New amendments to VAT provisions approaching

Last week, a new version of the bill amending the VAT Act and the Act on rules of registering and identifying taxable persons and remitters was published on the Government Legislation Centre’s website.

The new version brings the following modifications:

• the proposed repeal of the definition of the “electrical power system” contained in Article 2(27a) of the VAT Act has been abandoned;
• the proposed ban on using the option of not providing security or of settling import VAT directly in the tax return for a period of 2 years, in cases where the tax authority finds that the taxpayer made false statements in submitted declarations (amendment to Articles 33 and 33a of the VAT Act), has been dropped;
• the proposal to introduce an obligation for the taxpayer to transfer to the manufacturer any cash register not used by the taxpayer, as well as to introduce an administrative fine for failure to comply with this obligation (amendment to Articles 111 and 111b of the VAT Act.), has been abandoned;
• introduction of changes relating to joint and several liability.

Furthermore, preliminary remarks to the bill amending the VAT Act have been made available. The bill provides, among other things, for simplifying the documentation of exports of goods for the application of the 0% VAT rate, and an additional condition for applying the 0% VAT rate to advance payments. Moreover, import and tax returns under the special procedure will be submitted exclusively in electronic form, and the records will be aligned with the new customs regulations entering into force on 1 July 2026. The planned date for adoption of the amendments by the Council of Ministers is Q2 2026.

Last week, a draft regulation amending the regulation on VAT returns granted to certain entities was published on the government Legislation Centre’s website. The purpose of the draft is to align the existing provisions with the changes introduced by the so‑called KSeF 2.0 Act, i.e. to consider, among other things, the possibility for foreign entities to receive structured invoices issued in the National e‑Invoicing System (KSeF). The draft regulation introduces new rules for EU and non‑EU entities with respect to VAT refunds on invoices issued in KSeF. EU entities will be required to provide KSeF numbers via the tax administration of their country, and the absence of such numbers will mean that copies of paper invoices must be attached to the application or electronic invoices must be submitted. Non‑EU entities will be required to indicate KSeF numbers in the application, and if they fail to provide them, they will be obliged to attach original paper invoices or submit/make available electronic invoices to the head of the tax office. The amendments also bring clarifications to certain provisions. The existing rules will continue to apply to VAT refund applications submitted for periods falling before 1 January 2026.

On 14 April 2026, preliminary remarks to the bill amending the act on the conditions of permissibility of employing foreigners in the territory of the Republic of Poland were added to the list of legislative work and policies of the Council of Ministers. The bill provides for amendments to the Act of 20 March 2025 on the conditions of permissibility of employing foreigners in the territory of the Republic of Poland, aimed at improving the functioning of the system for the legalisation of work of foreigners and ensuring its greater transparency and consistency. However, the bill will also introduce an additional criterion – the size of the investment – in the case of investments carried out within the Polish Investment Zone (under the Act on Supporting New Investments). The bill is expected to be passed by the Council of Ministers in Q3 2026.

As of 13 April 2026, the Regulation of the Minister of Finance Economy is in force, which extends the reduced excise duty on motor fuels until the end of April. The extension is implemented as part of the government tax package aimed at lowering fuel prices and is of a temporary nature. Until the end of April 2026, the reduced 8% VAT rate on certain motor fuels will also remain in force.

Last week, the following new forms were made available in the e‑Tax Office (e‑Urząd Skarbowy):

• application for an individual tax ruling ORD‑IN (available from both an individual and an organisation account),
• application for a tax residence certificate WN‑CFR (available from both an individual and an organisation account),
• statement on choosing or changing the form of taxation INF‑FO (available only from an individual account – submitted on one’s own behalf or as a holder of a general POA).

A new “Form of taxation” functionality has also been introduced in the e‑Tax Office, enabling entrepreneurs to quickly verify the form of taxation registered in the KAS database for their business activity – for the years 2025 and 2026.

In its judgment of 14 April 2026 (case file I FSK 1158/23), the Supreme Administrative Court held that, for expenditure on motor vehicles subject to the 50% VAT deduction cap (where the vehicle is not used exclusively for business purposes), the cap is applied at the stage of determining the “base” amount of VAT eligible for deduction. Subsequently, if the taxpayer carries out both taxable and non‑taxable activities (mixed activity) and the expenditure cannot be allocated exclusively to taxable transactions, the pro rata under the VAT Act must be applied to the VAT amount determined in this way.

According to the judgment of the CJEU (case T-190/25), in order to classify a product as ‘smoking tobacco’, within the meaning of Council Directive 2011/64/EU of 21 June 2011 on the structure and rates of excise duty applied to manufactured tobacco, it is not necessary to rely on the tariff headings of the Combined Nomenclature and on the Explanatory Notes to the Combined Nomenclature of the European Union. Whether a given product is subject to excise duty as “smoking tobacco” is determined by the criteria arising directly from the Directive, and not by its customs classification. Furthermore, the Court held that the provisions of Directive 2011/64/EU, Implementing Regulation 2017/1925 and the Explanatory Notes to the CN are in conformance with the general principle of legal certainty and the principle that offences and penalties must be defined by law (Article 49(1) of the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union). No grounds were therefore found to challenge the validity of these provisions from the perspective of legal clarity and predictability for taxpayers.

In response to parliamentary inquiry no. 15898, the Minister of Finance and Economy explained that, in practice, the list of expenses covered by the relief is determined by the minister responsible for construction, not by the Ministry of Finance itself. The thermal modernisation relief is available to owners and co‑owners of single‑family houses for expenses on materials, equipment and services related to a thermal modernisation project completed within 3 years from the date the first expense was incurred. A thermal modernisation project is one that actually reduces the building’s energy demand (e.g. for heating or domestic hot water). The detailed list of materials, equipment and services that may be deducted is set out in a regulation, and it is this regulation that determines whether specific roof works (e.g. insulation, replacement of roofing combined with improved thermal insulation) fall within the scope of the relief as measures improving the building’s energy efficiency. At the same time, the Minister emphasised that, under the relief, taxpayers may deduct expenses for roof windows (skylight windows), including both their purchase and installation. The Ministry of Finance has concluded that the existing provisions and the list of eligible expenses do not require clarification. According to Ministry of Finance data, the number of audits relating to the thermal modernisation relief is growing rapidly: from approx. 3.9 thousand in 2022 to 31.8 thousand in 2025.

Odpowiedź na interpelację poselską nr 15898