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Polish rules on reporting and deducting intra Community acquisition VAT

In Poland the rules on deducting Polish VAT due in connection with intra Community acquisitions of goods are different from most other EU Member States. The acquisitions can only be reported in the period related to the tax point date for the Intra-Community acquisition of goods. Invoices related to Intra-Community acquisition of goods issued in previous months should be excluded and reported through a correction return.

The taxpayer’s right to deduct input VAT on these intra Community acquisitions will be subject to prior settlement of the output VAT in the Polish VAT return for the month in which the tax point arose, but no later than 3 months from the end of the month when the tax point arose. However, if the taxpayer does not settle the output VAT by filing a corrected VAT return within the aforementioned period, the input tax may only be deducted in the declaration for the period for which the time for filing a VAT return has not yet expired. So this basically means that the Polish acquisition VAT has to be paid first and can only be reclaimed later, in addition interest is due.

Court of Justice of European Union (CJEU)

Recently, on May 10, 2021 the judgement of the Court of Justice of European Union (CJEU) in the case C-895/19 was published in the EU Official Journal.

The Court confirmed that the Polish VAT law which does not allow to neutrally deduct input VAT resulting from intra-Community acquisitions of goods due to late reporting of output VAT (after the statutory 3-month deadline) is not in line with the EU VAT Directive. The ruling has impact on entities reporting intra-Community acquisitions in Poland as they may now be entitled to apply for a refund of unduly paid interest.

Deadlines to take specific actions

From the date of publication the deadlines to take specific actions in cases affected by the CJEU judgment started to run. Please be reminded that on the basis of the judgment taxpayers are entitled to:

  • Within 1 month from the date of publication – apply for the reopening of tax proceedings ended with a final decision;
  • Within 3 months from the date of publication – apply for the resumption of administrative court proceedings concluded with a final judgment;
  • Within 30 days from the date of publication – apply for a refund of the overpayment with interest calculated from the date of its creation to the date of return. If the application is submitted after this deadline the overpayment will still be due, but the interest will be calculated from the date of its creation to the 30th day from the date of publication of the CJEU judgment.

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04 Jun 2021 at 8:46 am
3 min
Published by:
Daniëlle van der Meulen-Idema
Sr. VAT Specialist
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