Tax point for the movement of own goods inside the UE

If the goods are transferred between two UE countries and the owner of the goods is not changed, the transaction is generally VAT neutral, however it must be declared in the VAT reports. Such transaction is considered to be equal to intra-Community delivery in the country where the transport begins and to intra-Community acquisition in the destination country.  The tax point for transaction in which goods are moved from UE country to Poland is determined to be either on the 15^th day of the month following the month of delivery or on the date of issuing an invoice for this movement. The second option is applicable just in case when an invoice is created before 15^th day of the month following the month of delivery. 

Example : own goods are transferred by a company from the territory of Germany to Poland. German law requires to create a proforma invoice (Proformarechnung) to document the goods have been transferred and this document has to include all data which are typical for an invoice. The main question is if this document can be considered to be an invoice, as it will determine the tax point for this transaction in Poland. Tax law interpretation announced by the tax administration in Poland says that a Polish VAT payer who has to declare movement of his own goods from one UE member state to Poland is obligated to analyze documents which confirm this transfer of goods and determine if it is an invoice within the meaning of the law of the country of shipment – in our example Germany.

This will be necessary for placing the transaction in a right tax period. If the proforma invoice shall be considered an invoice the tax point arises at the day of issuing such document.  If such document cannot be considered to be an invoice the tax point arises at the 15^th day of the month following the delivery.

Obligation imposed by the Polish law, forces Polish VAT payers to have the knowledge about foreign law systems in terms of invoice requirements. Without this knowledge it may be difficult to determine the correct tax point for the intra-Community movement of own goods.

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