Polish Briefing: The formula for the Orlen-Lotos merger to be presented today | The government wants to completely abolish VAT on gas and lower taxes on heat and energy

What goes on in Poland on the 12th of January.

The formula for the Orlen-Lotos merger to be presented today

PKN Orlen has invited journalists to a press conference on strategic development and it is unofficially known that its main topic is the merger with Lotos.

By January 14 Orlen was to present how it would implement the remedial measures proposed by the European Commission before agreeing to the merger with Lotos. The idea was to sell 30 percent of the Gdańsk refinery’s shares and 80 percent of Lotos gas stations to new entities.

BiznesAlert.pl informed that, apart from MOL and Saudi Aramco, purported by Radio ZET as buyers of refineries and fuel stations, respectively, there are also other partners whose names have not been presented so far. The conference with the participation of Orlen CEO Daniel Obajtek will be an opportunity to present the details of the proposed operation.

The government wants to completely abolish VAT on gas and lower taxes on heat and energy

As part of the anti-inflation shield 2.0, a reduction of VAT to 8 percent on fuels will be introduced for a period of 6 months, starting from February 1, and the tax on gas will also be abolished, Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki announced. At the same time, VAT for electricity and heat will be reduced to 5 percent for the next four months. The reductions are to cost PLN 15-20 billion.

“In the second anti-inflation shield, we are implementing new solutions for six months from February 1, until the end of July – we want to lower VAT on fuel from 23 percent to 8 percent. This will be a fundamental price change (…) I hope in three or four weeks at the latest,” Morawiecki said during a press conference.
At the same time, the gas tax is to be completely abolished, and the reductions are to apply to individual customers also when they are part of housing cooperatives or housing communities. “We are also lowering VAT on electricity to 5 percent and VAT on heat for the next four months, so for heating apartments, we also lower it to 5 percent,” Morawiecki emphasized.