Poland plans to align its national value added tax rules with the European Union’s VAT in the Digital Age reforms from 1 January 2027. The draft covers cross-border distance sales, online platforms, simplified VAT reporting and utility supplies, but its provisions remain subject to the legislative process.
Known as ViDA, the EU programme is based partly on Directive 2025/516, which amends the existing VAT Directive 2006/112/EC. Its purpose is to modernise the treatment of transactions increasingly conducted or facilitated through digital channels.
For businesses operating from Poland, the reforms centre on three simplified reporting systems: the One Stop Shop, Import One Stop Shop and non-EU One Stop Shop. These are generally abbreviated to OSS, IOSS and non-EU OSS.
The systems allow qualifying businesses to report VAT on certain cross-border transactions without obtaining a separate VAT registration in every country where tax becomes due. The Polish draft would refine their operation but would not make every digital or cross-border transaction eligible for simplified treatment.
One proposed clarification concerns the EUR 10,000 annual threshold for cross-border business-to-consumer sales. This threshold helps determine whether qualifying distance sales are taxed in the seller’s country or the consumer’s country.
The draft is intended to make the threshold more practical and reduce uncertainty for smaller digital sellers. However, the supplied sources do not provide the complete proposed test or explain how businesses should aggregate different types of sales when assessing the threshold.
The amendments would also refine when VAT liability arises for supplies reported through OSS and non-EU OSS. The timing of tax liability determines the reporting period in which VAT must be declared and paid.
Regfollower describes the revised approach as simplifying registration and reducing the need for multiple local VAT registrations. The proposed framework does not remove VAT obligations; it changes how qualifying transactions can be reported and settled.
Another administrative change concerns communication under the non-EU OSS and IOSS procedures. Businesses would no longer have to maintain multilingual websites when making the relevant notifications to regulators.
The practical significance of that change will depend on the final procedural requirements. The draft does not eliminate the need to provide required information or comply with the conditions of the relevant simplified regime.
Access to IOSS would be restricted for certain taxpayers. Businesses described in the source as “subjectively exempt” from VAT would be expressly prevented from using IOSS for imported consignments valued below EUR 150.
The term refers to taxpayers benefiting from an exemption connected with their status rather than the treatment of a particular transaction. The brief does not identify the detailed statutory criteria for that exemption.
The exclusion is intended to clarify which businesses can use the simplified import procedure and limit aggressive structuring. It does not change the EUR 150 amount given for the low-value consignments covered by the proposed restriction.
The reforms would also extend simplified reporting beyond conventional e-commerce. Suppliers of electricity, heat, cooling and natural gas to consumers would be allowed to calculate and settle VAT through OSS.
That would bring qualifying cross-border utility supplies into the simplified system for the first time. Investors following Polish utilities will still need to distinguish the administrative VAT treatment from the underlying commercial performance of a supplier.
A further stage is planned for 1 July 2028. Poland would retire the existing call-off stock procedure and replace it with TOOG, meaning transfer of own goods.
TOOG would record intra-EU movements of company-owned inventory through OSS. The purpose is to standardise the VAT treatment of goods transferred between EU countries without an immediate sale to an independent customer.
For companies holding stock across borders, the change could alter how internal inventory movements are reported. The brief does not provide the draft’s transitional rules for goods already held under call-off stock arrangements when the replacement takes effect.
The reforms therefore have two principal dates: 1 January 2027 for the first ViDA-aligned VAT amendments and 1 July 2028 for TOOG. Both dates depend on the final legislation retaining the current timetable.
