More and more sole proprietorships work with partners from other European Union countries — buying goods, selling programming, marketing or consulting services, and using foreign online tools and platforms. Each such transaction may trigger an obligation to register for VAT-UE, regardless of whether you are an active VAT payer or use the exemption. We explain when registration is required, how to complete it, and how to account for intra-community transactions in 2026.
What VAT-UE is and who it concerns
VAT-UE is a registration for intra-community transactions. Once completed, the tax office confirms that you may use your tax identification number (NIP) preceded by the “PL” prefix in dealings with partners from the European Union. This number also allows your business to be verified in the EU VIES system, which foreign partners use before entering into a transaction.
Registration for VAT-UE is not the same as registration for domestic VAT. Both active VAT payers and entrepreneurs using the VAT exemption (a so-called “nievatowiec”) must register for VAT-UE if they carry out certain transactions with EU entities. A domestic VAT exemption therefore does not automatically release you from obligations related to EU trade.
When you must register for VAT-UE
An active VAT payer is obliged to register for VAT-UE before carrying out one of the EU transactions for the first time: intra-community acquisition of goods (WNT), intra-community supply of goods (WDT), providing services to a taxable person from another EU country where the place of taxation is the buyer's country (Article 28b of the VAT Act), or acquiring such services from a foreign taxable person (import of services).
An entrepreneur exempt from VAT may also be required to register. This obligation arises when: the value of intra-community acquisition of goods exceeds PLN 50,000 in the tax year; when they provide services to a taxable person from the EU accounted for in the buyer's country (Article 28b) — here registration is required before the first such service; or when they acquire services from a foreign taxable person (import of services) accounted for in Poland — again before the first transaction. In such cases, even a “nievatowiec” must account for VAT on the given transaction.
How to register for VAT-UE
Registration is done using the VAT-R form — in part C.3 you tick the relevant fields concerning intra-community transactions. The form can be filed online via the Biznes.gov.pl portal or e-Urząd Skarbowy (using the “Profil Zaufany” trusted profile or a qualified signature), as well as on paper at the competent tax office. Registration is free of charge.
It is worth filing the application in advance so that the VAT-UE number is active before the first transaction. After registering, you can check your status and that of your partners on an ongoing basis in the VIES system. On invoices issued to partners from the EU, you use the number with the “PL” prefix.
How to account for intra-community transactions
An intra-community supply of goods (WDT) to a taxable person from the EU benefits from the 0% VAT rate, provided you meet the conditions: the buyer has a valid VAT-UE number, you hold documentation confirming the export of the goods to another EU country, and you yourself are registered for VAT-UE. If any of these conditions is missing, the domestic rate may have to be applied.
When providing services to a company from the EU for which the place of taxation is the buyer's country (Article 28b), as a rule you do not charge Polish VAT — the tax is accounted for by the buyer in their country under the reverse charge mechanism. On the invoice you then include the annotation “reverse charge” (odwrotne obciążenie).
In the case of WNT and the import of services, VAT is accounted for by the Polish buyer. An active VAT payer reports both output and input VAT in the JPK_V7 file, so the transaction is usually neutral. A “nievatowiec” accounts for the output VAT themselves on a separate return (VAT-8 for WNT after registering for VAT-UE, or VAT-9M for the import of services), pays it by the 25th day of the month following the transaction and — being exempt from VAT — has no right to deduct it.
The VAT-UE recapitulative statement — deadlines and rules
Intra-community transactions carried out are reported in the VAT-UE recapitulative statement. It is filed exclusively electronically, by the 25th day of the month following the month in which the tax obligation for these transactions arose.
The statement is always filed for monthly periods — even if you account for VAT quarterly — and only for the months in which an intra-community transaction actually occurred. There are no “nil returns” here. Make sure the data in the recapitulative statement is consistent with what you report in your records and the JPK_V7 file, as discrepancies are a common reason for enquiries from the tax office.