British company is registered for VAT in Poland because it organises conferences in Poland and charges admission. They provide catering to the attendees as part of the conference. This will include coffee, lunch and dinner. Can you please advise whether the VAT on these costs will be recoverable? Thanks for your help.
Answer:
If the company is a provider of these services the answer is yes. In this situation coffee, lunch and dinner is treated as goods bought for further sales. A different situation is on the customer side. We have 2 options, in which VAT is recoverable and 1 when it’s not.
1. VAT recoverable. Supplier provides coffee, lunch and dinner as a part of bigger service in this situation it will be conference and supplier does not indicate meals in invoice at all.
2. VAT recoverable. Supplier provides coffee, lunch and dinner as catering. VAT from the catering is recoverable.
3. VAT NOT recoverable. When the supplier treats coffee, lunch and dinner as a gastronomic service (on-site consumption) the VAT will not be recoverable.