On 1st May, 2004 Poland became a member state of the European Union. Upon joining EU structures we had to adapt our laws and information exchange to the relevant EU standards. Therefore it was necessary to introduce new statistical requirements- INTRASTAT.

This system, which has been used in the European Union since 1993, is based on two rules. Some companies in EU member state supply other states with the information about goods arrival and dispatch they performed. Duly appointed national authorities (Customs Office in Poland) collect, process, control and disclose such information to other authorised agencies. The information collected in this way is later compared with the information submitted in VAT-UE tax declarations.

The entrepreneurs/companies which exceeded separate arrival and dispatch thresholds defined and published in the Regulation of the Council of Ministers concerning the statistical research carried out for Public Statistics have to submit relevant information.

• assimilation threshold - if company arrival turnover exceeds the value of 6,200,000 PLN or dispatch turnover exceeds 2,800,000 PLN;
• specific threshold - if company arrival turnover exceeds the value of 103,000,000 PLN or dispatch turnover exceeds the amount of 150,000,000 PLN.

The following goods transfer is subject to declaration within INTRASTAT system:

• purchased and sold;
• transferred by the same legal entity;
• to be delivered according to the contract;
• to be installed or used in constructions;
• to be delivered free of charge;
• transferred on the basis of financial leasing.