VAT in marketing activities
Conducting marketing campaigns is an integral part of doing business. In the digital age, marketing agencies and in-house marketing departments are outdoing themselves in ways to reach their audiences by taking many forms and marketing tools.
In the course of planning or already implementing the campaign itself, the VAT implications are most often forgotten, and these can vary depending on the method of implementation. For this reason, already at the stage of planning a campaign it is worth paying attention to the tax aspect of marketing activities, so that the tax costs do not overshadow the purposes for which the campaign was implemented.
In some industries (e.g., manufacturing, FMCG), sales-supporting promotional actions involving the transfer of prizes to consumers or businesses are regularly used, the organization of which is entrusted to specialized advertising agencies. As part of the organized action (e.g., a contest or lottery), the task of such an agency is, among other things, to acquire and transfer prizes. What are the VAT implications of such an action? Can the inclusion of the value of the prizes in the agency’s invoice for the marketing service provided entail a VAT risk for the principal? It is worth thinking about this already at the stage of planning the action and estimating its costs.
Who is it for?
- Does your company operate in the FMCG industry?
- Does your marketing department use vouchers for services or goods in its promotional actions?
- Does your marketing department use free gadgets or small gifts in its promotional actions?
- Does your marketing department use marketing actions which involve distribution of samples or prizes for a symbolic fee?
Our support scope:
- Analysis of VAT implications of implemented/ongoing/planned marketing campaign.
- Support in planning marketing activities in terms of VAT accounting.
Contact one of our experts on VAT
Winning the case before the Supreme Administrative Court
on tax control for 2013 and determination of tax liability. Ref. act II FSK 585/20
Winning the case before the Supreme Administrative Court
regarding the Company's CIT exemption. Ref. act II FSK 1250/22
Winning case before the Voivodeship Administrative Court
on alleged abuse of VAT law. Ref. no. III Sa/Wa 203/22
Judgment of the Supreme Administrative Court, ref. no. I FSK 1816/20
The court objected to the very common approach among the tax authorities, but also often among the courts, of attributing an implicit awareness of participation in a fraud by pointing out that the evidence on the record did not show that such awareness existed. The court ordered that very precise criteria be taken into account that would make such awareness of fraud plausible.
Judgment of the Voivodeship Administrative Court in Warsaw (III SA/Wa 2555/20)
Judgment on abuse of rights. The court questioned the authorities' instrumental attempts to apply the concept of abuse of rights, pointing out that the conditions for abuse were not met in the evidence on the record.
Winning case before the CJEU. C-395/09
The right to deduct input tax when purchasing services from countries considered to be tax havens, Oasis East Ltd.
Winning case before the CJEU. C-395/09
The incompatibility with Community law of Polish provisions concerning the restriction of the right of entrepreneurs to deduct VAT on the purchase of passenger cars and fuel for them, Magoora Sp. z o.o.
Winning case before the CJEU. C-313/05
Excise duty levied on imported second-hand cars in connection with their first registration in Poland, Maciej Brzezinski
Most conducted and won cases when representing taxpayers before the CJEU among all Polish attorneys.
Jerzy Martini - author and co-author of Commentary on the VAT Directive (Unimex ed.)
Jerzy Martini - author, co-author and editor of Commentary to the VAT Act (publ. C.H.Beck)
Jerzy Martini - author and co-author of "VAT in the jurisprudence of the European Court of Justice" (publ. C.H.Beck)
Marek Wojda - co-author of Commentary on the VAT Directive (Unimex ed.) and the VAT Act (C.H.Beck ed.)
Featured in the 'Law firm on Linkedin - a practical guide' by legal marketing agency Tomczak Stanisławski.
Repeatedly recognised in the rankings of Rzeczpospolita and Dziennik Gazeta Prawna.
We teach at universities, including the School of Economics
Jerzy Martini honoured annually in the prestigious Chambers & Partners ranking, indicated as Band I (highest possible level) in the individual ranking of tax advisers in the Tax Consultants category.