“Cashless Taxpayer” – An Innovative Tool to Stimulate Reduction of the Shadow Economy in Poland

Promoting electronic payments and a cashless economy is an important factor in reducing the shadow economy, increasing VAT collection and reducing VAT fraud. Starting from 1 January 2022, Poland joins pioneer countries in constructing tax incentives for cashless payments. So-called “cashless taxpayers” gain a very important advantage: the refund of VAT in 15 days. Poland puts technological tools at the taxable persons’ disposal that, without involving them, will verify whether they have met the criteria for the application of the preferential tax refund scheme on the basis of the data submitted online to the tax administration. Thanks to new technologies and the digitalization of the Polish tax administration such ambitious programmes are possible.