Summary
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Poland’s Supreme Administrative Court has reportedly ruled that a bank may provide VAT-exempt intermediation in payment services where it actively identifies and acquires customers for an online payment-system operator. The court’s approach indicates that participation in negotiating contractual clauses is not, by itself, an essential condition for intermediation.
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The decision is relevant to banks, payment institutions, fintech businesses and distributors receiving referral or acquisition fees. The VAT outcome depends on the substance of the activities performed, including whether the intermediary brings prospective customers and the payment provider together, rather than merely supplying advertising, information technology or administrative support.
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Businesses should review customer-acquisition agreements, remuneration models and operational evidence. Contracts describing a service as “marketing” or “referral” will not necessarily determine its VAT treatment. Conversely, calling an activity “intermediation” will not secure exemption if the provider only performs promotional, technical or back-office tasks without an intermediary function.
Article
The Polish Supreme Administrative Court has addressed the scope of the VAT exemption for intermediation relating to payment services under Article 43(1)(40) of the Polish VAT Act. The dispute concerned a bank that actively acquired business customers interested in payment services offered by an online payment-system operator.
Under the arrangement described in the report, bank employees presented the operator’s offering, supplied information, encouraged prospective customers to use the system and enabled them to register. The bank did not negotiate the payment-services agreement between the customer and the operator. The central issue was whether the absence of contractual negotiations prevented the activity from being treated as exempt intermediation.
The court reportedly concluded that negotiation is not an indispensable element of an intermediary service. This is commercially important because modern financial distribution models frequently operate through standardized terms. An intermediary may perform a genuine role in bringing the parties together even though it has no authority to alter pricing, contractual conditions or product specifications.
Nevertheless, the decision should not be read as exempting all customer-acquisition or referral services. The classification remains dependent on the actual function performed. A genuine intermediary normally acts to facilitate the conclusion of a particular financial transaction while not occupying the position of either contracting party. General advertising, lead-list sales, call-centre support, data processing and purely technical registration assistance may remain taxable if they do not amount to intermediation.
The distinction also affects input VAT recovery. Exempt income can restrict a bank’s or other financial business’s entitlement to deduct VAT on associated costs and may alter its partial exemption calculation. The exemption can therefore reduce output VAT while creating a separate input-tax cost. Groups should model both effects rather than treating exempt status as automatically beneficial.
Banks, fintech businesses and payment operators should compare the judgment with their contracts, employee procedures and supporting evidence. Relevant documentation may include customer-contact records, onboarding workflows, incentive structures and evidence showing that the intermediary’s activity was directed toward concluding payment-service agreements. Where a provider performs a bundle of intermediary and marketing activities, the parties should also consider whether these constitute one composite supply or distinct services.
The publicly available report is dated 10 August 2026, but the search result does not identify the court’s case reference. The ruling should therefore not be relied upon as a precedent until its full text and reference number have been confirmed. [edgp.gazetaprawna.pl]
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