Tax requirements for Publishers based outside Poland

From 16 March, 2020, new requirements for Publishers based outside Poland will be introduced in the Linkhouse platform.

At a glance

Due to national and European tax regulations, Publishers are required to provide a Tax Residence Certificate to receive the full amount of the requested payment. If you provide the above-mentioned Certificate, nothing will change for you. See the details below.

Why are we doing this?

In accordance with the EU regulations, contractors’ income should be taxed in the country in which they obtained it (i.e. in the case of our platform – in Poland). There is a very important exception to this rule – if a contractor provides a Tax Residence Certificate, their income will be taxed in their country of residence. Why? Put simply, a Tax Residence Certificate allows us to verify that your income is actually taxed in your country of residence.

Links to legislation:

1. https://www.podatki.gov.pl/wht/
2. https://ec.europa.eu/taxation_customs/sites/taxation/files/code_of_conduct_on_witholding_tax.pdf

What does it mean in practice?

If you provide us with a valid Tax Residence Certificate, nothing will change for you. When you submit a payment request, you will receive the full amount.

Example: You place a payment request for USD 100 in the system. You receive from us 100 USD by bank transfer or PayPal.

However, if you do not provide a Tax Residence Certificate, we will be obliged to deduct 20% from your payment and pay it to the Polish Tax Office.

Example: You place a payment request for USD 100 in the system. You receive from us 80 USD by bank transfer or PayPal.

Important: In the example above, regardless of the scenario (i.e. regardless of whether you have provided the Tax Residency Certificate or not), you are required to issue a bill for the full amount, i.e. in this case in the amount of USD 100.

How to get a Tax Residence Certificate?

To get it, contact your local Tax Office or equivalent authority in your country and apply for a Tax Residence Certificate. If in the application you have the option to indicate the period for which such certificate is to be issued – choose the longest period possible.

The valid certificate of residence must:

• contain the entity’s identification data (e.g. name, surname, name, address), date of issue and, if applicable, the period during which the certificate applies,
• certify the place of establishment for tax purposes of the entity in a given country,
• be issued by the competent tax administration authority in the country concerned,
• contain information between which countries apply.

How should I deliver my Tax Residence Certificate to Linkhouse?

You have two options. You can simply send it as a PDF scan to our email address: [email protected] or upload it to our platform by logging into your account on app.linkhouse.co and going to the ‘Account settings’ section. Then, in the Tax Residence Certificate section, select ‘Add File’ and submit it for our review – that’s all.

If you have any questions, you can contact us at [email protected]