What is a recycling fee?
This is the legislature’s way of combating the habit of using plastic shopping bags at every possible opportunity. Until a few years ago, no one was surprised by the situation in which a customer came to the store without his own bags – instead, he used new ones, which could be picked up free of charge at the checkout.
In this way, consumers contributed to the increased production of plastic bags and, in turn, more waste. In September 2019, new regulations went into effect to put an end to this behavior. Today we can say that success – at least in part – has been achieved.
Who is affected by the recycling fee for commercial bags?
The fee in question applies to retail or wholesale entrepreneurs who offer shopping bags made of plastic. It is the owners of stores and markets who are required to collect the recycling fee, which they must then transfer to the account of the marshal’s office having jurisdiction over their place of business.
BDO registration
If you operate a retail or wholesale unit and offer customers the opportunity to purchase plastic bags, you must obtain an entry in the database on products and packaging and waste management. To do so, fill out the application available on the gov.pl website and attach it:
- a statement of compliance with the requirements for registration and confirming that the data contained in the application is factually correct, or
- A statement that there are no circumstances resulting in deletion from the BDO Register.
Where to get the funds for the recycling fee?
The law specifies that the seller must collect the fee from customers – it cannot simply pay the appropriate amount to the authority on its own.
All kinds of plastic bags are subject to the fee – it’s not only about the once-popular “rip-offs,” or disposable bags, but also thicker (more than 15 μm thick) commercial bags. However, the fact that consumers in stores have to pay for the bags is not due to the retailers’ decision – the relevant provision is in the Law on Packaging and Packaging Waste Management.
Important!
As with many others, there is an exception to this rule as well: if the bag is made of plastic less than 15 micrometers thick, and it is used to package food and is the primary packaging of bulk food (that is, the food is not packaged in anything else), it is not subject to the recycling fee. The rationale behind this decision is the desire to prevent food waste.
How much is the recycling fee?
Currently, the rate per plastic bag (regardless of material thickness) is 20 cents. This amount should be added to the price for the bag set by the trader, or it may be the entire amount.
How to pay the recycling fee?
The fee must be paid to the Marshal’s Office once a quarter, by the 15th. day of the month following the end of the quarter. The recycling fee must therefore be paid to the office four times a year: in April, July, October and January. If you don’t know what account you should send money to, check the website of your marshal’s office or contact the service department and ask for the bank account number for paying the recycling fee.
Records of issued plastic bags
Two more items need to be added to the list of the entrepreneur’s responsibilities in the context of packaging: the company must keep records and regularly compile statements of bags purchased and issued. If the entrepreneur has already set up an individual account in the BDO Registry, he will find there a unique number, which will be necessary for submitting the annual report.
The following information must be included in the document:
- The number of lightweight bags acquired and issued – with a thickness of 15 to 49 μm,
- The number of acquired and issued bags remaining – with a thickness of 50 μm and above.
The report must be submitted once a year by March 15 for the entire previous calendar year. You can do this electronically using your BDO account.
Preparing a report, however, is not the end of the story. It is also the entrepreneur’s responsibility to keep traditional or electronic records of bags purchased and issued. Such records must be prepared separately for each point of sale and kept for 5 years from the end of the calendar year to which they relate.
Tax implications of the recycling fee
The collection of the fee from customers and its payment to the Marshal’s Office are events that have tax consequences for income tax and VAT.
Income tax – collecting the recycling fee from the customer involves income. On the other hand, when an entrepreneur pays a fee to the marshal’s office, he incurs a deductible expense. Each of these events must be accounted for, although they are actually tax-neutral. Note, however, that the total fee charged to customers for a bag may be higher than the recycling fee (for example, for better quality bags, the consumer will pay PLN 2. Only 20 gr of this amount is the recycling fee, while PLN 1.80 is the store’s revenue). In addition, any sale of a plastic bag must be registered in the fiscal cash register.
VAT – here the matter is simple: the sale of disposable bags is subject to value added tax, just like any other transaction for consumers (individuals who are not in business). Possible doubts are dispelled by the content of the Ministry of Finance’s communication – VAT taxation of the sale of plastic shopping bags.
Consequently, the recycling fee is subject to VAT at a rate of 23%.
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