VAT TAXATION AND PKD CODES FOR A LAW FIRM CONFIRMING POLISH CITIZENSHIP OF PERSONS OF POLISH DESCENT

We received a legal question from a client running a law firm dealing with confirmation of Polish citizenship of persons with Polish descent, concerning determination of the place of taxation of services rendered by the client and indication of the appropriate tax rate in accordance with the provisions of the Value Added Tax Law, as well as outlining recommended PKD codes for the type of activity conducted. According to the information obtained from the client, the services provided mainly consist of advice on obtaining citizenship, drawing up administrative documentation, gathering intelligence, confirmation of citizenship and representation before an administrative authority. Most of the law firm’s clients are individuals from the US, UK, Canada, Australia, Israel and several other non-EU countries.

In answering the first question regarding VAT taxation, reference should be made to the provisions of Article 28l of the VAT Law, which defines the place of supply of services to non-taxpayers outside the EU. According to Article 28l(3), “in the case of provision of consulting, engineering, legal, accounting services and services similar to these services to non-taxpayers who have their registered office, permanent place of residence or usual place of stay outside the territory of the European Union – the place of supply of services is the place where these entities have their registered office, permanent place of residence or usual place of stay.” Accordingly, the place of supply of the indicated service is outside the territory of the country, so the supply of this service is not subject to VAT in Poland. A similar position was presented in a tax interpretation by the Director of National Tax Information dated March 28, 2024, with the number 0113-

KDIPT1-2.4012.883.2023.2.KT.

Regarding the second question, the scope of services provided by the client should be analyzed with reference to the provisions of the Ordinance of the Council of Ministers of 24.12.2007 on the Polish Classification of Activities (PKD). Thus, the service of searching for genealogical documents of customers’ ancestors can be included in subclass 63.99.Z “Other information service activities, not elsewhere classified.” In turn, delivering by courier to clients the documents needed to apply for a passport is a service included in subclass 82.11.Z “Administrative office service activities.” The law firm also prepares and submits Polish citizenship applications to the office, which is included in subclass 82.19.Z “Photocopying, document preparation and other specialized office support activities.” In addition, taking into account the fact that the law firm provides consulting services, the use of PKD code 70.22.Z “Other business and management consulting” can be assumed to be correct.

In the situation presented, it should be considered that the place of supply of the service performed by the customer is outside the country, so the provision of this service is not subject to VAT in Poland. Nonetheless, it is necessary to verify the limits of VAT exemption that exist in the country of the service recipient’s registered office to determine whether the activity will be subject to VAT there. Analyzing the scope of services provided by the client, it can be concluded that the best corresponds to the PKD codes: 63.99.Z – “Other information service activities, not elsewhere classified,” 70.22.Z “Other business and management consulting,” 82.11.Z – “Service activities related to office administration,” and 82.19.Z “Photocopying, document preparation and other specialized office support activities.”