Poland: Liability for Unpaid VAT after CJEU’s Vaniz Judgment

The CJEU in Vaniz (C-121/24) held that EU law does not prevent tax authorities from seeking unpaid VAT from the purchaser even after the supplier has become insolvent and been deleted from the register.
However, the authority must prove that the purchaser knew or ought to have known, when exercising the right to deduct, that the VAT would not be paid; the supplier’s disappearance does not shift this burden to the purchaser.
Under Polish law, there are two separate routes for a purchaser’s liability: joint and several liability for certain Annex 15 goods under Article 105a VAT Act/Article 117b Tax Ordinance, and liability for payments to accounts outside the VAT taxpayers’ register under Article 117ba Tax Ordinance.
For Annex 15 goods, liability applies only where the purchaser knew or had reasonable grounds to suspect non-payment, with statutory defenses available; it does not apply where the supplier’s arrears were unrelated to dishonest tax accounting, and it is excluded for invoices above PLN 15,000 due to mandatory split payment.
The article also notes that from 1 January 2027 the risk will extend to intangible services.

Note that this post was (partially) written with the help of AI. It is always useful to review the original source material, and where needed to obtain (local) advice from a specialist.