Standard Audit File: Frequently Asked Questions!

Olga Langowska, SAP ERP Consultant at Apollogic, answers the questions.

What is a Standard Audit File?

Olga Langowska: Standard Audit File (PL: Jednolity Plik Kontrolny) is a file in XML format, with agreed upon logical structure,, a means through  which the taxpayer is required to make available the tax books and accounting documents to the tax authorities.

What structures does the Standard Audit File  concern?

Olga Langowska: SAF is intended to cover 7 logical structures:

• Account books
• Bank statements
• Warehouse operations
• Tax Registers
• VAT Invoices
• Tax revenue and expense ledger
• Revenue ledger

Specific structures will be mandatory for types of companies depending on their taxation format.

Which companies are to be covered by the Standard Audit File constraint?

Olga Langowska: Based on the art. 193a added to the Act of August 29, 1997 – Tax Ordinance (Journal of Laws of 2015. Pos. 1649), from 1 July 2016 only large companies, i.e., employing more than 250 employees, and having the annual turnover in excess of equivalent of 50 million euro ,or whose total assets have exceeded the balance equivalent to 43 million euro will be obliged  to provide financial and accounting data in the form of the SAF.

When will this obligation cover small and medium-sized businesses?

Olga Langowska: The obligation to submit a report in the form of SAF will cover small and medium-sized companies from 2017. Since that date it will be required to submit only the part representing VAT records, and it  is to  be submitted together with the VAT declaration, obligatory by the 25th day of each month, and not by way of summons, as it will be the case in the event of complex files. Earlier provisions envisaged  that the law would come into force not earlier than in July 2018. Currently, the Parliament has passed a project aimed at speeding up the delivery the VAT records as early as in 2017. The draft covering these changes is currently waiting to  be passed by the Senate [as of 05.15.2016].

What about  micro-enterprises?

Olga Langowska: According to the plans of the Ministry of Finance, micro-entrepreneurs will be required to submit data  in the SAF format  to the tax authorities from January 2018.

What if a company is late submitting the Standard Audit File to tax authorities on time?

Olga Langowska: Entrepreneurs who ignore new rules have to remember about the sanctions provided for in Article 80  of the Fiscal Penal Code. These provisions envisage a penalty of 3 million PLN for failure to submit the register, and to 6 million PLN for submitting a false register.

How can the new  tax law  regulations may affect companies?

Olga Langowska: Generating the accounting and financial system data files is, in principle, supposed to be done by summons of the Tax Office and is to cover specific time frame. In order to fulfil these requirements, it is necessary to adapt the IT systems –  implement new solutions or update the currently used ones. It is worth checking what kind of  offer has been made by the previous software provider because it is likely that not everyone will be able to deliver it in full on time. Although the first requirement  of submitting the Standard Audit File concerns large companies, ,in view of planned changes to accelerate the obligation to provide the SAP also  by the SME sector, we recommend the software update a.s.a.p. to all parties. If in doubt, Apollogic experts will advise which logical structures are required in individual cases, and will offer full support in the implementation of the SAF.

How can Apollogic help customers adapt their IT systems?

Olga Langowska: In order to facilitate companies to adapt to the changes as soon as possible,  Apollogic has developed an original product which enables generating tax and accounting data and in the form of the SAF. The solution is based on the powerful SAP HANA technology. It is dedicated to:

– Enterprises using SAP ERP environment based on HANA,

– Companies using the  SAP ERP system based on a traditional database

– Organizations using other systems.

In addition, the Apollogic solution makes it possible to retrieve business data from a variety of systems. The application uses the resources of SAP HANA in the cloud, and  is independent from an accounting system already implemented in the company. It also provides greater efficiency in the processing of data and generating the final file in XML format. The original Apollogic solution covers all requirements formulated by the Ministry of Finance.

Apollogic experts regularly monitor UCF information area.

If you have further questions about the Standard Audit File, please contact our experts.