Supreme Administrative Court: 8% VAT rate for more medical devices

On 5th December 2017 the Supreme Administrative Court in Warsaw (Naczelny Sąd Administracyjny – NSA) issued a judgment confirming that a preferential 8% VAT rate should apply to accessories of medical devices.

The dispute pertained to the frames of corrective glasses imported from abroad. 

Director of the Tax Office in Poznań argued that the preferential 8% VAT rate should not be applied to the frames because, in line with annex no. 3 to the Polish Goods and Services Tax Act ("VAT Act"), such rate applies only to medical devices, whereas the frames are not medical devices but accessories of medical devices defined in article 2.1.33 of the Polish Act on Medical Devices and therefore the “standard” 23% VAT rate should apply.

In the judgement the NSA pointed out that the term “medical devices” in light of the statutory provisions of the tax law should be understood in compliance with article 132 of the Polish Act on Medical Devices, i.e. broadly as medicial devices (“normal” and in vitro), accessories of thereof and systems and procedure packs consisting of medical devices. As a result, the preferential 8% VAT rate should be applied to the accessories of medical devices.