Today, the situation from our practice: the importer bears the costs of international transport of goods (from outside the EU). This cost is then re-invoiced to an entity other than the buyer of the goods. What should the VAT rate look like?
According to Article 83 sec. 1 point 20 of the Polish VAT Act , “the 0% tax rate shall be applied to services directly related to the import of goods, if the value of these services has been included in the tax base, in accordance with Article 30b(4), with the exception of services: a) in the field of insurance of goods, b) concerning the import of tax-exempt goods”. This provision is an implementation of Article 144 of Directive 2006/112/EC. Its purpose is to avoid double taxation of the same economic value, since the cost of transport has increased the tax base for the import of goods. The importer has also settled the VAT on imports on this value, so separate taxation of the same transport service would constitute double taxation.
The condition for the application of this rate is that the service provider has the documentation referred to in Article 83 sec. 2 of the Polish VAT Act, including – in the case of imported goods – a document certified by the customs and tax office, which clearly shows the fact that the value of the service is included in the tax base for the import of goods.
According to Article 8 sec. 2a of the Polish VAT Act , “where a taxpayer, acting in his own name but for the benefit of a third party, participates in the provision of services, it is assumed that the taxpayer himself received and provided these services”. In principle, the re-invoicing of a service is subject to the same VAT rate as the service documented by the original invoice – this principle results from the legal fiction according to which the re-invoicing entity is treated first as a recipient of the service, and then as a service provider of the same service (so the Supreme Administrative Court in its judgment of 12 April 2022, file reference number II FSK 1926/19).
However, the purchase of a service and its resale constitute two separate service transactions (as stated by the Director of the National Tax Information Office in an individual ruling of 8 August 2025, file reference number 0114-KDIP4-3.4012.278.2020.9.S.APR). The conditions for the application of a specific VAT rate are subject to verification separately for each of these transactions, and not automatically on the basis of the arrangements made in relation to the original transaction. In the case of rates conditioned by circumstances relating to a specific entity or event – as in Article 83 sec. 1 point 20 of the Polish VAT Act – these conditions require separate verification at the re-invoicing stage.
Therefore, re-invoicing the service does not mean an automatic transfer of the VAT rate from the original invoice to the re-invoice.
The judgment of the Court of Justice of the European Union of 29 June 2017 in Case C-288/16 and the individual interpretation of the Director of the National Tax Information of 24 October 2017, file reference number 0114-KDIP1-2.4012.364.2017.1.KT, concern a situation in which a subcontractor provides a transport service to an intermediary (freight forwarder/carrier) before this service reaches the relevant exporter/importer – the previous link in the organisation of one and the same import operation. The Court held that in such a system, only the link providing directly to the importer/exporter benefits from the exemption. The re-invoice is not another part of the same import operation, but a separate, subsequent commercial transaction, concluded after its completion.
Therefore, the purpose of Article 83 sec. 1 point 20 of the Polish VAT Act is decisive. This provision prevents double taxation of the same value by the same entity – the importer would pay VAT on the cost of transport twice if the carrier added the tax to its service, since this cost has already increased the tax base for the import of goods. The addressee of the invoice did not settle the import of these goods and was never exposed to double taxation of this value. Therefore, the purpose of the provision does not include a separate, subsequent transaction.
Notwithstanding the above, in accordance with Article 83 sec. 2 of the Polish VAT Act, the application of the 0% rate requires the possession of a document certified by the customs and tax office, which clearly shows the fact that the value of a given service is included in the tax base for import. The importer’s customs documentation confirms this fact only in relation to its import, and not to a separate (re)invoice.
The Director of the National Tax Information in an individual interpretation of 9 October 2025, file reference number 0114-KDIP1-2.4012.432.2025.2.AP, settled a case with a directly analogous mechanism: a company organising international transport purchased from a carrier a service taxed by it at the 0% rate pursuant to Article 83 sec. 1 point 23 of the Polish VAT Act, and then re-invoiced the same service to its customer using the same 0% rate. The authority considered this position to be incorrect – not because the transport was not international or did not involve import, but because the re-invoicing company itself did not have a document confirmed by the customs authority, which would clearly indicate the inclusion of the value of the service in the tax base for import (Article 83 sec. 5 point 2 of the Polish VAT Act). The authority indicated that the right to the 0% rate is granted only to the entity with the required documents, and the correct application of the 0% rate by the original service provider is not automatically transferred to the re-invoice issued by the next entity in the chain. This decision was made against the background of Article 83 sec. 1 point 23 of the Polish VAT Act, and not point 20, but confirms the same documentary principle.
