We present below a short summary of the most important changes in tax law and tax practice in August:
- the Council of Ministers adopted and submitted to the Sejm a draft amendment to the CIT Act and other tax acts. The project assumes, among others postponement and amendment of the “minimum” tax regulations, elimination of “hidden dividends” or changes in the scope of: CFC, WHT, thin capitalization or “Estonian” CIT. We wrote about the changes HERE. Additionally, the project:
- removes the documentation obligation for “indirect tax heaven” transactions (declarations) – with retroactive effect from 2021;
- increases the documentation thresholds for “direct tax heaven transactions” (PLN 500 / 2,500 thousand);
- extends the validity of WH-OSC statements (with effect from 2021);
- extends the “Anti-Inflation Shield” until the end of the year;
- extends VAT rates at 23/8% until 2023.
- on the website of the Government Legislation Center a draft act amending the act on tax on goods and services and the act on the National Revenue Administration was published – implementation of EU regulations – part of the package to combat VAT fraud in the area of e-commerce (changes in the e-commerce VAT package) commerce);
- on the website of the Government Legislation Center a draft act amending the act on tax on goods and services was published – the “SLIM VAT 3” package. The changes would enter into force, in principle, from 1 January 2023;
- on the website of the Government Legislation Center, assumptions for the draft act amending the act on the liability of collective entities for offenses prohibited under penalty were published – the changes concern, among others: introducing a new definition of a “collective entity”, eliminating the prior conviction of a natural person as a condition of liability of a collective entity , responsibility for “anonymous” acts, indications of the premises of culpability and conditions for exemption, narrowing the subjective scope of the act or changes in the scope of penalties and procedure;
- on the website of the Government Legislation Center, assumptions for the draft act amending the act on excise duty and some other acts were published – the changes concern, among others: the extension of the possibility of keeping records and other documentation in paper form until December 31, 2023, extension until December 31, 2029 exemptions from excise duty for hybrid cars with a capacity of up to 2,000 cm³, simplification of registration / declaration for entities producing electricity: from generators with a total capacity of up to 1 MW (including RES) and consuming it;
- the Minister of Finance announced the upper limits of the specific rates of local taxes and fees for 2023: https://www.monitorpolski.gov.pl/MP/2022/731;
- the Ministry of Finance informed that in 2022 the provisions on “Estonian” CIT taxation in scope of advance dividend payments will be improved;
- tax paid by a foreign controlled entity in the country where the income is obtained may be deductible – judgments of the Supreme Administrative Court of August 3, 2022 (file ref. II FSK 51/20 and II FSK 1889/20);
- as part of the legislative work on the act on whistleblower protection, the latest version of the draft was published – dated July 22, 2022: https://legislacja.rcl.gov.pl/docs//2/12352401/12822867/12822868/dokument568768.pdf;
- the Council of Ministers plans to adopt amendments to the Code of Commercial Companies – with regard to cross-border restructuring (divisions, mergers or transformations). Interestingly, it is planned that such procedure will require the opinion of the tax authority on the legality of the cross-border operation;
- if granting loans de facto belongs to the taxpayer’s business model, the turnover on this account should be taken into account when calculating the VAT proportion (judgment of the District Administrative Court in Warsaw of August 5, 2022, file reference number III SA / Wa 332/22);
- the Ministry of Finance plans to allocate fiscal and penal proceedings in the scope of the Accounting Act to specialized heads of tax offices. The mandate procedure would remain the responsibility of the other authorities;
- the Supreme Administrative Court once again took the position that administrative courts are obliged to assess whether the tax authorities instrumentally interrupted the limitation period (judgment of the Supreme Administrative Court of August 17, 2022, file reference number III FSK 3101 / 19);
- if the contributed part of the organized part of the enterprise includes a loan, the interest on this loan may constitute the company’s tax cost (DNFI interpretation of August 8, 2022, reference number 0111-KDIB1-1.4010.267.2022.3.ŚS);
- entities keeping securities accounts or omnibus accounts do not have to provide information about the existence of connections between them and the taxpayer / exceeding the amount of PLN 2 million already on the basis of the Regulation of the Minister of Finance of June 30, 2022 and it should not be punishable under KKS – answer of the Minister of Finance of August 12, 2022 for a parliamentary interpellation no. 34884 (reference number DD9.8201.1.2022);
- the tax authority should conduct a correct comparability analysis, including the compensation of benefits (judgment of the Supreme Administrative Court of 23 August 2022, file reference number II FSK 26/20);
- depreciation of the prototype produced as part of R&D activity is not an eligible cost of R&D relief (judgment of the Supreme Administrative Court of 23 August 2022, file ref. II FSK 3142/19);
- The Director of NFI confirmed that the employee expenses (medical packages, sports packages, food for employees, team-building events, small occasional gifts) constitute tax costs in CIT (DNFI interpretation of August 22, 2022, reference number 0111-KDIB1-1.4010.342.2022 .2.ŚS);
- resignation from the “Estonian” CIT does not mean the necessity to automatically pay the tax. The tax obligation will not arise if the profit is not distributed (DNFI interpretation of August 22, 2022, reference number 0111-KDIB1-1.4010.112.2022.1.BS).
