New legislation on the taxation of electricity and energy products is expected to come into force on 1 January 2009.
The legislation will bring Polish law into line with the EU Energy Directive and will replace the Excise Act of 23 January 2004. It has been drafted by the Ministry of Finance but has yet to be passed by the Polish Parliament.
Currently, excise duty is payable by electricity producers. Under the new legislation, the duty will be imposed on businesses selling electricity to end consumers. The excise rate will remain at PLN 20 per MWh.
Electricity from renewable energy sources will continue to be exempt from excise duty. The exemption will be obtained on submission of a written statement by the business that the President of the Energy Regulatory Office has accepted the certificates of energy origin as confirmation that the energy comes from renewable sources.
This legislation should have been introduced during the transitional period ending on 1 January 2006. Some energy producers have sought to rely directly on the EU Energy Directive to claim reimbursement of all excise duty they have paid since 1 January 2006. Although their applications have been rejected by the tax offices, their claim has been upheld at first instance by the administrative courts.
Law: Council Directive 2003/96/EC of 27 October 2003 on restructuring the Community framework for the taxation of energy products and electricity
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The original publication date for this article was 31/07/2008.