Excise Duty On Electricity Used In Mineralogical Processes

Ruling description

The Supreme Administrative Court in its ruling handed down on August 20, 2015 (case file number: I FSK 869/15) ruled that the consumption of electricity by the company and used in mineralogical processes will be subject to excise duty.

The currently binding provisions of the Excise Duty Act impose excise on electricity (PLN 20.00 per megawatt hour). The list of available excise duty exemptions does not include an excise duty exemption on electricity used in mineralogical processes. Pursuant to Article 2 Section 3 Letter b tiret 5 of the Energy Taxation Directive (2003/96/ EC), mineralogical processes are not encompassed by this directive.

In the discussed case, the NSA assessed the consistency of the Polish law with the EU regulations. The NSA based its ruling on the case C-349/13 decided by the Court of Justice of the European Union concerning legitimacy of imposing excise duty on lubricating oil. The Court ruled that the fact that a given