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The Polish government has prepared another amendment to the VAT Act called the Polish Anti-inflation Shield 2.0. The introduced package of tax changes intends to deal with rising inflation. The bill would cut VAT rates on food, gas and fertilizers to 0%, on electricity and heat to 5%, on fuel to 8%.
The President signed the amending act and the new regulations are in force from February 1, 2022.
Based on the amending act, in the period from 1 February 2022 to 31 July 2022, the VAT rate for foodstuffs listed in items 1-18 of Annex 10 to the VAT Act (other than services related to catering – PKWiU 56) will be 0%.
In result, 0% VAT rate will apply to food products that are today subject to 5% VAT rate.
The reduction in the VAT rate will apply to the following groups of goods:
| Code CN | Name of Goods |
| 2 | Meat and edible meat offal |
| ex 03 | Fish and crustaceans, molluscs and other aquatic invertebrates – excluding lobsters and octopus as well as other goods covered by the CN codes 0306 to 0308 |
| 4 | Dairy produce; birds’ eggs; natural honey; edible products of animal origin, not elsewhere specified or included |
| 0504 00 00 | Guts, bladders and stomachs of animals (other than fish), whole and pieces thereof, fresh, chilled, frozen, salted, in brine, dried or smoked |
| 7 | Edible vegetables and certain roots and tubers |
| 8 | Edible fruit and nuts; peel of citrus fruits or melons |
| 10 | Cereal grains |
| 11 | Products of the milling industry; malt; starches; inulin; wheat gluten |
| ex 12 | Oil seeds and oleaginous fruits; miscellaneous grains, seeds and fruit; industrial or medicinal plants; straw and fodder – exclusively products for human consumption |
| ex 15 | Animal or vegetable fats and oils and their cleavage products; prepared edible fats; animal or vegetable waxes – exclusively edible |
| ex 16 | Preparations of meat, of fish or of crustaceans, molluscs or other aquatic invertebrates, excluding:
|
| 19 | Preparations of cereals, flour, starch or milk; pastrycooks’ products |
| ex 20 | Preparations of vegetables, fruit, nuts or other parts of plants – excluding products of an actual alcoholic strength by mass exceeding 1.2% |
| 2104 | Soups and broths and preparations therefor; homogenised composite food preparations |
| 2105 00 | Ice-cream and other edible ice, whether or not containing cocoa |
| ex 2106 | Fats composed of plant products and/or animal products (mixes), cheese-like products (cheese analogues) and infant formulae, including infant milk, infant follow-on formulae, including follow-up milk, milk and modified milk for children, as referred to in the Act of 25 August 2006 on Safety of Food and Nutrition |
| ex 2202 | Waters, including mineral waters and aerated waters, containing added sugar or other sweetening matter or flavoured, and other non-alcoholic beverages, excluding fruit or vegetable juices covered by CN 2009 item – exclusively the following products:
|
| regardless CN | Dietary foods for special medical purposes referred to in the Act of 25 August 2006 on Safety of Food and Nutrition |
From 1 February 2022 to 31 July 2022, the VAT rate for soil conditioners, growth promoters and growing media is also to be reduced. Additionally, 0% VAT rate will cover fertilizers and plant protection products normally intended for use in agricultural production.
However, decrease of VAT rate will not apply to mineral substrates.
It should be noted that the VAT rate reduction on horticultural soil to 0% will be also applicable in the abovementioned period.
The set of new measures assuming that for the period from 1 February 2022 to 31 July 2022 VAT on natural gas will drop to 0% (falling within CN codes 2711 11 00 or 2711 21 00).
For electricity (falling within CN code 2716 00 00) and heat, the VAT rate will be 5% for the period from 1 February 2022 to 31 July 2022.
The Polish legislator also reduces the VAT rate to 8% on the following fuels:
The bill provides for certain exclusions. The 0% rate will not apply to import of goods, which are subject to distance sale of imported goods (Art. 138i sec. 1 of the Polish Value Added Tax Act of 11.03.2004 r.). The proposed VAT rate for gas, electricity and heat will not apply in cases where the indicated goods benefit from tax exemption.
According to the draft act, vendors are obliged to provide notice of the above VAT rate reductions.
The vendor who sells foodstuffs for which the VAT rate has been reduced to 0% will be obliged to place at the cash register in the premises where such foodstuffs will be sold a legible notice that from 1 February 2022 to 31 July 2022 the sale of such foodstuffs is subject to the reduced VAT rate of 0%.
The vendor of fuels for which the VAT rate has been reduced to 8% will be obliged to place a legible notice at the cash register in the premises where the sale of such motor fuels is carried out, stating that from 1 February 2022 to 31 July 2022 the sale of such motor fuels is subject to the reduced VAT rate of 8%.
The vendor of fertilizers and horticultural soil, for which the VAT rate has been reduced to 0%, will be obliged to place at the cash register in the premises where the sale of these goods used for agricultural production is made, a legible information that from 1 February 2022 to 31 July 2022 the sale of these goods used for agricultural production is subject to the VAT rate reduced to 0%.
The vendor of natural gas, electricity and heat, for which the VAT rate has been reduced to 0%, will be obliged to provide the purchaser with information on reduced rates of VAT concerning these goods:
Due to the preferential nature of discussed measures, we do not expect major changes at the stage of further legislative work.
Should you have any doubts, we encourage you to contact our experts.
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