Withhodling tax on payments to non-polish firms for services

Teemu:

Payments made to non-residents as a consideration for intangible supplies (such as consulting services) are subject to 20% withholding tax. However, if a payment is made to a country which has a Double Tax Treaty with Poland, this tax can be avoided if certain minimal administrative formalities are completed (You need to get a Certificate of Residence from a supplier).

TeemuThreads: 7 Posts: 24 Joined: Jul 21, 09	Edited by: Teemu Oct 12, 09, 21:54 / #
Is there withhodling tax on payments for services to non-Polish company or person exists? For example, if I want to pay 1000 euro to German firm for consulting services or 100 USD to American copywriting firm for writing an article, are there any withholdings from the amount payed should be done?

dnzThreads: 25 Posts: 804 Joined: Dec 2, 07	Oct 12, 09, 22:16 / #
no none at all, the amount they invoice you for is the amount you pay.

TeemuThreads: 7 Posts: 24 Joined: Jul 21, 09	Edited by: Teemu Oct 12, 09, 23:47 / #
Actually, I was confused by info from last paragraph here: http://investing-in-poland.pl/taxes_ct_withholding_tax.html which says: Payments made to non-residents as a consideration for intangible supplies (such as consulting services) are subject to 20% withholding tax. However, if a payment is made to a country which has a Double Tax Treaty with Poland, this tax can be avoided if certain minimal administrative formalities are completed (You need to get a Certificate of Residence from a supplier). I guess it can become a nightmare obtaining Certificates of Residence from all of your service suppliers. So, maybe I understood this wrong?

delphiandomineThreads: 42 Posts: 9,954 Joined: Nov 25, 08 [Suspended]	Oct 13, 09, 01:32 / #
Teemu: So, maybe I understood this wrong? Jesus, I just read it and my head hurts. From what you're saying, it sounds as if you do indeed have to withhold 20% if the country doesn't have a taxation treaty with Poland. Germany should do, so you wouldn't have to withhold the money. As for copywriting - this is tangible, so it isn't under the scope of this. An accountant is probably the best bet here, it may very well be an obscure tax that no-one bothers to collect.

inkrakow	Oct 13, 09, 10:19 / #
Teemu: Payments made to non-residents as a consideration for intangible supplies (such as consulting services) are subject to 20% withholding tax. However, if a payment is made to a country which has a Double Tax Treaty with Poland, this tax can be avoided if certain minimal administrative formalities are completed (You need to get a Certificate of Residence from a supplier). Yes there is a witholding tax which can only be avoided if the supplier gives you a copy of his certificate of tax residence. Otherwise your accountant will tell you which Polish tax office to pay the tax to. We had to do this for an invoice for tax advice from a consultant in the UK. They couldn't be bothered to get a tax residency certificate so they just used the confirmation of tax paid in PL that we issued them to reduce their tax bill in the UK.

TeemuThreads: 7 Posts: 24 Joined: Jul 21, 09	Edited by: Teemu Oct 13, 09, 12:32 / #
Actually, this sounds frightenning. Is there any list of services which falls under this withholding tax? Actually, I'm concerned about: 1) Hosting services (payed to US) 2) Payment for writing an article (US) 3) Payment for search engine optimization services (UK) 4) Purchasing banners on US web sites All these services are to be paid via corporate debt card...and believe me, I don't see it is possible to withhold something from them if required. I hope those services above aren't unders the scope of withhodling tax. Any comments on this?

TeemuThreads: 7 Posts: 24 Joined: Jul 21, 09	Oct 13, 09, 21:38 / #
I don't have an accountant, cause I'm not in Poland yet, I'm considering to move there, but I want to get some answers, so I want to ask here and there. I'm sure there are people who can share their experience and answer my questions. I think, this is one of reasons why this forum was created. People asking, other people answering, simple.