Poland VAT Explained: Rates, Registration & Polish VAT Rules

Q: What is the VAT rate in Poland?

Poland has three VAT rates: Standard 23%, Reduced 8%, and Super Reduced 5%.

Q: What is VAT called in Poland?

In Poland, Value Added Tax is known as the Goods and Services Tax or Podatek od Towarów i Usług (PTU).

Poland

Currency	Polish złoty (PLN, zł)
Languages	Polish
Largest Marketplace	Allegro.pl
Most Popular Product Category	Fashion and Accessories
Tax Authority	Krajowa Administracja Skarbowa (KAS) / The National Revenue Administration
VAT Rates	Standard – 23%
	Reduced – 8%
	Super Reduced – 5%

DO YOU NEED A POLISH VAT NUMBER?

VAT was first implemented in Poland in 1993, eleven years before they joined the EU. There are at least five different factors that affect whether you need to register for VAT in Poland. You can find all the information you need on this page.

The quickest way to know is to ask.

Schedule a call with a member of our team and tell them about your business. They’ll help you work out whether you need to register for anything in Poland.

Tell Me About Polish VAT

Text "VAT in Poland" over an image of a market square in Wrocław, Poland.

My B2C business is based outside the EU

Whether you need to register for VAT in Poland depends on where your goods are, and where you’re selling them.

Selling goods on your website

You have to register for VAT in any EU country where you’re storing goods. So, if you’re storing goods in Poland, you’ll need to register there. If your goods are warehoused elsewhere in the EU and you’re shipping them to customers in Poland, you have two options:

Which registration would be better for you will depend on your current situation and your plans for your business. Not sure which you need?
Talk to us about your situation.

Schedule a Call

Importing goods to Poland

Are your goods outside the EU when your customer buys them? You have three options:

With an Import One Stop Shop registration you can ship orders to customers all over the EU, not just Poland. The catch is that you can only use it for shipments with an intrinsic value under EUR 150.

If your average order from Poland is worth more than EUR 150, you might want to register for VAT. A Polish VAT registration would let you handle the VAT on all your Polish orders, regardless of value.

Ship orders DAP

Shipping Delivered At Place (DAP) puts the responsibility for Import fees, duties and VAT on your customer. It's generally a worse experience for them and is often linked to cart abandonment.

Not sure which is the best option for you? Talk to us about your business and we’ll help you work it out.

Book a call

Get shipments through
Polish customs fast with IOSS

IOSS gets your low value packages through EU customs and to your customers quickly. We can get your IOSS number to you in as little as three working days. Start your registration now and start shipping to Poland next week.

Get an IOSS number

Amazon FBA in Poland

Poland is a key fulfilment hub. With one of the largest concentrations of Amazon facilities in Europe, it's likely that if you're using Amazon Pan-EU that you've got VAT obligations in Poland.

Marketplaces like Amazon will only handle VAT for you on your sales. If your inventory is in Poland, you need to register for a Polish VAT number.

Get Support with Amazon FBA in Poland

Marketplaces like Amazon and eBay are only responsible for the VAT when:

You, the seller, are based outside the EU
You're selling goods B2C

If you're fulfilling from outside the EU, they won't handle the VAT if the order with worth more than EUR 150.

The text "Pan-EU almost guarantees your inventory will end up in Poland" on an image of an Amazon parcel in the back of a van

Selling Digital Services and Digital Goods to Poland

For VAT purposes, the EU considered everything that’s not a physical object, a service. Digital services are a category of services that are defined by being “electronically supplied”. That covers things like eBooks, PDFs of sewing patterns, on-demand video courses and tickets to livestreams. If you’re in Canada or the USA, you’ll probably know these things as “Digital Goods”.

To sell digital services to customers in Poland you can either:

Determining whether your services are “electronically supplied” can be complicated and has big consequences – if they’re not, you don’t need to register for anything. We recommend you talk to an expert if you’re selling digital services just to make sure.

Book a call

My B2C business is based in the EU

This information only applies if you’re not based in Poland.

Selling Goods

Being based in the EU, you can make up to 10,000 EUR in sales to other EU countries before you have to register for anything. That depends, however, on where your goods are when your customer makes their purchase.

My Goods are in Poland

Storing your inventory in Poland creates a “taxable supply” and a VAT obligation. You’ll need to either:

My Goods are in the EU, but not in Poland

Is your inventory in the same country as you? You can either register for VAT in Poland, or for One Stop Shop.

If your stock is in another EU country, you have to register for VAT there.

My Goods are Outside the EU

You have three options when your goods are outside the EU at the point of sale:

Register for VAT in Poland
Register for IOSS
Make your customer the Importer of Record

Selling Services from the EU to Poland

In the EU, anything that’s not a physical object is considered a service (for VAT purposes). It covers everything from catering services to digital downloads. Selling services to consumers in other EU countries requires you to register for OSS. You can do that through your local tax authority.

Need a quick answer? Take the EU VAT Quiz

Find out in less than a minute if you need to register in the EU and what for – IOSS, OSS, Non-Union OSS or VAT.

Take the Quiz

VAT on Sales to Polish Businesses

When your customers are other businesses, your VAT obligations change. You might still have to register for VAT (if you store goods in Poland, for example) but in many cases the VAT is your customer’s responsibility.

I’m based outside the EU and selling B2B to Poland

Usually, when your EU customer is registered for VAT, the reverse charge mechanism applies. When you issue the invoice, you include the words “reverse charge mechanism”. Your customer then accounts for it on their VAT return. It's important to get it right though - issuing invoices incorrectly can put you in the position of having to refund VAT to your customer when you've already paid it to a Tax Authority.

I'm Based in the EU and Selling B2B to Poland

Generally, B2B sales between EU states are zero-rated if you're both VAT registered. It doesn’t necessarily require you to be registered in Poland, either. However, you do have to:

Be VAT registered where you're based
Add it to your EC Sales List
Verify your customer's VAT number on VIES

Get an international VAT expert in your corner

Whether you’ve started businesses in the EU or you’re making plans, we can help you make your VAT expenditure as efficient as possible. Make sure you're not paying VAT when you don't have to with some expert advice.

Book a Call

How do I register for VAT in Poland?

You don’t need to incorporate a company or have an address in Poland to register for VAT. However, you will need to apply for a Polish Tax Identification number – a NIP. Finally, if you’re not based in the EU or the UK, you’ll need a fiscal representative.

Once you have your NIP, you’ll need to submit it and several supporting documents with your application. You’ll need:

Documentation of your business on your local commercial registry
A copy of your partnership agreement (if you have one)
Documents showing your legal right to any property of premises your business might hold in Poland
Bank account statements, to help establish your identity and business activity
Your Power of Attorney documents, if you have a fiscal representative

It’s optional, but you can also submit a Statement of Planned Activity. It shows KAS why you need to register. It might speed up the registration process by pre-emptively answering any questions they may have about your application.

Everything you submit has to be originals and translated into Polish. KAS only accepts wet signatures. That means whenever the documents require your company’s directors to sign them, they have to put pen to paper. Plus, all your directors will need to sign the paperwork (but only up to three, if your company has more than this).

On average it takes two to three weeks for KAS to process your registration, once they’ve received your application.

VAT Essentials: Poland

Everything you need to know about VAT in Poland to get started selling.

Whether you're expanding with Amazon Pan-EU or a small brand with a dedicated Polish fan-base, our guide has the answers to your VAT questions.

Get the Guide

Polish VAT Returns

In Poland, VAT returns are usually filed monthly. Quarterly submissions are available, but only in specific circumstances. KAS will contact you if they want you to file quarterly.

The filing and payment deadline is the 25th day of the month following the reporting period. For example, the 25th of April is the deadline for March’s return. You can request an extension, but they’re only ever granted in exceptional circumstances, such as natural disasters, or severe illness. You’ll have to apply in writing before the deadline, or your request will be automatically rejected.

Intrastat Poland

Have you crossed an Intrastat threshold in Poland? Find up-to-date thresholds in our Intrastat Table.
If you have, don't worry. You don't have to deal with the burden of compiling and filing them if you don’t want to. SimplyVAT can do it for you.

Get Intrastat Support

Polish Invoice Requirements

When you make a sale, you need to issue two copies of the invoice and give one to your customer. VAT invoices aren’t mandatory if the sale is B2C. If you deal exclusively in VAT-exempt goods, you don’t need to issue an invoice (we still recommend you do).

Invoices can only be issued between 30 and 15 days after the end of the month in which you provided the goods or services. They can be in any currency, but the VAT has to be in Polish Złoty (PLN/zł).

Otherwise, Poland's invoicing requirements follow the EU VAT Directive. They need to include:

The date (and the transaction date if it's different to when the invoice was issued)
Full names and addresses for you and your customer
The VAT rate you applied and the amount of VAT
Details of any discounts you may have applied
A full description of the goods or services
The quantity and unit price, if they apply
A unique, consecutive invoice number
The gross amount of the invoice
The net taxable value
Your VAT number

A pile of Euro notes behind a black calculator

Get a VAT Refund in Poland

You can get a VAT refund in Poland, even if you're not registered for VAT there. Learn about all the VAT refund options in Poland from our blog: How to Get a VAT Refund in Europe

If you're not VAT registered in Poland, you'll need to use the 13th Directive.

VAT refunds for non-EU companies are admin-intensive and can take a long time. It involves reciprocity agreements, minimum claims, claim periods - the whole works. If you’d like a refund but don’t want to spend time chasing it, get SimplyVAT to handle it for you.

Get Your Refund Started

Maximising Poland for Speedy Cross-Border Growth

If you're looking into fulfilling orders from Poland, there's no better place to start then this webinar. Liam Payne talks to Sam Taylor-Rowlinson, Commercial Director at ILG about how Poland offers fast, cost-effective access to shoppers in Central and Eastern Europe.