The large operation of the taxation Office has just begun, radically changing the rules of the game for thousands of Poles selling online and streamers. From January 2025 The taxation office has detailed data on transactions of nearly 300 1000 sellers from popular platforms. It means the end of anonymity and tax freedom, and for many, the urgent request to regulate outstanding income in order to avoid advanced penalties.
Thousands of people who have felt safe so far, selling goods online or receiving “donites” from viewers, must prepare for the revolution. taxation Office obtained unprecedented insight in their activity, which is the consequence of the implementation of the EU Directive. Platforms specified as Allegro, Vinted or Amazon had to give the fiscals full reports, giving officials tools to accurately verify gross from the network.
Big IRS operation: 300,000 vendors targeted
The scale of the taxation office's activities shows how serious it takes the issue of net income taxation. Until the end of January 2025 Internet platforms supply the fiscal authority with details concerning nearly 300 000 sellers operating on e-commerce platforms. This information shall cover both the number of transactions carried out and their financial value.
The data provided allows the IRS to carefully analyse the activity of each seller. In this way it is possible to find precisely whether a individual carries out an economical activity requiring taxation clearance. The reporting strategy includes all larger trading platforms operating on the Polish market, which means that no crucial online seller will stay outside the scope of fiscal control.
The introduction of a fresh strategy means a fundamental change in the approach of the IRS to control online trade. To date, the office had very limited possibilities to verify income, which allowed many people to conduct Unregistered business without bearing the taxation consequences. This time is almost over.
No more donates without tax? Streamers in a Fiscal Trap
Especially severe changes await streamers and another web developers. To date, they have been able to benefit from a favourable explanation of the rules, which allowed for the avoidance of taxation of crucial amounts of money received from viewers in the form of donations, commonly called ‘donates’. The limit of PLN 5733 from 1 individual in 5 years was a frequently utilized gate.
Many streamers argued that each deposit came from another person, falling within the limits of taxation exemptions for donations between individuals. However, the taxation Office considered that controlling the actual origin of the contributions and verifying the identity of donors is virtually impossible on streaming platforms. For this reason, the explanation of the rules was amended.
From now on, all deposits from viewers will automatically be considered taxable income regardless of their amount and frequency. This is simply a drastic change that forces web developers to urgently learn about fresh responsibilities. Failure to account for these revenues may consequence in high financial penalties and the request to reimburse outstanding taxes.
Safe thresholds for tiny sellers: Who can sleep peacefully?
The good news is that the fresh rules do not apply to all online salesmen. The reporting strategy shall cover only those whose activities exceed certain thresholds. The strategy shall not include sellers whose number of transactions for a given reporting period not exceeding 30 and their full value shall not exceed EUR 2 000 on a yearly basis.
These limits mean that people who occasionally sale unnecessary items online do not gotta fear taxation control. individual who disposes of utilized clothing on Vinted or sells read books on Allegro may proceed specified activity without fear of taxation consequences, provided that does not exceed the set thresholds.
However, exceeding any limit – whether the number of transactions or their values – automatically results in the inclusion of the seller's data in the reporting system. This means that the IRS will have full access to information about its activities and will be able to verify whether it is adequately accounted for by the gross obtained. Be aware of your limits!
New rates and consequences: How much will you pay for online sales?
Streamers and another net developers will gotta account for all payments received according to the rules for revenues from individual activities or business activities. The eligibility of a peculiar case will depend on the scale and regularity of the activity, which will straight affect the amount of taxation to be paid.
In the case of general accounting, Tax rates are 12 percent up to PLN 120 000 per year and 32 percent above this amount. An alternate is simply a linear taxation of 19 percent on the full income generated, which may be more advantageous for those with higher revenues from online activities.
Another option is accounting lump sum on recorded revenuewhere the rates are 15 per cent or 8,5 per cent depending on the kind of activity carried out. This method of accounting can be peculiarly attractive for beginner creators who do not incur crucial operating costs. Whatever your choice, Legalization is crucial.
What does this mean for Polish e-commerce? Price up, marketplace down?
New regulations can importantly affect the improvement of the Polish manufacture e-commerce, especially in the tiny retailers and online developers segment. Many entrepreneurs who have been active in the grey economy so far will gotta decide between legalising their activities by registering and paying taxes, and giving up their online business altogether.
For consumers, changes can mean increase in prices of goods and services offered by tiny online retailers who will gotta include taxation costs in their calculations. This may peculiarly apply to marketplace niches served by tiny entrepreneurs, where margins are frequently minimal.
On the another hand, the introduction of clear rules on the taxation of online activities can aid to organise the marketplace and equalise opportunities between legitimate traders and those who have avoided paying taxes so far. This may in the long word positively affect competitiveness and transparency the full e-commerce sector.
Read more:
The IRS is x-raying 300,000 vendors. The end of taxation freedom in the network: advanced penalties!
