for 6,000 PLN, but the seller who runs the company. The seller issued a receipt with the VAT amount shown. What about PCC?

Jacek is not obliged to pay PCC because the transaction was taxed VAT. Tax (VAT) was paid to the tax office by the seller. In this case, there is no PCC, which results from art. 2 point 4 of the Act on tax on civil law transactions.

Example 2

Krzysiek bought a used TV from a friend. He paid 2,000 zloty. Should he pay PCC?

Yes, such a transaction is taxed and the tax is 2 percent. on the market value of the TV. Krzysiek should therefore pay PLN 40 tax on purchase.

Where does the tax office know that someone has bought things on a portal or from a friend

The tax office today knows a lot about transactions made via the Internet. The provisions of the DAC7 Directive, which have been in force for less than a year (from July 1, 2024), also helped in this. The Directive orders internet portals (including OLX, Allegro, Vinted) to collect Data on goods sellers, including people doing private salesbut only in the case of When:

– Annual sales will exceed 2,000 euro or

– The person will make 30 transactions during the settlement period.

In connection with the DAC7 directive, private sellers were concerned mainly about income tax, i.e. PIT. As we explained in Business Insider Polska, it is a myth because Sale of private items after six months (counting a month after acquisition) does not cause the obligation to pay PIT. And what about PCC, can the tax office use data about sellers he received from internet portals to control the tax on civil law transactions?

The answer is not clear. On the one hand, portals (and in principle platform operators) based on the DAC7 directive, must only provide the tax authorities with the data of persons who have made 30 transactions or when their value exceeds 2,000. euro (i.e. approx. PLN 9,000). If someone sold three bikes with the equivalent of 1.5 thousand. euro (i.e. approx. PLN 6.5 thousand), the portal will not provide data to such a person to the tax authorities.

On the other hand, as Agnieszka Wnuk says, the provisions of the Polish Act, which implemented the DAC7 directive (it is the Act on the exchange of tax information with other countries), do not indicate in any way how the tax authorities can or should use information obtained from platform operators.

– It means that Tax authorities may also use this data differently, i.e. to detect irregularities in the PCC buyers – says Agnieszka Wnuk. However, it is about data buyers who in 2023 and/or in 2024 sold at least 30 items or with a value exceeding 2,000 euro.

Not only that, as Agnieszka Wnuk admits, The data reported by the platforms themselves do not contain sufficient information to determine, among others who was the buyer.

– However, the tax office uses more and more advanced IT solutions, in which the data obtained in different ways is analyzed, which is easy because the obligations of reporting on the side of taxpayers arrive every year, some information is even transmitted excessively, several times in different forms – says a tax adviser.

Let us add that the tax office also gets data from the so -called ICT system of the Calculating Chamber (STIR) on bank accounts (if there is a suspicion that the bill has been used for tax scams). However, all these are electronic data and information, including those related to electronic payments, not cash.

As Jarosław Józefowski also adds, the DAC7 directive imposed on entities running e-commerce platforms the obligation to transfer to tax authorities, including data on transactions carried out (including transaction value) and data identifying persons making sales through them.

– The tax authorities therefore have access to information, which, after being appreciated (e.g. through direct contact with the seller, which was obtained), may allow them to check whether the buyer correctly settled PCC from the sales contract – explains the legal advisor.

Author: Łukasz Zalewski, journalist of the Business Insider Polska Law Department