5 MDDP cases before the CJEU

The significance of judgments from the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) for Polish practice concerning Value Added Tax (VAT), considering it is a tax largely harmonized, is enormous. This applies to the impact on the case law of Polish administrative courts, decisions of tax authorities, as well as taxpayers’ practices,” said Tomasz Michalik in a comment on the report issued by Wolters Kluwer titled “Polish Tax Cases before the CJEU 2004-2022: Decisions, Representatives, Law Firms.”

According to the third edition of this report, since Poland’s accession to the European Union until the end of 2022, the Court has issued a total of 72 “Polish” preliminary rulings concerning taxes, of which as many as 52 resulted in success for Polish taxpayers. Tomasz Michalik once again found himself among the representatives who handled the most cases concluded by the CJEU, and MDDP leads in this regard in the firm ranking.
Tomasz Michalik represented clients in four proceedings before the Court of Justice of the European Union:

• SAWP (C-37/16) concerning the VAT taxation of reprographic fees;
• Kronospan Mielec (C-222/09) concerning the principles of VAT taxation of engineering services;
• Aspiro (C-40/15) concerning the VAT exemption in the insurance industry;
• MDDP (C-319/12) concerning the VAT exemption in the training industry.

The majority of tax cases before the CJEU concern VAT, but soon the Court will address the first Polish case from another area of taxation, and it will be a case led by Rafał Kran from MDDP. The Supreme Administrative Court (NSA) recently referred two preliminary questions to the CJEU, which relate to the exemption of railway infrastructure from property tax in the context of potential provision of illegal state aid by municipalities (case reference III FSK 3/22). This will be the first case of its kind before the European Court, and its significance may be very broad and relate to the quality of tax law, acceptable practices of state authorities, and their liability for their actions or omissions. This issue involves millions of Polish zlotys, and industrial plants, factories, and municipalities await the decision.“Polish tax cases are concluded in a decisive majority with victories for Polish taxpayers, undoubtedly influenced by, among other factors, the increasing knowledge and competence of their representatives,” summarizes Wolters Kluwer in the report.