VAT10/05/11 / cata_tax-news

E-mailed tax documents:

According to the GFD’s standpoint, a scanned tax document sent electronically (e-mailed) to the customer is considered as duly delivered. However, the authenticity of origin, the full contents and the legibility of the document must be preserved. If tax administrators find out that the customer’s and supplier’s relevant tax documents are identical, they should not question the manner of delivery of such documents, i.e. by e-mail.

According to the GFD, the delivery of tax documents via e-mail is not an electronically issued document that may be issued only subject to fulfillment of certain conditions (with a guaranteed electronic signature or electronic mark), but is rather a document issued in documentary form and sent electronically. The recipient of such document is subsequently obliged to print such document and archive it as a usual document in the documentary form. The supplier is obliged to ensure that the document sent electronically is an original document, with full contents and legible. The GFD recommends that both parties to a commercial and legal relationship conclude an agreement on the manner and rules of sending documents and rules for use of software for reading and printing of such documents.

Corrections to provided discounts and bonuses:

Effective 1 April 2011, an obligation was introduced to correct the tax base and the amount of tax in respect of discounts and bonuses provided in connection with taxable performance already performed.  This was confirmed by information from the General Financial Directorate (“GFD”). (http://cds.mfcr.cz).

The obligation to carry out a correction applies to suppliers as well as customers. Suppliers must issue a corrected tax document within 15 days from the date when they ascertained that a correction should be made. This applies on the assumption that the supplier was obliged to issue a tax document for the original performance. In the contrary case, the supplier should only carry out a correction to records for tax purposes within the same period of time. Where the correction concerns more than one performance, the taxpayer may issue a so-called collective document. The collective document allows the possibility of specifying the original taxable supply in general terms (for example by time period, number sequence etc.) but in such a way that the links to the original taxable supplies can be specified. The differences between the original and corrected facts may be stated collectively for all performance, but they must be broken down by individual tax rates.   The customer performs a correction at the moment when it learns of the circumstances giving rise to the obligation to carry out a correction to the tax base and the amount of the tax, regardless of the delivery of the corrected tax document. The corrected tax document is necessary to prove that the correction has been performed.