Poland: Sale of assets covered by statutory joint property ownership by spouses is subject to VAT (CJEU judgment)
A person selling land belonging to personal assets, who uses services of a professional trader to prepare it for sale, can be treated as liable for VAT.
The Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) on April 3, 2025, issued a judgment (case C-213/24) deciding that a person selling land belonging to personal assets, who uses services of a professional trader to prepare it for sale, can be treated as liable for value added tax (VAT). This means that the sale of such land is subject to VAT.
Furthermore, according to the CJEU, spouses selling the plot in statutory joint property ownership should be treated as a single VAT payer, if they act jointly and together accept the economic risk associated with the carrying out of those activities.
This CJEU judgment would require amendments to the Polish VAT law and changes to the IT systems of tax offices to enable the registration of spouses as a single VAT payer.
Read an April 2025 report prepared by the KPMG member firm in Poland