Investment funds
Investment funds enable their participants to collectively invest money in common interest in securities, money market instruments and other property rights defined by relevant regulations.
In Poland, an investment fund can be established as:
- open-ended investment fund (FIO),
- specialized open-ended investment fund (SFIO),
- closed-end investment fund (FIZ).
Depending on the type, each fund has a different tax status. Under the CIT Act, open-ended investment funds and specialized open-ended investment funds established under the Investment Funds Act are, as a rule, exempt from tax. The exemption in question does not apply to specialized open-ended investment funds that apply the investment rules and restrictions set forth for closed-ended investment funds.
In addition to its standard function of investing the money raised, an investment fund can serve as a “holding company” for carrying out certain investments, and can also play an important role in the succession of assets or the company.
One of the many advantages of such an arrangement is that it is more likely to obtain the necessary financing (e.g., a bank loan) than an “ordinary” commercial company. In turn, in the case of further lending to subsidiaries, the interest received by the fund will, in principle, be exempt from CIT taxation.