Senate Backs VAT Amendment; Bill Returns to Sejm

• On 6 August 2026, the Polish Senate adopted mainly legislative amendments to the bill amending the VAT Act and the Act on the Rules of Registration and Identification of Taxpayers; it passed 91–0 with no abstentions, and the bill now returns to the Sejm. [prawo.pl]
• The reform lets businesses verify a counterparty’s VAT status up to 5 years back in the taxpayer white list (for a chosen date, not only the date of inquiry) and enables electronic TAX FREE clearance (e-odprawa) via IT tools provided by the National Tax Administration (KAS). [prawo.pl], [wbj.pl]
• Senators added a safeguard protecting buyers of intangible services from joint liability where they pay via the split-payment mechanism; the package also introduces the“VAT warehouse” (skład VAT), clarifies the place of supply for electricity, and expands joint-and-several liability for buyers to certain fraudulent-invoice scenarios and named intangible services. [prawo.pl]

Extended article The measure concerns the Act amending the VAT Act and the Act on the Rules of Registration and Identification of Taxpayers and Payers. As Prawo.pl reports, the Senate on 6 August 2026 introduced principally legislative (technical) amendments, with the vote carried 91–0; the bill now goes back to the Sejm for final consideration. The legislative path so far: the government adopted the draft on 2 June 2026, the Sejm passed it on 17 July 2026 (420–21), and it then moved to the Senate. [prawo.pl] [gov.pl], [pro.rp.pl]

At its core, the reform amends Article 96b of the VAT Act so that the taxpayer white list can be queried for a selected historical date up to five years back, rather than only the current day — giving businesses stronger protection when verifying trading partners. As Warsaw Business Journal notes, it also introduces electronic customs clearance (e-clearance) for TAX FREE transactions and a VAT warehouse regime to simplify settlement for international goods trade. [podatki-ar….mf.gov.pl], [wbj.pl] [wbj.pl]

Alongside the simplifications sit tightening measures: the Senate’s own amendment shields businesses buying intangible services from co-liability with the supplier where payment uses split payment, while the underlying bill extends joint-and-several liability to cases where the buyer knew an invoice was issued by a non-existent entity, recorded transactions that never occurred, showed amounts inconsistent with reality, or documented abuse of law. For named intangible services — advisory, management, accounting, advertising, research — joint liability applies where the total invoice value exceeds PLN 15,000, or below that threshold if monthly purchases from one supplier exceed PLN 50,000 (net). Most provisions are scheduled to take effect on 1 October 2026, with some phased into 2027 and 2028. [prawo.pl] [prawo.pl] [fakturtax.pl], [wbj.pl]