The Polish Ministry of Finance has prepared a general interpretation (general tax binding ruling) explaining how to correctly qualify for VAT purposes transactions with the use of fuel cards, carried out in the three-party model.
Depending on the circumstances of the transaction, we may be dealing either with the delivery of goods or the provision of services.
As part of the fuel card use schemes that are available on the market, in which three entities participate:
- One of the entities (eg the lessor, the parent company) provides (hands over) to the contractor fuel cards which it is not an issuer
- The second entity – this contractor (e.g. lessee, subsidiary) using the above-mentioned cards purchase goods from a third entity – supplier running a petrol station (e.g. a fuel company)
According to the general interpretation, the transaction of providing fuel cards should be classified as the provision of services if, in a given case, the following conditions are jointly met:
- The customer (card holder) purchased fuel directly from suppliers operating petrol stations
- Only the recipient decided about the ways of purchasing fuel (choosing the place of purchase), the quantity and quality of fuel, the time of purchase and the method of fuel use
- The recipient (excluding the intermediary entity) bears all the costs related to the purchase of fuel
- The role of an intermediary was limited to providing the recipient with a financial instrument (fuel card) enabling the purchase of goods.
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