Anti-inflation legislative shield: lower excise duty on electricity and fuels

by Jakub Wajs

15 December 2021

The lower chamber of Polish parliament (Sejm) adopted on 9 December 2021 an act amending the Excise Duty Act and the Retail Sales Tax Act.
 
The act introduces the following temporary solutions until 31 May 2022:

-  lower tax on electricity and some engine fuels;
-  exemption of household electricity from excise duty;
-  no retail tax payable on the sale of fuel.
 

Excise duty on electricity and fuels

EU law forbids the Member States to introduce zero excise duty. Therefore, the lawmakers have decided to lower the excise duty on energy products to minimum (including fuel fee and emission charge) so that the emission charge and the fuel fee remain the same in 2021 and 2022.

The following charges will be reduced to the minimum allowed by the EU:

• excise duty on diesel oil, biocomponents constituting fuel in their own right, engine petrol, liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) (from 20 December 2021 to 31 May 2022);
• excise duty on electricity (from 1 January 2022 to 31 May 2022).

Reduced VAT

According to the Ministry of Finance, the temporary solutions include also lower VAT on:

• supplies of gas (from 23% to 8%),
• electricity (from 23% to 5%),
• heat (from 23% to 8%);

from January to March 2022.
 
The above solutions will be introduced by way of a separate government resolution.
 
If you have any questions about the anti-inflation legislative package, you are welcome to contact Rödl & Partner experts.