The VAT treatment starts with the place of supply. For business-to-business services it is the buyer's country under Article 28b of the Polish VAT Act, so a UK buyer receives an invoice without Polish VAT. A Polish taxpayer can get the 0 percent rate for international transport under Article 83, with the required documents. This is not tax advice.
Which VAT rate goes on a Poland-UK transport invoice?
In practice you will meet three situations. First: the service is bought by a Polish VAT payer. The place of supply is Poland and the carrier may apply the 0 percent rate for international transport if the documentation is complete; without it, the domestic 23 percent rate applies. Second: the service is bought by a company from the UK or another country. The place of supply moves to the buyer's country, the Polish invoice is issued without VAT, often marked NP, with a reverse charge annotation; the buyer settles the tax under its own rules. Third: a purely domestic leg sold separately to a Polish client, which carries the standard 23 percent rate.
Where does the 0 percent rate come from?
Article 83(1)(23) of the VAT Act provides a 0 percent rate for international transport services. The condition is the documentation listed in Article 83(5): above all a consignment note, on road routes the CMR, clearly showing that the EU border was crossed, and for imported goods additionally a document confirming that the transport cost was included in the import tax base. We show how to complete the consignment note correctly in CMR: how to fill in the consignment note.
What does NP on the invoice mean?
NP is the Polish marking for "not subject to": the service is not taxed in Poland because its place of supply is in another country. It is neither an exemption nor a zero rate, just information that Polish VAT does not apply at all. The British buyer accounts for the tax at home under the reverse charge. For the Polish carrier such a sale is an export of services: it goes into the records, and the right to deduct input VAT on costs is, as a rule, preserved.
Where do mistakes happen most often?
- A 23 percent rate on an invoice for a UK company: a buyer established outside Poland should, as a rule, not be charged Polish VAT on a service covered by Article 28b.
- A 0 percent rate without documents: without the full set from Article 83(5) the tax office can question the rate and add 23 percent.
- Confusing the 0 percent rate with NP: the first concerns services taxed in Poland, the second services taxed abroad.
- Not verifying the buyer's status: the Article 28b rule works between businesses; different rules apply to private customers.
How does this look in our practice?
We run our own fleet between Poland and the UK and invoice both Polish and British clients, so both scenarios are our daily routine. Our transport documentation, with the CMR note first among it, is complete from the start, because the same folder serves the VAT treatment and the UK customs clearance. Tax questions are always worth confirming with your own accountants or tax adviser: rules and interpretations change, and the details of a specific transaction can decide the rate.
Three real-life examples
Example one: a Polish furniture maker orders transport of pallets to a consignee in Manchester. The buyer of the service is a Polish company, so the place of supply is Poland; with complete CMR documentation the invoice carries the 0 percent rate as international transport. Example two: a British importer arranges collection from Kielce on EXW terms itself. The buyer is from the UK, so the invoice goes out without Polish VAT, with a reverse charge annotation, and the importer settles the tax at home. Example three: a Polish company orders carriage of pallets only from its warehouse to our Kielce hub as a separate domestic service; that leg carries 23 percent, because on its own it is not international transport. These three setups cover the vast majority of orders on the England route, and the document set collected with the order keeps each one correctly classified.
Sources
- Dziennik Ustaw: Polish VAT Act of 11 March 2004, Articles 28b and 83 (accessed 17 Aug 2026)
- podatki.gov.pl: official VAT information service (accessed 17 Aug 2026)
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