Controls of Poles’ money continue. Wait a minute and they’re blocking your account

For some time now, the Tax Office has been able to use blocking of entrepreneurs’ accounts. This was to be used to counteract VAT carousels. The point is that a small probability of even unconscious participation in the carousel chain is enough to hit the target of the Treasury. – Rzeczpospolita reports.

The tax office blocks Poles’ accounts

According to experts, blocking the account was supposed to be the final solution, even nuclear. Meanwhile, the office is said to be abusing it. For many companies that, as if by accident, come under the scrutiny of officials, this is a big problem. Blockades often last for a long time, which means that entrepreneurs cannot regulate their relationships on an ongoing basis and become unreliable to their contractors.

Of course, the regulations provide for the possibility of exempting amounts from security, e.g. for employee payments, but the entrepreneur cannot settle his obligations to contractors. It becomes unreliable for them, because no one will lend credit to someone else’s business, especially one paralyzed by the actions of the tax office. The regulations also provide for the possibility of providing voluntary security instead of compulsory security, e.g. a bank guarantee, but in most cases this is an illusory option. Most companies do not have enough assets to provide the tax office with something as security, e.g. real estate. And banks don’t want to take risks. It’s like squaring the circle.

– comments Michał Roszkowski, legal advisor, tax advisor, partner at Accreo.

In turn, Marcin Kopczyk, tax advisor and partner at the Taxberg law firm, argues that a change of approach is necessary. In his opinion, the mechanism itself is good, because the state must have tools to fight fraudsters, but it is used incorrectly. According to him, the office often takes the easy way out and should only use the blockade when there is almost complete certainty.

Experts also point out that the Tax Office does not pay attention to the amount of the obligation. It happens that millions of zlotys are blocked on the entrepreneur’s account, and then it turns out that the office is only owed PLN 100,000. zloty.

It is worth recalling that the account blocking mechanism operates within the STIR (Clearing House ICT System). It allows, on the basis of data provided by banking institutions, to analyze the risk of using the financial sector for treasury fraud. The initial block may be imposed for 72 hours, but may ultimately be extended up to 3 months.