Polish farmers face deadline for diesel excise tax refunds

Polish farmers are facing a deadline of August 31 to submit applications for the second excise tax refund on diesel fuel for 2026. To qualify, farmers must submit VAT invoices for fuel purchased between February 1 and July 31. The refund rate is set at 1.48 PLN per liter, with specific limits applied per hectare of agricultural land, per pig, or per livestock unit. Payments are expected to be processed in October.

However, a complication has arisen regarding documentation. Some fuel stations, including ORLEN, are issuing transaction confirmations with QR codes instead of traditional paper VAT invoices. These confirmations are not valid VAT invoices and are being rejected by municipal offices.

ORLEN stated that the practice follows Polish VAT regulations and the National e-Invoicing System (KSeF). To obtain the necessary VAT invoice, customers must scan the QR code to access the KSeF system, download the document, and print it. The company noted that while they understand the difficulty for those less familiar with digital tools, the process is a requirement of the mandatory e-invoicing system being implemented in Poland.