12.01
Earn on lowered penalty interest on tax arrears created by the end of 2015
New regulations that have been implemented to Tax ordinance as of 1 January 2016 implement 3 tiers of penalty interest. Regular interest (calculated on the same basis as in 2015 and earlier), increased interest (150% of the regular interest), which are applicable in certain conditions to tax arrears in VAT and lowered ...

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03.12
Foreign exchange options and VAT
We would like to draw you attention to the recently issued verdict of the Polish Supreme Administration Court (I FSK 1217/14) concerning VAT on foreign currency options. The court has ruled, contrary to one of its previous verdicts, that a company which enters into option transaction with a bank should be regarded as V...

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02.12
Payment arrears – return to former regulations in terms of tax deductibility of costs
Starting as of 1 January 2016 restrictions on tax deductibility of unpaid liabilities is to be eliminated from Polish regulations on income tax. Existing regulations stipulate that in case when a liability is recognized as tax deductible cost but not paid within 30 days (or 90 days in some cases), the taxpayer is obli...

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10.06
Sale of receivable - tax deductible costs
Administrative Court in Gdansk, in a case run by us, has recently issued a very favourable ruling concerning tax deductible costs in transactions of sale of receivables. The court has accepted that the nominal value of the receivable (also a receivable concerning interest) constitutes tax deductible in such a transacti...

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21.05
VAT on acquisition of mobile devices
From July 1, 2015 amendments to the Act on VAT come into force. These amendments  impose on the buyer the obligation to settle due VAT in connection with the acquisition of phones, tablets and laptops (within the so-called reverse charge). This mechanism will apply to the purchase transactions of this kind of equ...

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15.04
Adjustment of tax-deductible costs – another favorable judgment
We wrote recently about favorable judgment of the Supreme Administrative Court (ref. No 221/13), which ruled that tax authorities can’t demand from a taxpayer a retroactive adjustment of tax-deductible costs. It would be against the law and the principle of the rule of law, when such a demand of adjustment is fol...

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11.03
Tax authorities can’t demand a retroactive adjustment of tax-deductible costs – stated the Supr
The Supreme Administrative Court (NSA) recently ruled (ref. No FSK 221/13) that abovementioned demand is against the law and the principle of the rule of law, when such an adjustment is followed after a proper settlement of costs and was not caused by a taxpayer, who could be accused of a violation of law....

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27.02
Apparently we will not avoid social security payments on the retainer for a private use of company c
In one of our earlier alerts we informed about a potential risk connected with necessity to add social security contributions for private use of company cars. Now, we have the official announcement of the Social Security Office (ZUS) in Gdańsk (ruling dated 5 February 2015, No DI/100000/43/76/2015). Unfortunately, our...

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13.02
Supreme Administrative Court is going to issue a ruling on VAT compensation for expropriation
The case of taxation of compensation for expropriation of real estate will be docketed in the Supreme Administrative Court (consisting of 7 judges) once again.  The previous practice caused an obvious harm to owners who are not only deprived of their property but also forced to pay VAT due to expropriation. Tax a...

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28.01
Administration court on 100% VAT deduction from personal cars - in favour of taxpayers
On January 20, 2015 the Regional Administrative Court in Krakow has issued a favorable ruling on deduction of VAT related to personal cars. A company has applied for a tax ruling and asked if it is allowed to deduct 100% of VAT on purchase and costs of use of personal cars if the cars will be used for personal and not...

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22.01
Trip organised by an employer - social security contributions
On December 16th,2014 Social Security Office (ZUS) dealt with a case of exemption an employment income from a basis of social security contributions. The employment income means in this case, the income which was achieved by an employee, who took part in an organized work trip. The applicant in his motion stated, that...

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16.01
Tax on company cars' usage - once again
In recently popular case of flat-rate taxation of private use of official cars - Ministry of Finance creates further problems. It has recently said that the flat tax does not include fuel and now stated that rules for determining income from car using do not apply to individuals who are not employees. Therefore, tax au...

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22.12
Interest on overpaid tax
On December 16, 2014 Regional Administrative Court in Gdańsk issued an important ruling on the issue of interest, which taxpayer can demand from tax authorities. The demand will be justified, when taxpayer previously paid the tax, resulting from a tax decision, which was later repealed by higher authority or admi...

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05.12
Never-ending story with flat tax on use of a company car
Companies became satisfied taxpayers, because of new provisions regarding flat-rate taxation of using company cars in private use. But a satisfaction occurred too soon. Minister of Finance responding to the “Rzeczpospolita” letter, surprisingly stated that flat rate amount does not include fuel for using co...

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02.12
VAT on amounts paid in relation to early termination of a lease agreement
The amounts paid to the landlord under a lease agreement for early termination of a fixed-term contract should not be considered as compensation - so ruled the Regional Administrative Court in Warsaw in its judgment of October  17, 2014 (ref. No. III SA/Wa 1230/14). Judgment was given on the basis of the followin...

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21.11
Social security contributions for freelance contracts – changes as of 2016
Polish Parliament has adopted changes to the law on social security system, which significantly modify rules concerning social security contributions paid on freelance contracts which are concluded by a given individual with more than one entity. Those changes will increase the costs of employment but will also increa...

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05.11
Medical packages and other benefits – problem with VAT
After an optimistic sign which was a judgment of the Constitutional Court concerning free-of-charge benefits for employees, it's time for tax payers to adverse actions of tax administration. The Minister of Finance in letter dated 18 September 2014, no. PT8/033/86/539/PSG/14/RD84700 has changed, favourable to tax payer...

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04.11
Undeductible VAT on vehicles can be questioned also as a cost
If we resign from the option of full deduction of VAT on vehicles, the undeductible VAT becomes our tax deductible cost for income tax purposes. This qualifiaction of VAT is, however, dependant on the fact that we use the vehicles for business purposes. Tax authorities say, in some of their official rulings, that even...

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24.10
Taxation of private use of company cars
Polish Parliament passed amendments to the PIT, which should normalize taxation rules of using company cars for private purposes. According to new regulations, income which is generated from this source was set at a flat rate of 250 PLN (for cars with engine capacity of up to 1600 cm3) and 400 PLN (for cars with larger...

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23.10
Fuel cards - the problem continues
Following our news from 24TH July, 2014 relating to fuel cards and the judgment of the Supreme Administration Court (I FSK 803/13), we would like to draw your attention to a new ruling issued recently. In July the Court has ruled that taxpayers buying fuel and other goods on the petrol station using fuel cards are not...

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10.10
Court fees should not be regarded as investment expenditures
Recently the Ministry of Finance has issued a tax ruling confirming that court fees concerning claims against contractors engaged in investment process should not be regarded as investment expenditures. Such expenditures are qualified as indirect costs deducted for tax purposes at the moment of their payment....

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08.10
Time for issuing of tax ruling - verdict of the Constitutional Tribunal
On 25 of September 2014, the Constitutional Tribunal issued a sentence, at the request of the Polish Ombudsman, that due to the provision of Art. 14o § 1 of the Polish Tax Code - the three-month deadline for a tax interpretation is a term, in which the tax authority only needs to issue the interpretation and does ...

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25.09
The possibility to recover tax advance paid by members of partnerships transformed in to limited joi
On 8 September 2014 a verdict favorable to taxpayers was made by Supreme Administrative Court (case no. II FSK 3890/13). This verdict may be interesting to partners who were members of the partnerships transformed then in to limited joint-stock partnership (Pl: S.K.A.).  The Court determined that the partner of t...

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23.09
Repeatable activity blocks the right to obtain tax ruling ?
In the last week's verdict, the Regional Administrative Court in Gdansk has ruled that taxpayer may not apply for tax ruling concerning transactions which have repeatable character if the taxpayer is at the same time subject to tax inspection or tax proceeding. If this opinion is shared, taxpayers who are subject to ta...

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19.09
Tax qualification of R&D expenses
In yesterday's verdicts the Supreme Administration Court has ruled that expenses for R&D activities are tax deductible also if no physical asset is created. Such physical asset has to exist only if we want to deduct the R&D expenditures throug depreciation but is not necessary if we deduct them at once.  ...

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16.09
Simplified reporting for micro entrepreneurs
On 5th of September 2014 an amendment to the Act on Accounting has come into force being an implementation of the Directive of the European Parliament and of the Council 2013/34/EC of 26 June 2013, concerning the annual financial statements (...). General purpose of the amendment is to reduce costs of conducting busin...

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12.09
Claim for tax on the basis of civil procedure
The Supreme Court has ruled (case III CZP 64/14) that tax authorities are allowed to claim before civil court from a taxpayer refund of tax which was wrongly returned to him. This means that such a claim may be raised even if the tax has prescribed on the grounds of tax regulations (5 years), provided that ci...

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11.09
New transactions to be registered with fiscal cash registers as of 2015
According to draft amendments to the decree concerning fiscal cash registers, prepared by the Ministry of Finance, registration obligations can cover transactions which are actually not sales. The draft may be understood as obliging to register transactions between an employer and an employee which are now beyond this ...

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09.09
VAT deduction by commune
The Supreme Administration Court has recently confirmed that communes are entitled to deduct VAT from investment expenditures which are used for taxable activity by their internal entities....

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05.09
Bonus and VAT invoice
The issue of documentation and invoicing of bonuses calculated on the value of purchases have raised controversies over past years. In 2012 the Supreme Administration Court has issued a ruling which states that such bonus (as well as bonus for timely payment of invoices) is actually a reduction of the original sales pr...

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03.09
CFC rules against profit shifting
Polish Parliament adopted the amendment of the acts on income taxes, introducing the provisions on taxation of Controlled Foreign Corporations (CFC). The primary aim of the implemented amendments is to limit the transfer of Polish taxpayers income to the countries of the preferential tax regime. New law will enter into...

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02.09
Change of the buyer and invoice for prepayment
The Polish Supreme Administration Court has ruled on August 29, 2014 that if a party which has paid a prepyment documented with a VAT invoice is subsitutted by another entity, the recipient of the prepayment is not oblige to correct the issued invoice, provided that the prepayment is not refunded by the recipient ...

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01.09
VAT and loyalty programmes
For years taxpayers have been using advertising agencies for purposes of distribution of gifts to their customers while maintaing the right for full deduction of VAT (including VAT on the value of the gifts). This scheme seems to be gone now. Polish courts, following the rulings of the European Tribunal, are changing t...

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