MDDP strengthens the VAT team

The world of VAT is a dynamic area in which change is the only constant. New settlement rules, the National e-Invoice System, the European Commission’s planned constructions resulting from the VAT in the Digital Age project, changes in practice resulting from the CJEU case law and Polish administrative courts – these are just some of the challenges that taxpayers have to deal with on a daily basis or at least from time to time. In view of the continuing and rapidly growing importance of VAT, MDDP is strengthening its advisory team in this area – a team that is already one of the largest and most important on the Polish advisory market. Two experienced VAT experts, Dr Paweł Selera and Bartłomiej Kołodziej, have joined the VAT team at MDDP.

Dr Paweł Selera has almost 20 years of experience in the area of taxes. Notably, he gained this experience both in the consulting industry (in Germany and Poland, also at MDDP) and at the Ministry of Finance, where he headed the VAT Department for several years. During this time, he was responsible for the preparation and implementation of a number of solutions such as a set of regulations simplifying and modernising VAT settlements (the so-called SLIM VAT package), regulations implementing – after many years of delay – the construction of VAT groups and the option to tax financial services, or the particularly complicated e-commerce package, etc. Most recently, he was responsible for the legislative part of the KSeF implementation project.

Dr. Paweł Selera has a very extensive regulatory experience not only in the area of drafting Polish legislation – he was also involved in the work preparing amendments to the Directive and EU implementing provisions, and participated in the work of the Council of the European Union and the VAT Committee. He represented Poland in the works of the OECD and also before the CJEU.

Bartłomiej Kołodziej has more than 20 years of experience in the VAT field, which he has gained both in business and at the highest levels of the tax administration.

Bartłomiej worked for many years in the tax teams of major advisory firms such as PwC and EY, advising primarily international companies and large Polish enterprises, with a particular focus on the financial services sector.

In recent years, he served as deputy director of the VAT Department at the Ministry of Finance. In this role, Bartłomiej dealt, among other things, with the VAT taxation of activities in the financial and energy and e-commerce sectors. He has participated in work related to the EU VAT system (including the work of the VAT Committee) and has represented Poland before the Court of Justice of the European Union on numerous occasions.

Using his knowledge of the specifics of business in various sectors and his unique experience, Bartłomiej will develop tax advisory services at MDDP for, among others, the financial services and new technologies sectors. He will also support companies in topics concerning the Co-operation Programme and tax security in the broadest sense.

Tomasz Michalik, CEO and head of the VAT team at MDDP, said:

“We are delighted that the ranks of the VAT team at MDDP have been joined by two top-notch tax experts – Paweł and Bartłomiej. We know what tax experts they are, especially in the areas of international trade, financial services, new technologies and energy. These are areas that are extremely important to our clients. And in addition, both experts have a unique set of experiences combining the perspective of the taxpayer and the tax administration. Their knowledge of KSeF and also their comprehensive experience from business and administration is a huge advisory asset that will greatly enrich the VAT team at MDDP.”