The old adage goes: "all good things come to an end soon". And, therefore, the holiday season draws to a close - we can feel it every day when we spend more and more time in traffic jams. We also receive more and more correspondence - both by post and by email. As it turns out, the increased activity is currently characteristic not only for business entities but also for tax authorities and tax audit bodies...
The condition for making right investment decisions is possessing reliable and accurate information. In sale and purchase transactions there is a significant asymmetry of information, and the seller always has a significant information advantage over the buyer. In order to minimize the risk related to their potential purchase, investors have developed a series of measures to protect their interests. Due diligence is one of the tools that should be used before making the final investment decision. It should be noted that the higher the investment risk, the more attention should be paid to it.
Innovation is mainly understood as an element of technological development. Today's economy also requires an innovative approach to the consultancy services sector. And in fact this is nothing strange, as specialized knowledge, experience as well as their skillful use in order to create optimal solutions are the foundation of success of a majority of enterprises.
A few years ago, an audit was treated as a necessary evil and another obligation to comply with. Nowadays, auditors are increasingly considered to be advisors, whose knowledge and experience can support the company's operations.
Audit of financial statements by an independent certified auditor is an increasingly important element of communication between audited entities and their investors. It also plays a vital role in creating a sense of security among shareholders and other external actors interested in the company's condition.
Growing competition and a still strong pressure on prices - How do auditors cope in such a difficult market environment? How do they acquire new customers? How is the specificity of the auditor's work changing? Are there new challenges arising?
The refund of tax on goods and services, and more specifically, returning the difference between input tax and output tax, is quite important for entrepreneurs, as it influences their decisions and business plans or sometimes even the financial liquidity of the company. It is a kind of paradox, as VAT should be a neutral tax for the entrepreneurs. It is not surprising that the majority of entrepreneurs want the VAT refund to be as quick as possible. The legislator, implementing (at least in my opinion) the principle of VAT neutrality, indicated in art. 87 par. 2 of the Act of 11 March 2004 on the tax on goods and services that in principle the refund of the tax difference shall be made within 60 days from the date of submitting the tax declaration by the taxpayer. However, the next sentence of the provision states that when the specified refund amount requires additional verification, the tax office may extend the above period until the process of verifying the declaration of the taxpayer, including inspection activities, tax audits or tax proceedings, has been completed.
On 13 January 2016, the International Accounting Standards Board (IASB) issued the new International Financial Reporting Standard No. 16 (IFRS) – "Leases", which supersedes IAS No. 17.
When trading with European Union contractors, domestic entities are obliged to undergo some extra procedures. Before concluding their first intra-Community transactions, taxpayers are supposed to register as EU VAT payers. Therefore, they have to submit the VAT-R form or its sole actualisation in order to be granted the right to use a EU VAT number composed of their Tax Identification Number (Polish NIP) preceded with “PL” code.
Even if an entrepreneur is already registered as a UE VAT payer, still, it is not sufficient. The tax authorities have imposed on entities engaged in intra-Community trade an obligation to submit periodical statements concerning concluded intra-Community transactions, commonly known as EU VAT. And yet, are all transactions concluded between EU entities subject to the obligation of being included in the return? Well, not really.
At a certain stage of life of a company the owners may be considering its selling off. This may be due to a difficult market situation, synergies stemming from the merger with another entity, the age of the owners or their new plans for the future and the many diverse factors. Not every company, however, is in the position to be taken over. Well, maybe this is too strong a statement – any company is capable of being acquired, however, the price is not always attractive to the seller. Often one can hear about companies being bought “for a dime” and it does not always apply to companies in debt. Why is it that some companies change their owners under good conditions and others are never taken over?
