Tax management

The Council of Ministers has adopted further draft laws included in the deregulation package. Among them are two bills providing for changes in income taxes and inheritance and gift tax. They were referred for the first reading at the Polish Parliament on May 21, 2025. According to the drafts, the new income tax regulations are to take effect on January 1, 2026, while the changes in inheritance and gift tax are to take effect 14 days after the date of publication in the Journal of Laws of the Republic of Poland.

On 4 April 2025, the Polish Parliament passed a law reducing health insurance contributions for entrepreneurs. This is due to come into effect on 1 January 2026. However, it should be noted that further proceedings are required for the law to be enacted.

On July 23, 2024, the Constitutional Tribunal (case no. K 13/20) reviewed an application by the National Council of Tax Advisors regarding the constitutionality of certain provisions within the Tax Ordinance and the Act on Tax Advisory Services in relation to the Polish Constitution. The case concerned the obligations imposed on tax advisors to disclose information on tax schemes and the associated breaches of professional secrecy.

Prepared by the Ministry of Finance, the draft amendment to the Act on Local Taxes and Fees (UPOL), among others, introduces a number of significant changes scheduled to take effect on January 1, 2025, with a specific exception. Although, according to the legislature, the changes are intended solely to clarify existing provisions in light of national court rulings and aim merely to preserve the fiscal status quo, there is concern that they may, in fact, expand the current scope of taxation.

If the goods are supplied only between two VAT taxpayers, i.e. the seller and the buyer, and the goods are shipped or transported from one EU country to another EU country (or to a non-EU country), the rules for settling VAT are generally simple. As a rule, there is an intra-Community supply of goods (ICS) in the country of dispatch, and an intra-Community acquisition of goods (ICA) in the country of goods’ destination, respectively. And when the destination is an non-EU country there is an export of goods in the country of dispatch and import of goods in the country of the goods’ destination accordingly.

Currently, the tax authorities take the position that the depreciability of premises or buildings is determined by the classification of the object as residential or commercial, and not by the actual use of the object for purposes other than residential.

VAT-related regulations are an important part of financial regulation for businesses in Poland. Often, however, these regulations can be complicated and incomprehensible to the average businessman. One such issue is the taxation of gratuitous transfers of goods. In this blog post, we will take a closer look at when such transfers are subject to VAT, in accordance with Article 7(2) of the VAT Act. We will also discuss issues related to exceptions to this rule, define the concepts of “gifts of small value” and “samples,” and provide examples of tax authorities’ interpretations in the context of gratuitous transfers of goods.

In some industries (e.g., manufacturing, FMCG), sales-supporting promotional actions involving the transfer of prizes to consumers or businesses are regularly used, the organization of which is entrusted to specialized advertising agencies. As part of the organized action (e.g., a contest or lottery), the task of such an agency is, among other things, to acquire and transfer prizes. What are the VAT implications of such an action? Can the inclusion of the value of the prizes in the agency’s invoice for the marketing service provided entail a VAT risk for the principal? It is worth thinking about this already at the stage of planning the action and estimating its costs.