In a series of articles concerning various aspects of the functioning of national Free Customs Zones, the authors pointed out the benefits lost by the state budget and enterprises due to the failure to utilize legislative support opportunities in the area of customs and VAT collection on goods introduced into the Community area through the Polish customs border. Based on the information presented in the cited articles, several institutions that recognized that the national interest requires a solution to the problem presented therein (Customs Chamber in Poznań, Institute of Logistics and Warehousing, Greater Poland Branch of the Polish Logistics Society, Polish Chamber of Forwarding and Logistics, Eugeniusz Kwiatkowski Association) requested the Minister of Finance to introduce appropriate adjustments to the executive regulations of the Act on Tax on Goods and Services, which do not require statutory changes, reserved as is known for the competence of the Sejm of the Republic of Poland.
The response provided to the applicants by the Ministry of Finance shows that it still does not perceive the lost benefits due to the lack of the possibility of representation by a tax representative of a foreign entity introducing goods into the Community area through Poland. The Department of Tax on Goods and Services of the Ministry of Finance considered in this matter as sufficient the provision in §10 paragraph 1 of the Regulation of the Minister of Finance of April 27, 2004, on the implementation of certain provisions of the Act on Tax on Goods and Services (Journal of Laws No. 97, item 970, as amended). From a formal point of view, the aforementioned provision seems
satisfactory to the ministry. In its assessment, it concerns the exemption from tax on the import of goods in the case where the destination of these goods is the territory of a member state other than the territory of the country and the export from the territory of the country by the importer of these goods will take place as part of an intra-Community supply of goods. The subject exemption is applied upon meeting the conditions specified by the regulations; among others, it is in force when the importer, who performs an intra-Community supply of goods, is a tax payer registered as an EU VAT payer and a value-added tax payer, identified for the purposes of intra-Community transactions in the territory of the member state of destination of the imported goods and at the time of import provided for the application of the exemption identification numbers granted to him for intra-Community transactions in those states.
The practical point of view, however, is different – one of the unfavorable limitations mentioned in the above regulation is the requirement for the importer to register and possess EU VAT numbers both in the country of import of the goods and its destination.
The article comes from the magazine “Logistyka” 3/2007