tax | In Principle

Adjustments of transfer prices have generated a lot of uncertainty among taxpayers for a long time, as evidenced by the large number of individual tax interpretations issued in this area. Due to the change in regulations, and because the right to make an adjustment is affected by numerous factors, taxpayers seek interpretations from the revenue administration even when the facts are not very complicated.

The instrument popularly known as the “IP Box,” introduced on 1 January 2019, allows taxpayers to claim a lower, 5% rate of corporate income tax or personal income tax in their annual tax settlements for income generated from commercialisation of qualified intellectual property rights they have created or developed through R&D activity. In this article we discuss how to benefit from the IP Box in the game development industry, who is eligible for the IP Box, and the conditions that must be met.

“Shield 4.0” extends the deadlines for all obligated entities to file transfer pricing information (TPR), declarations on preparation of local transfer pricing documentation, and enclosures of group transfer pricing documentation. The earlier regulations extended the deadlines only for selected taxpayers.

Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki has announced plans to introduce so-called “Estonian corporate income tax” in Poland and presented the key assumptions of the scheme. If adopted, the reform would come into force from the new year. What are the benefits for taxpayers from this change? Is the Estonian CIT to be introduced into the Polish tax regulations really similar to the original scheme used in Estonia?

Many changes affecting taxpayers’ relations with tax authorities and the administrative courts have been introduced as part of the rollout of successive versions of the Anti-Crisis Shield. Under Shield 3.0, which entered into force on 16 May 2020, taxpayers, tax authorities and the administrative courts are emerging from hibernation.

Recently we wrote about the planned implementation of the Cooperation Programme, under which selected taxpayers would be given the opportunity to cooperate with the head of the National Treasury Administration on a permanent basis. This cooperation would, among other things, enables taxpayers to reach decisions on tax strategy in consultation with the authority competent for verifying the correctness of the taxpayer’s settlements. Until 26 May 2020, taxpayers may submit comments and suggestions to the Ministry of Finance on selected documents relevant to the programme.

One of the consequences of the pandemic and the resulting economic crisis may be the need for some taxpayers to discontinue projects. Do the Polish tax regulations allow for settlement of expenses incurred for discontinued projects under the CIT Act? Will the taxpayer have to make an adjustment of input VAT on expenses incurred in the course of work on such projects?

The difficulties in international transport caused by the pandemic may have a major impact on VAT settlements of Polish exporters. These complications may carry over to the possibility of applying the 0% VAT rate, thus affecting taxpayers’ cash flows.

On 28 April 2020 a government bill including the proposed “Anti-Crisis Shield 3.0” was filed with the parliament. One of the proposals is to amend the Film Act to require providers of on-demand audiovisual media services to make quarterly payments to the Polish Film Institute equal to 1.5% of their revenue from fees for delivering content or for transmission of commercial messages, whichever figure is higher in a given payment period. The duty to pay the new “fees” would enter into force on 1 July 2020.

A system for supporting taxpayers struggling with the consequences of the coronavirus pandemic is being developed at the government level and will probably soon take effect. But taxpayers in difficulty may already draw on existing support instruments. One of them is reduction of income tax advances.

The draft Act on Resolution of Double Taxation Disputes and Conclusion of Advance Pricing Agreements would introduce a new tax institution, the Cooperation Programme, as part of its implementation of the conception of horizontal monitoring. The Cooperation Programme is intended to enter into force on 1 July 2020.

The Retail Sales Tax Act entered into force on 1 September 2016, but so far the state has not raised a single zloty from the tax. Since the European Commission filed an appeal on 24 July 2019 against the judgment of the General Court, the first collection of the tax has been further postponed.