Who Does Not Want the Anti-Inflation Shield to Cover LPG

As a result of the industry's efforts, the amendment included a provision cutting the VAT rate on autogas from 23% to 8%, while the rate on liquefied gas used for heating purposes remained unchanged. Residents of rural areas who use gas for heating may be left without access to the Tarcza Antyinflacyjna (the Anti-Inflation Shield).

The unequal treatment of liquefied gas consumers as compared with natural gas consumers was flagged by the Polish Liquefied Gas Organization as early as December.

Under the bill currently being processed by the Sejm, the VAT rate on LPG used for heating purposes will remain at its base level.
The situation is similar in the case of coal, although its users are entitled, under a separate act, to a higher shielding allowance.

The Sejm worked on the act at lightning speed. The Sejm's Public Finance Committee met the very day after the bill was tabled. Despite a demand to cut the VAT rate on LPG used for heating, submitted as a minority motion, first the Committee and then, on 13 January, the plenary sitting of the Sejm rejected by 223 votes to 217 the possibility of including rural LPG consumers among the beneficiaries of the Anti-Inflation Shield.

On 14 January the act passed by the Sejm was referred to the Senate. The Polish Liquefied Gas Organization immediately sent, in cooperation with Krajowa Rada Drobiarstwa (the National Poultry Council) and Krajowa Rada Izb Rolniczych (the National Council of Agricultural Chambers), a joint letter to Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki appealing for recognition of the discrimination against rural gas consumers written into the provisions of the Anti-Inflation Shield.

On 19 January representatives of the Polish Liquefied Gas Organization took part in a sitting of the Senate Budget and Public Finance Committee, calling for the amended act to take account of the interests of residents of rural areas who have no access to the gas or district heating networks. The senators took our demands into consideration and on 20 January the Senate passed the amendment to the Goods and Services Tax Act with changes by 53 votes to 47.

The Anti-Inflation Shield 2.0 is due to enter into force on 1 February 2022. For that to happen, the Sejm must address the amendments introduced by the Senate at its sitting scheduled for 26-27 January, and the President of Poland must sign the act without delay.

UPDATE: On 26 January the Sejm rejected, by 233 votes to 224, the amendment that sought to end the discrimination against LPG users, and on 27 January the President of Poland signed the act amending the Goods and Services Tax Act. As a result, from 1 February to 31 July 2022 two VAT rates on liquefied gas (LPG) will apply in Poland: 23% on gas used for heating and 8% – on autogas. At the same time, the deputies also cut the VAT rate on natural gas to 0% and the rate on district heating to 5%.