Excise exemption of aviation fuel applies not only to fuel used for commercial flights but also to fuel used for auxiliary flights associated with them. This is due to the interpretation of the National Tax Information Director at 14 June 2017 The signature. 0111-KDIB3-3.4013.18.2017.1.PK.
The interpretation concerns an entrepreneur organising a visual flight for which he charges a fee from participants. By Article 32(1)(1) Air fuel excise duty laws are exempt from excise duty.
However, the exemption does not apply to private flights. For example, the owner of the aircraft organising the flight for his use must use fuel with paid excise duty.
The applicant wanted to know whether he would be able to benefit from the excise duty exemption for the purchase of aviation fuel used for pay-per-view flights and flights of an auxiliary nature, i.e. from the location of the aircraft to the starting point of the paid viewing flight.
The Director of National Tax Information considered that the key element in this issue was the use of fuel for business purposes. For this reason, both commercial and associated ancillary flights are exempted from excise duty:
„(…) the arrival of an aircraft from the aerodrome to the sighting flight (A), the sighting flight from A to A and the return of the aircraft to the stopping position constitute the use of the aircraft for business purposes and consequently the fuel used for these purposes (...) is subject to excise duty exemption.’
In the same interpretation, it was considered that it was not possible to reimburse the value of excise duty in the event of the acquisition of aviation fuel with excise duty paid and the consumption of commercial flights.