POLAND Law and Practice Contributed by: Wojciech Trzciński, Łukasz Łyczko, Konrad Frąckowiak and Katarzyna Kaczmarzyk, PwC Legal Business Solutions
4.11 Anti-Money Laundering (AML) and Know Your Customer (KYC) Regime AML Regime The AIF and the AIFM are obliged to counteract mon - ey laundering and terrorism financing. The basic regu - latory requirements of the AIF and the AIFM include: • the appointment of an employee responsible for the entity’s compliance with the AML/CFT regula - tions and reporting notifications to the General Inspector of Financial Information or law enforce - ment authorities; • the designation of a person from among the mem - bers of the management board or another govern - ing body to be responsible for the implementation of AML requirements; • implementation of the internal AML/CFT procedure, whistle-blowing procedure and group procedure (should there be more than one obligated institu - tion in the group); • risk assessment relating to their activities, consid - ering risk factors associated with clients, countries or geographical regions, products, services, trans - actions or their distribution channels; • applying financial security measures towards cli - ents; and • conducting training for employees and associates who are responsible for AML/CFT processes at the AIF/AIFM. KYC Obligations In the case of KYC processes, the AIF/AIFM is obliged first and foremost to: • establish and verify basic data about the client and the client’s beneficial owner; • verify the client’s and beneficial owner’s Politically Exposed Person (PEP) status; • check the Central Register of Beneficial Owners ( Centralny Rejestr Beneficjentów Rzeczywistych , or CRBR); and • monitor transactions conducted with the clients. The KYC process involves the analysis and assess - ment of the risk of money laundering and terrorist financing generated by a given client. In the case of high-risk clients, the provisions of the Polish AML Act impose additional obligations on the AIF/AIFM, such
being considered as a body corporate for tax pur - poses in the country of incorporation or having an external licensed asset management company). 4.9 Double Tax Treaties In general, AIFs are considered bodies corporate for tax purposes in Poland. As such, they should be able to obtain a Polish tax residency certificate, which allows them to claim double tax treaty protection. 4.10 Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA)/Common Reporting Standard (CRS) Compliance Regime FATCA Compliance Financial institutions operating in Poland (including IFCs) are obliged to co-operate with Polish and US tax institutions in order to implement FATCA require - ments. These obligations are imposed by: • the Act of 9 October 2015 on the implementa - tion of the Agreement between the Government of the Republic of Poland and the Government of the United States of America on improving the fulfilment of international tax obligations and the implementation of FATCA legislation; and • the Agreement between the Government of the Republic of Poland and the Government of the United States of America on improving compliance with international tax obligations and implement - ing FATCA legislation, and the accompanying Final Arrangements, signed in Warsaw on 7 October 2014. The main obligations arising from FATCA for IFCs are: • identifying the so-called US persons who have tax obligations in the USA; and • the annual submission of information about the accounts of these US persons to the body author - ised by the Minister of Finance. CRS Compliance CRS was implemented in Poland based on the Act of 9 March 2017 on the exchange of tax information with other countries. Under this law, the issuer is required to collect information regarding certain account hold - ers and to report such information to the local tax authorities.
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