National Treasury Administration bill signed

As of 1 March 2017, customs, tax administration and fiscal control will be consolidated and turned into National Treasury Administration (KAS) – as stipulated in the bill on KAS and act introducing its regulations signed by president Andrzej Duda.

As the President’s Office informed, KAS will be a dedicated government administration carrying out tasks within the scope of: tax income, customs duties, fees and non-tax budget receivables. KAS is to protect the interests of State Treasury and the EU customs area, provide service and support regarding correct performance of tax obligations to the tax payer and tax remitter and provide service and support regarding correct performance of customs obligations to the entrepreneur.

Customs and Treasury Service, a unified and uniformed formation consisting of officers, will be established within KAS.

„Currently, tax and customs administration is organised as a dispersed structure in the form of three independent divisions: tax administration (tax chambers and tax offices), Customs (customs chambers and customs offices and customs branches) and fiscal control (fiscal control offices). The structure’s organisation is regulated by separate acts: on tax offices and tax chambers, on Customs, on fiscal control and on tax administration” – it was explained.

According to the bill, the head of KAS, answerable to the minister of finance, will be the deputy minister of finance appointed by the prime minister upon the request of the minister of finance. The head of KAS will complete the tasks that currently are carried out by the head of Customs, General Inspector of Fiscal Control, General Inspector of Financial Information, as well as the previous tasks of the minister of finance, in particular those within the scope of supervision over the tax administration.

The bill projects establishing Central Register of Tax Data maintained as an IT system, the main purpose of which is to gather and process data related to tax and customs obligations.

KAS is to consist of: organisational units serving the office of the minister of finance; National Tax Information; tax administration chambers; tax offices; customs and tax offices; National School of Taxation; KAS IT Centre.

Moreover, as indicated in the communication, the bill includes detailed provisions on the rules of customs and tax inspections carried out by KAS bodies. Initiation of a customs and tax inspection will take place ex officio, based on an authorisation to carry out such inspection granted to the inspector.

The act on KAS is planned to come into force on 1 March 2017.

Commissioner for Human Rights, Adam Bodnar, warns that the provisions introducing National Treasury Administration may violate the constitution. This regards for example the issue of potential layoffs of tax administration personnel. The supervisors’ decisions will be subjective, without any supervision, such as court control. The employees will learn their fate by the end of February 2017.