POZNAN, Poland —When Staff Sgt. Anthony Zeccardi arrived in Poland, he wasn’t thinking about value-added tax.
Like many Americans stationed here, he quickly settled into routine trips to the grocery store near his apartment.
It wasn’t until he began buying electronics for law school and restocking his apartment that he realized how much Poland’s 23% value-added tax was adding to the cost of everyday life.
As the U.S. military presence in Poland has grown into a long-term assignment with command-sponsored families, many personnel say one overseas benefit still hasn’t arrived: personal VAT relief.
And though an agreement between Washington and Warsaw provides for tax exemptions for Americans stationed here, the implementation has yet to be finalized.
Soldiers shop inside a unit-run makeshift post exchange at Forward Operating Site Karliki, Poland, on Dec. 17, 2025. Unlike many long-established U.S. military communities in Europe, installations in Poland do not have commissaries, exchanges or on-post gas stations. (Caleb Barrieau/AAFES)
A U.S. soldier prepares to withdraw Polish zloty from an ATM on Camp Kosciuszko, Poland, on Aug. 7, 2026. Unlike many long-established U.S. military communities in Europe, service members stationed in Poland are not exempt from the country’s sales tax. (ShaTyra Cox/Stars and Stripes)
“Twenty-three percent is almost like a credit card interest rate,” said Zeccardi.
But the added expense wasn’t immediately obvious to him, in part because the tax is built into the listed price, not added at the register.
Zeccardi had hoped to use the income he earned during his Poland tour to buy supplies he needs for law school.
“I’m trying to prep everything now, but the VAT is definitely standing in the way of me getting everything that I wanted,” he said.
Established tax relief programs differ widely elsewhere in Europe, with troops in Germany able to claim reimbursements for even the tiniest purchases by submitting receipts on an online app.
In contrast, American service members in Italy have to obtain written estimates and money orders before they can get the form necessary to make a VAT-free purchase.
U.S. European Command is working with Poland to develop a bilateral agreement that is required to offer personal tax relief, EUCOM said in an emailed statement. That requirement is outlined in the Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement signed in 2020.
The military is committed to creating “a fair, easy-to-use process that maximizes benefits for Soldiers and civilians in Poland as soon as the conditions for the program have been set,” EUCOM said.
For many personnel, the absence of that system becomes apparent the first time they ask whether purchases can be made tax-free.
When asked about VAT relief for U.S. personnel stationed in the country, employees at several retailers Stars and Stripes visited instead directed reporters to the Global Blue refund program for tourists.
But unlike tourists, who typically claim VAT refunds when leaving the European Union, Americans stationed in Poland often live in the country for years.
The Global Blue program is not what the Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement envisioned.
Meanwhile, another Polish tax relief program has long been available to NATO personnel stationed in the country. Mike Bush spent more than a decade using that program.
While serving 11 years at NATO’s Multinational Corps Northeast headquarters in Szczecin, Bush received quarterly VAT reimbursements, and not just for major purchases like furniture or appliances.
His quarterly submissions included grocery trips to Lidl, pharmacy purchases, utility bills, fuel and other routine expenses.
“It all adds up,” said Bush, who now works at USAG Poland.
One quarterly claim returned more than 1,180 zloty, or around $317 U.S. dollar, in VAT, according to records Bush shared with Stars and Stripes. When he was furnishing his home and purchasing larger items, quarterly reimbursements exceeded 10,000 zloty, nearly $2700.
The process required him to request invoices, organize them on a spreadsheet in chronological order and submit the paperwork every three months for review by Polish tax authorities.
“It was a lot of work,” Bush said.
Even so, the financial benefit made the effort worthwhile, he said.
“We’ve been able to save that money, and that money has compounded over time,” Bush said. “It has afforded us the opportunity to retire with an account where I would not have been able to put as much money in if I didn’t have it.”
According to an official familiar with the issue, Poland’s existing NATO VAT reimbursement system was considered as officials explored options for implementing personal VAT relief under the EDCA.
But EUCOM ultimately decided not to pursue that model, according to the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to discuss internal planning. Instead, EUCOM chose instead to continue developing a separate bilateral implementing arrangement.
Tax relief for official government purchases has largely been resolved, the official said, but personal VAT relief is considered a medium priority while other implementation efforts are underway.
But the issue appears to have long been of greater concern among personnel stationed in Poland.
Don Drummond, a former strategic plans analyst with U.S. Army Garrison Poland, said questions about it surfaced regularly during his two years supporting the garrison.
“It was brought up at every single town hall I attended, and that was a monthly recurring event,” Drummond said.
Garrison leadership, who lacked the authority to resolve it themselves, consistently raised the issue through Army channels and when senior Defense Department officials and congressional delegations visited, he said.
“This wasn’t really a garrison problem to solve,” he said. “The authority rests with EUCOM.”
Drummond said the existence of VAT relief programs for NATO personnel demonstrates that Poland already has experience administering tax relief under other agreements.
As an employee of the garrison’s Military Personnel Division, Zeccardi also routinely fields questions about VAT relief from soldiers arriving from Germany, Italy and Belgium, which each have their own relief programs under separate bilateral agreements.
”They think they’re going to have the same entitlements and things,” he said. “We have to tell them, ‘Oh, sorry, we don’t have that.’”
The issue could affect more than soldiers’ pocketbooks. It may affect military retention and staffing at posts in Poland, for example.
“Not having VAT relief or gas tax relief hurts the ability for organizations in Poland to attract and retain the best possible soldiers and civilians,” said the official who spoke anonymously. “When people leave, they cite this as one of the reasons.”
Zeccardi said VAT relief could make Poland more attractive as a long-term assignment and could influence soldiers to extend in Poland rather than requesting follow-on assignments to Germany or Italy.
But for him, the positives of an assignment in Poland outweigh the VAT issue, which for him is “only one thing in the negative column.”
“Goods are still fairly cheap here for most things,” he said. “Going for a nice dinner is a lot more achievable than it is in the States.”