Abstract

The aim of the article is to determine minimal standards of carrying out tax proceedings concerning good faith requirement in the light of ECJ judgments and the judgment of Regional Administrative Court in Wrocław of 21 June 2017 (I SA/Wr 1341/16). The court in Wrocław spoke out against the application of the collective responsibility principle and underlined that tax authorities are obliged to collect all materials concerning the relations of a given taxpayers with the contractors, the circumstances of the transactions and the way the taxpayer behaved and reacted in a given situation. Then such materials should be objectively and impartially assessed. What is important - when the transaction is carried out in a typical manner and its circumstances cannot raise any doubts - then the taxpayer cannot be deprived of 0% VAT or the right to deduct VAT. If not - only then tax authorities should assess whether the taxpayer duly verified the contractor. If the „verification standards” are not met - then tax authorities should identify whether implementing proper verification methods could make a difference. In other words - if the taxpayer (not knowing about the fraud) did not have any chances to reveal the fraud of the contractor at all - VAT deduction or 0% VAT rate should not be questioned.