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VAT registration in Poland

  • Currency: EUR

  • VAT is called: VAT

  • EU member: Yes

  • Format VAT number: 999-99-99-999

  • VAT rate: 19%, 8%, 5%

Foreign companies that have no establishment in Poland but that sell services in Poland, e.g. real estate services or that deliver goods that are sold only when they are installed (so-called assembly deliveries), can in most cases avoid VAT registration. The reason is that Poland applies Reverse Charge if the buyers are exclusively businesses that are VAT registered in Poland. Reverse Charge means that the buyer must collect the VAT and that the seller invoices without VAT. However, the buyer's VAT number and why you invoice without VAT must be stated on the seller's invoice. Foreign companies that sell goods domestically in Poland can apply a reverse charge for VAT / Reverse Charge provided that the buyer is a Polish company.

The following transactions are examples of when VAT registration may become necessary in Poland:

  • Sales of electronic or telecommunications services to private individuals in Poland

  • Transport of goods from Poland to other countries on behalf of private individuals, e.g. removal of household goods

  • Passenger transport in Poland

  • Own warehouse in Poland

  • Business management on site in Poland

  • Purchase of goods from the EU to Poland or sale of goods to the EU from Poland

  • Import to or export from Poland

  • Resale of several types of costs (eg hotel accommodation invoiced to other foreign companies or bus transfers in Poland) that occur at conferences, trade fairs, etc.

VAT registration in Poland

The application form for VAT registration in Poland fills in detailed information about the company and the planned business operations in Poland. The forms, including certain prescribed documents from Swedish authorities translated into Polish, such as VAT certificates from the Swedish Tax Agency and trade register extracts and articles of association from the Swedish Companies Registration Office, are then sent signed by signatories to Naczelnik Urzędu Skarbowego w Ploňsku in Plonsk, Poland.

VAT registration in Poland takes a few weeks to do. The tax authority in Poland then returns and issues a Polish tax number / VAT number when the application has been processed.

Voluntary VAT registration in Poland is allowed.

VAT reporting in Poland

If a foreign company has taxable activities in Poland and registers retroactively, i.e. when the taxable transaction has already started, a fine may be imposed for late submission of a VAT return. Interest may be imposed on VAT that has not been paid on time.

In general, it can be said that it is not very easy to fulfill your declaration obligations in Poland as in other countries, once you have managed to register for VAT. Foreign taxpayers, just like local companies, are expected to know the local deduction rules for VAT and otherwise the regulations that taxpayers in the country in question must follow.

In addition, the electronic VAT returns prescribed may be difficult for foreign companies to submit. Each country has its own system and in many countries the signatory can be required to have a personal identity number from the country or that he or she personally collects a code for online reporting from the tax authority in the country. In Poland, it is particularly complicated, i.a. for linguistic reasons.