Poland VAT reforms January 2027 update

Bill 2838 was approved by the Sejm following Senate amendments on 8 October 2026 and sent to the President for signature on 12 October.

The main changes include:

• broader evidence to support the 0% VAT rate on exports
• removal of some VAT registration paperwork for importers
• mandatory electronic declarations for centralised import clearance
• revised VAT procedures for low-value imports
• wider VAT relief for certain private consignments entering the EU

Export VAT: substance finally beats paperwork

The most useful change concerns exports.

Currently, Polish exporters can face difficulties applying the 0% VAT rate where they cannot obtain the expected customs documentation, even when other evidence demonstrates that the goods actually left the EU.

The reform broadens the evidence that may be accepted. This can include documents from carriers and postal operators, as well as foreign customs documentation accompanied by a statement from the purchaser.

It is a sensible change. The important VAT question should be whether the goods were exported, not whether the taxpayer managed to obtain one particular document.

The change should therefore reduce disputes where the underlying export is genuine but the documentary trail does not fit the traditional customs process.

Import VAT loses another piece of paperwork

Importers using simplified VAT accounting will no longer have to provide customs authorities with a recent certificate confirming that they are registered as an active VAT taxpayer.

Polish tax authorities can already verify that information electronically.

Requiring businesses to obtain and submit evidence of information already held by the tax authority is precisely the sort of administrative duplication that digital tax systems should eliminate.

Centralised import clearance declarations will also move entirely online, removing the paper filing option.

Low-value imports adjusted for EU customs changes

Poland is also updating its special VAT procedure for low-value imports following changes to EU customs rules.

The procedure will continue to allow businesses collecting import VAT on low-value consignments to account for the VAT through a monthly electronic declaration.

The changes are intended to keep the VAT mechanism working as the underlying customs treatment of consignments up to €150 changes.

Personal consignments: EU restriction removed

Poland will also amend the VAT exemption applying to certain non-commercial consignments sent by individuals from outside the EU.

Following the CJEU’s judgment in C-405/24, Poland is removing the requirement that the recipient must be located in Poland. Qualifying consignments entering through Poland may therefore benefit from the exemption where the recipient is in another EU Member State.

Poland’s quieter VAT reform

These are not reforms on the scale of KSeF. But that is rather the point.

Poland has spent years building increasingly sophisticated digital VAT controls. Tax authorities can now obtain and verify information electronically that businesses were previously required to prove themselves.

Bill 2838 starts to remove some of that old paperwork.

Digitalisation should not simply give tax authorities more data. Occasionally, it should mean taxpayers have to provide less of it.

The last two paragraphs are the VATCalc opinion I’d keep. They connect this relatively technical reform to the bigger digital-tax story without turning it into another grand statement about the future of VAT.

For sourcing, the Polish Ministry of Finance describes the package as reducing import/export formalities, while the parliamentary record gives the detail on alternative export evidence and the other measures.   The official legislative tracker confirms the 8 October approval and 12 October referral to the President.

⁠Polish Ministry of Finance – VAT simplification package
⁠Polish Sejm – Bill 2838 legislative progress

See our Poland VAT guide for more details.