Legislation and practice – December in taxes

We present below a short summary of the most important changes in tax law and tax practice in December:

Legislation

• A draft act amending act on tax on goods and services and some other acts was published on the website of the Government Legislation Center – introduction of: an obligatory e-invoicing (National System of e-Invoices) and making available an application that allows buyers to deliver fiscal receipts in electronic form.
• The Sejm passed an amendment to the Labor Code, which permanently introduces the possibility of remote work.
• The Decree amending the decree on goods and services for which the VAT rate is reduced and the conditions for applying the reduced rates (item 2488) was published in the “Journal of Laws” – introduction (until 31^st December 2022) of the rate 0 % for fertilizing microbiological products.
• The Decree on reduced rates of tax on goods and services in 2023 (item 2495) was published in the “Journal of Laws” – 0% VAT rate on food and 8% VAT rate on artificial fertilizers.
• The Sejm passed the Act of 14^th December 2022 on a family foundation – introducing the institution of a family foundation with its own tax regulations.
• The Decree amending the decree on applications for disclosure of information on beneficial owners and disclosure of this information (item 2566) was published in the “Journal of Laws” – facilitating the use of the Central Register of Ultimate Beneficial Owners (search), introducing the obligation to enter certain trusts.
• The Decree amending the decree on the use of the National e-Invoice System (item 2667) was published in the “Journal of Laws” – adapting the KSeF system to local government units and VAT groups.
• The Act on special protection of certain consumers of gaseous fuels in 2023 in connection with the situation on the gas market was published in the Journal of Laws (item 2687).
• The Act amending the Excise Duty Act and certain other acts (item 2707) was published in the Journal of Laws.
• The act amending the act on tax on certain financial institutions and some other acts (item 2745) was published in the “Journal of Laws” – changes in the tax relief for robotization and the “banking” tax.
• Decrees on the exclusion of the WHT obligation for: personal income tax and corporate income tax (items 2834 and 2852) were published in the “Journal of Laws” – an updated catalogue, especially in terms of the so-called technical payers.
• A draft Decree of the Minister of Finance on the records kept by members of a VAT group was published on the website of the Government Legislation Center – introduction of provisions on VAT records in the case of VAT groups.

Tax practice

Income taxes and transfer prices

• New terms and conditions for “safe harbor” mechanism in loan transactions were published. Margin in 2023: for the borrower it is a maximum of 2.9 percentage points and for the lender it is a minimum of 2.4 percentage points.
• An entrepreneur may withdraw real estate from assets related to business activity to private assets and settle revenues on the basis of the so-called private lease (individual interpretation of the Director of the National Tax Information of 29^th November 2022, file reference number 0115-KDIT3.4011.707.2022.1.DP).
• Tax authorities should not ex-post question the rationality of economic operations (judgments of the Supreme Administrative Court of 14^th December 2022, file reference number II FSK 1055/20 and II FSK 1056/20).
• If the company falls victim to fraudulent goods under the guise of sale, there is no obligation to settle income in CIT in this respect (individual interpretation of the Director of the National Tax Information of 16^th December 2022, file reference number 0111-KDWB.4010.81.2022.2.AW).
• The Ministry of Finance has published modified tax explanations regarding the “relief for young people”: LINK.
• The limit of EUR 2 million within the scope of the 9% CIT rate includes the value of the amount of subsidies redeemed from the Polish Development Fund – individual interpretation of the Director of the National Tax Information of 22nd December 2022 (file reference number 0114-KDIP2-2.4010.169.2022.1.ASK).

International taxes

• The directive on the minimum global level of taxation of multinational groups of enterprises and capital groups (the so-called Pillar 2 – the second pillar of the OECD tax reform) was adopted on 15th December 2022. The regulations concern the so-called minimum income tax.

VAT

• The Ministry of Finance does not plan to increase the limit entitling to the VAT exemption by the end of 2024 (PLN 200,000) – response to parliamentary question no. 37406 of 7th December 2022.
• The Court of Justice of the EU ruled that the application of the triangulation simplification requires an appropriate annotation on the invoice (judgment of 8th December 2022, case number C 247/21).
• Proposals for new FA(2) and FA_RR logical structures were published for consultation – as a result of the proposed amendment in the scope of KSeF (National System of e-Invoices): LINK.
• A draft of the logical structure of internal records kept by members of the VAT group – JPK_G was published: LINK.

Other

• The minimum wage in 2023 is: PLN 3,490/PLN 22.8 per hour from 1^st January and PLN 3,600/PLN 23.5 per hour from 1^st July.
• The Ministry of Finance will consider a more favorable approach when calculating the annual period of holding shares/stocks in the scope of the so-called Polish Holding Company and also conducts analytical work on clarifying/simplifying the provisions in the field of MDR – results from ministerial responses to parliamentary questions.
• The Ministry of Finance does not plan to increase the full accounting limit (EUR 2 million) – response of the Minister of Finance of 27^th December 2022 to parliamentary question no. 37718 (ref.: DWR5.054.5.2022).
• The Ministry of Finance withdrew from the idea of applying the “sugar” tax to juice concentrates, natural sugar in juices or beverages with a small amount of natural caffeine or taurine.