According to the personal interpretation of the Director of the Tax Chamber in Katowice on 3 January 2017 The signature. 2461-IBPP4.4513.386.2016.1.PK electricity lost in the transfer process to external customers is not subject to excise duty.
The individual interpretation of the Director of the Tax Chamber in Katowice concerns a company licensed to distribute and trade electricity. Co-operation with counterparties involves the loss of around 8% the energy sold at the stage of its transmission to the recipients resulting from the physicochemical properties of this process.
„The losses of electricity generated in the Company's energy infrastructure, in connection with the supply of energy to individual reception points, are excluded from excise tax."
According to Article 9(1) Excise duty laws (Journal of Laws of 2009, item 11), In the case of electricity, excise duties are taxed, inter alia.
- the sale of electricity to the final purchaser in the territory of the country,
- electricity consumption by the concession holder for its production or distribution,
The content of this provision means that the obligation to pay excise duty applies, for example, to electricity used for lighting or domestic heating of an electricity trader.
The applicant’s question concerned the possibility of considering the losses of energy transferred as tax-taxable consumption.
The Director of the Tax Chamber in Katowice considered that the applicant’s position was correct, according to which:
„The losses of electricity generated in the Company's energy infrastructure, in connection with the supply of energy to individual reception points, are excluded from excise tax."
The basic principle of excise duty is to tax consumption of certain goods. The tax obligation on other activities or events (e.g. loss of excise goods) must be clear from the law. In this respect, an interpretation that would be detrimental to the taxpayer cannot be used