Jan K., a literature enthusiast with an extraordinary fondness for Polish children’s poetry, finally managed to find a very rare book after a long search – an edition of Julian Tuwim’s “Locomotive,” which he purchased without hesitation from a used bookstore in Maryland, USA, via the online platform AbeBooks. The ease and simplicity of the solution – clicking the “BUY NOW” button, which would soon bring his dream book to him – combined with the bargain price for such a sought-after rarity in the reading community, filled Jan K. with optimism. From that moment on, he simply waited for the Polish Post to knock on his door and deliver him the publication he considered the opportunity of a lifetime. Perhaps it would have been, had Jan K. considered the key issues surrounding importing goods from the USA and the associated costs.
According to Article 2, point 7 of the Polish Value Added Tax Act of 11 March 2004, the import of goods should be understood as “the import of goods from a third country into the territory of the European Union.” Generally speaking, import taxes are charged by the customs authority of a given country or region for shipments originating abroad. However, this does not mean that a fee must be paid for every international shipment. Many countries and organizations (primarily the European Union) apply de minimis threshold. This is the minimum order value, determined in a given country, below which import taxes are not charged. For example, in the European Union, pursuant to Article 23, paragraph 1 of Regulation 1186/2009 establishing a Community system of customs duty reliefs, shipments from third countries containing goods of negligible value are exempt from customs duties. According to Article 23, paragraph 2 of that regulation, these goods do not exceed a value of EUR 150 per shipment.
Recently, administrative courts have been considering the possibility of imposing VAT obligations on individuals and companies providing services via the SaaS model. This article provides an analysis of the nature of the SaaS model, its advantages and disadvantages, the legal obligations associated with it for both users and service providers and the latest administrative court case law related to this model.
