VAT in road freight transport – part 2

In the case of the acquisition by a Polish taxpayer of services provided to them by taxpayers with their registered office, place of residence, or place of stay outside the territory of the country, an import of services occurs. Consequently, they become a taxpayer and are obliged to account for the tax on the acquired services. Of course, it is possible for the VAT on services performed in the country by a foreign entity to be accounted for by that entity itself. In such a case, the Polish purchaser of the service is not a taxpayer in this respect and will not perform self-taxation under Article 17(2) of the VAT Act.

When a tax obligation arises for the import of transport services, pursuant to Article 19(19) of the VAT Act, the provision regarding the emergence of the tax obligation in the case of providing transport services within the country applies, namely Article 19(13)(2)(a) of the Act. Therefore, the obligation arises at the moment of receiving (in the case of import of services, the performance of) the whole or part of the payment, but no later than the 30th day from the date of service performance.

The tax base for the import of services is the amount that the service recipient is obliged to pay, except when, based on separate regulations, the value of the service increases the customs value of the imported goods or in the case where the tax has been accounted for by the service provider.

The article comes from the magazine ‘Logistyka’ No. 6/2005.