Polish legal rules violate principle of neutrality – CJEU ruling

On 18 March 2021 the Court of Justice of the European Union gave a ruling in the case C-895/19 (A) where it regarded the legal rules binding in Poland since 2017 within the scope of the manner of settling VAT in the intra-Community acquisition of goods as violating the principle of neutrality in VAT.

According to the CJEU, the legal provision obliging a taxpayer in certain circumstances to present VAT that is due and calculated by virtue of intra-Community acquisition of goods in various settlement periods does not conform with the EU law.

That is true that the ruling was passed with reference to transactions concerning intra-Community acquisitions of goods; however, the ruling provides argumentation to apply it also with reference to other transactions, e.g.  analogous legal rules concern import of services.

The beneficial ruling opens for many taxpayers a door to apply for reimbursement of unduly paid interest.