Poland VAT Information: rates, registration number

This guide is for e-commerce companies that sell online via web stores or at marketplaces to Polish consumers.

VAT Standard rate

The standard VAT rate in Poland in 2023 is 23%.

VAT Reduced rate

Certain products and services are eligible for the special reduced rate, including construction, renovation, modernization, energy efficiency, or conversion of buildings or parts of them included in the construction of the social housing agenda

Includes basic foodstuffs (e.g. bread, dairy products, meat preparations, preparations made from cereals, flour, groats, pasta, juice) and printed books and on disks, tapes, or other physical media and specialist periodicals.

See the summary of the EU VAT rates.

Thresholds

From the 1st of July 2021, the distance selling thresholds were withdrawn and replaced by a unified threshold of €10,000 for all EU members.

In other words, VAT should be charged at the VAT rate of the customer’s country of residence by companies whose annual taxable cross-border turnover is over €10,000.

Deductible VAT

If goods or services were used to make taxable supplies in Poland, VAT in input invoices might be credited. Examples include:

VAT paid at custom clearance with your EORI number;
VAT paid to Polish suppliers.

Registration procedure

When a company has the obligation to register, the owners will be required to complete and submit a VAT registration form, along with supporting documentation:

Certificate of incorporation;
Trade register extract;
VAT certificate;
Articles of Associations;
An explanation of the economic activities of the company in Poland;
A bank identification document;
If the company is appointing a local tax agent or Fiscal Representative, then a Letter of Authority or Power of Attorney is.

All the docs should be translated into the Polish language.

The Intra-community VAT number should be received under a separate application.

Tax representative

Taxable companies established outside the European Union are obliged to appoint fiscal representatives to handle all VAT registration and filling formalities.

Keeping records

Records about performed transactions must be kept in order to check the correctness of tax returns and payments. The retention period for the records is 10 years.

VAT payment day

The VAT due must be paid before the 7th day of the month following the period.

Filling VAT returns

VAT filings and payments are submitted either monthly or quarterly – not later than the 25th of the month following the reporting period. Additionally, all VAT taxpayers (other than exempted) are obliged to file monthly SAFT by the 25th of the following month, even if they file quarterly returns.

VAT Standard rate

The standard VAT rate in Poland in 2023 is 23%.

VAT Reduced rate

A reduced rate of 5% applies to e-books and publications.

Thresholds

Companies incorporated or having a permanent establishment in the EU can use the rules for low annual turnovers. In this case, the threshold is €10,000.

Companies established outside the European Union cannot benefit from the intra-EU threshold. The threshold for registration for companies outside of the EU is zero. It means that they are obliged to register from the first sale. Such businesses may register for non-Union OSS instead of registration in Poland.

The threshold for registration for local businesses is PLN 200,000.

Pieces of evidence

It is often not easy to determine the location of the buyer, but it is extremely important for determining tax obligations. Below is a list of basic criteria:

Customer’s permanent address;
Billing address (bank or electronic payment operator);
Internet Protocol (IP) address;
Telephone number;
The location of the customer’s fixed landline through which the service is supplied to him;
Other commercially relevant information.

And if two of them are in Poland, the customer may be determined as Polish.

E-services list

The legislation establishes that any product that is stored, delivered, and used in electronic format is considered a digital product. These are goods or services that a customer can receive by e-mail by downloading them from the Internet or by logging into a website. In particular, the law names the following as digital services:

Electronic books, images, movies, and videos, whether buying a copy from Shopify or using a service (for example Amazon Prime). In tax materials, these products are referred to as “Audio, visual or audiovisual products”;
Downloadable and streaming music, whether buying an MP3 or using music services;
Cloud-based software and as-a-Service products (SaaS, PaaS, IaaS);
Websites, site hosting services, and Internet service providers;
Online ads and affiliate marketing.

Registration procedure

To register, you need to fill out a registration application. To do this, you will need the following information about the company:

Full information about the company:
Company’s name, a trading name of the company (If applicable), full postal address, email address and website of the taxable person, name and phone number of the contact person;
National tax number (If applicable);
Country in which the taxable person has his place of business;
International bank account number or OBAN number and BIC;
An electronic declaration that the taxable person is not registered for VAT within the Union;
Date of commencement of using the scheme.

Documents need to be accompanied by a sworn translation into Polish.

Tax representative

Sellers who sell digital services have no obligation to appoint a tax representative in Poland.

Keeping records

It is necessary to keep the documents for 10 years – the tax authorities have the right to request them.

Filling VAT returns

The standard reporting period in Poland is a month. Taxpayers must submit a return and pay the tax within 25 days after the end of the reporting period.
For example, till 25 April for March.

VAT payment date

The VAT payment deadlines correspond with the deadlines for submitting VAT returns.