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General VAT ruling – VAT on supplies made via so called “fuel cards”

On February 16, 2021, Polish Ministry of Finance published the general VAT ruling relating to taxation of supplies of petrol/fuel made via so called “fuel cards”.

The general VAT ruling does not relate to all models of supplies made via “fuel cards” but only these models in which participate three taxpayers, i.e.:

1. supplier of the petrol being at the same time issuer of the “fuel card”;
2. the intermediary (e.g., a leasing company or a mother-company), i.e., the taxpayer who gives over the “fuel card” but it is not the issuer of it;
3. the final customer.

According to the ruling, the activity of the intermediary, from VAT point of view should be classified as providing services, and not as supply of goods, if the following conditions are jointly met:

1. the goods are acquired by the final customer (i.e., card holder) directly from the suppliers;
2. only the customer decides, in particular about the methods of purchasing the goods (selection of the place of purchase), the quantity and quality of the goods, the time of purchase and the method of using the goods;
3. the customer (excluding the intermediary) incurs all costs related to the purchase of goods;
4. the intermediary restricts itself to making the financial instrument available to the customer allowing the acquisition of the goods.

The above information was kindly provided by Independent Tax Advisers (Poland). For more information, please contact Dorota Baczewska-Golinska at: dbaczewska@itadp.pl.