The Warsaw office of the international law firm Chadbourne & Parke recently won a major Polish tax case that will have significant implications for legal advisors and advocates practicing in Poland.

The Supreme Administrative Court of Poland found no grounds for the payment, by legal advisors, of value-added tax exclusively related to court-ordered legal aid in cases when the services are rendered by their partnerships that already pay due value-added tax. In its binding January 27 ruling, the Court rejected the Minister of Finance’s cassation appeal of the Administrative Court in Warsaw’s ruling that agreed with Chadbourne’s argument against the tax payment.

Dorota Szubielska, a partner in the firm’s Warsaw office, represented her colleague, Piotr Karwat, European Counsel in Chadbourne’s Warsaw office, in the case. Their aim was to have the interpretation of the Minister of Finance overruled.

The National Chamber of Legal Advisors in Poland supported the efforts of Chadbourne’s attorneys from the beginning and subsequently joined them in the proceeding before the Court.

“The judgment of the Supreme Administrative Court means that legal advisors will not have to register additional economic activity because of one court appointment and that the Polish courts will be released from administrative duties related to accounting of the taxes of legal representatives in connection with their work as court-appointed attorneys,” noted Ms. Szubielska, head of the tax practice at Chadbourne’s Warsaw office.