‘VAT Gap’ in Poland: Policy Problem and Policy Response

Value Added Tax (VAT) is the backbone of the EU Member States‘ tax systems. However, the rules for taxing Intra-Community delivery created opportunities for so called ‘Missing Trader Intra-Community fraud’ (MTIC). Together with the shadow economy, they represent VAT noncompliance, proxied by the so-called ‘VAT gap’. The book explores the case of a severe VAT compliance crisis using the example of Poland. Although it has not experienced a recession after the Financial and Sovereign Debt Crises, the size of its ‘VAT gap’ reached the levels recorded by Greece – the hardest hit EU economy. The authors take a public policy perspective, examining the process of policy response formulation and implementation. They cover responses by the tax administration and legislative actions in the areas of tax, as well as criminal law.

Dominik J. Gajewski is a professor of law and the head of the Department of Tax Law at the Warsaw School of Economics. He is also a judge at the Supreme Administrative Court.