Polish Tax Law Research Articles

Tax Evidence Proceedings in Polish Tax Law – General Characteristics

Tax Evidence Proceedings in Polish Tax Law – General Characteristics

CHANGES IN POLISH TAX LAW IN RESPONSE TO THE COVID-19 PANDEMIC AGAINST THE COMPARATIVE LEGISLATIVE CHANGES IN THE CZECH REPUBLIC AND SLOVAKIA

The article describes the most important characteristics of legislative changes made in the Polish tax law in connection with the COVID-19 pandemic. They undergo comparison with changes made in this branch of law in the Czech Republic and Slovakia. This juxtaposition serves the authors to show that the main trend was, in the first place, to suspend the deadlines in tax procedures. It was an ad hoc change and did not affect any significant changes in tax procedures in the long run. The authors also point to certain restraint of the Polish legislator as regards adoption of serious changes to substantive tax law during the period under examination and touch upon the issue of transferring certain competences (in terms of exemptions) from the legislative authority to: (1) local governments or (2) the executive branch.

Wpływ stosunków koncernowych na wysokość podatku od niektórych instytucji finansowych

This study of a scientific and research nature concerns the structure of the tax on certain financial institutions. The essence of the subject of research as a scientific problem focuses on the assessment of the impact of intra-group relations between companies on the amount of the tax on certain financial institutions. The main objective of the paper is to analyse how intra-group relations are defined in relation to the rules for creating definitions of legal terms. A lack of proper linkage of legal and factual relations between undertakings and the tax law rules, as determined by the legal-dogmatic method and jurisprudence analysis, may lead to discriminatory or preferential differentiation. The article attempts to prove the thesis that in the light of the provisions of the Act on the tax on certain financial institutions, there is a problem of privileging groups of companies in which, in addition to a domestic entity, which is a taxpayer, members are also those having its registered office or place of management outside the territory of the Republic of Poland. The article contains legislative recommendations that should improve the provisions of the Act on the tax on certain financial institutions. Despite the fact that the article deals with a dogmatic analysis of Polish tax law, the conclusions drawn from it may be of universal importance in relation to the principle of equality understood as the obligation to treat entities in a similar situation equally, without differentiations, either discriminatory or preferential.

Control of Local Tax Payments: A Comparative Law Case Study

Abstract Tax payment is the basic form of fulfilling a tax obligation. It is included in the effective method of removing tax liabilities. As part of the control of payments of local taxes carried out by the tax authorities, it was found that an unauthorized employee of this authority unlawfully accepted payments of taxes that he did not pay to the account of the tax authority. A legal doubt has arisen in this respect as to whether the payment made in the above-mentioned circumstances is the payment of tax that gives rise to the removal of the tax liability. The main goal of the authors, within the research topic undertaken, is to verify the research hypothesis, according to which the taxpayer’s transfer of funds to an unauthorized employee of a tax authority, confirmed by a receipt, cannot be considered as payment of the tax. The study analyzes the above-mentioned issues on the basis, above all, of the provisions of Polish tax law, which do not define the concept of tax payment, although they indicate the forms of payment. In order to get a broader perspective on the subject matter, the author analyzed selected regulations concerning the above-mentioned issues in Hungary and Ukraine.

Thin capitalisation – application and limitations under Polish tax law and EU Council Directive 2016/1164 (ATA Directive)

Objective: This article aims to present the phenomenon of thin capitalisation as well as to analyse its essence and application. The considerations are based on the historical and current Polish legislation, taking into account the impact of EU law, which makes it possible to compare various regulatory solutions in terms of thin capitalisation. Research Design & Methods: The considerations made in this article are based on both repealed and current provisions of the Act of 15 February 1992 on corporate income tax in the scope of thin capitalisation. Due to the need to implement EU Council Directive 2016/1164 of 12 July 2016 (ATA Directive) into the Polish legal system, its content has also been analysed. Findings: Changes in the scope of thin capitalisation introduced by the implemented ATA Directive should be considered favourable for the legal system. The current regulations govern thin capitalisation in a much clearer and less manipulable way than the previous solutions. In addition, they appropriately balance the interests of both the state and taxpayers. Implications / Recommendations: The EU-wide changes resulting from the provisions of the ATA Directive and previously also from the OECD actions under the BEPS Action Plan should have the intended effect of eliminating at least some of the aggressive tax optimisation activities without significantly affecting the interests of taxpayers. Contribution / Value Added: The article presents a comparative analysis of previous and current thin capitalisation solutions, which allowed the evaluation of regulations introduced by the Polish legislator as well as EU solutions.

Comparative analysis of commercial partnership in the context of changes in Polish tax law

The aim of the article was to examine the implications of changes in the rules of taxation of the income of limited joint-stock partnerships (LJSP) and limited partnerships (LP) for their dynamics and structure, especially against the background of other commercial partnerships. The hypothesis is that the changes in the rules of taxation of the income of limited joint-stock partnerships and limited partnerships negatively influenced their attractiveness as legal forms of running a business. The research methods used in the article were the analysis of the dynamics of time series, the Fisher-Snedecor test to verify the hypothesis of equality variance and the least squares method. It turns out that the amendment to the tax laws of legal persons/ entities (01.01.2014) by equalising the tax status of the LJSP with the status of legal persons/entities contributed to the increase in the tax burden of those companies, the decline in their numbers in both the commercial partnerships (CP), as well as companies in total in Poland, and in this way the decrease of the structure and dynamics indices. In turn, further changes from 1 January 2021 meant that not only the LJSP ceased to be attractive as a tool to minimise the tax burden for the owners, but also LP. In 2020, the highest decrease in the number of all companies in Poland, amounting to 6.8%, was recorded by LJSP, while in 2021 – LP (7.1%). The results of the Fisher-Snedecor test for the difference in the number of companies calculated year on year confirmed that after 2014 there was a large change in the level of differentiation in the number of limited joint-stock partnerships compared to the previous years. The number of companies decreased rapidly from year to year, which proves the decline in interest in this form of business, and the decline was manifested by a significant increase in data variability, as demonstrated by the Fisher-Snedecor test. The author observed a similar situation for limited partnerships as the change in their number year-on-year was also very differentiated before and after 2014. However, such a conclusion cannot be drawn in relation to general partnerships and partnerships, which indicates that the change in regulations introduced on 1 January 2014 did not affect the trend to create these activities. Additionally, the estimation of regression model parameters for CP group companies showed that the change in the number of LJSP year on year did not change the number of companies of other types.

The impact of legislation on the development of accounting digitisation in Poland

Purpose: This article aims to verify the development of the computerisation of busi-ness systems in Polish enterprises and to determine whether regulatory changes are a stimulant. The methodology/approach: The article uses the analysis method applied to secondary data collected and elaborated on by Statistics Poland (Pol. GUS) as part of their original research. Findings: The analysis demonstrates that more and more Polish enterprises use ERP (Enterprise resource planning) systems in their business activities. The percentage of entities using IT systems for enterprise management is constantly growing among smaller and larger enterprises. Research limitations/implications: The article is an introduction to in-depth re-search on accounting digitisation and the digitalisation of accounting processes in business entities, e.g. ERP, RPA (Robotic process automation), including tax settlements. Practical implications: The development of the Polish tax law regulation aims to develop digital communication between the taxpayer and the tax authority. This condition forces all types of business entities to gradually computerise and even robotise accounting processes and tax settlements. Originality/value: The article deals with a relevant topic, which is the process of computerisation and digitisation of business. Accounting and related tax settlements are essential elements in this process. The article describes the development in the automation and robotisation of enterprise accounting processes and tax settlements.

Developing the Concept of a Tax Law Relationship – Assumptions Concerning Scientific Research on this Issue

The concept of legal relationship is a tool that lawyers use to describe the legal situation in which entities find themselves due to applicable legal norms. It is therefore a tool for practical analysis of legal norms. The concept of a legal relationship and other legal concepts related to it are used by a lawyer to determine what rights and obligations a particular entity has in a given legal system in relation to the situation of another entity. In other words, it serves to describe the interdependence of the legal situation of entities due to applicable legal norms. Analysis of the legal relationship and related concepts are also useful for researching the behavior of some entities towards others due to applicable legal norms. The concept of legal relationship and the concepts associated with it are therefore a tool for analyzing law in action, thanks to which it is possible to solve a number of legal problems arising in the practice of applying law. It is important for those branches of law in which there are correlations between legal situations of entities of these branches of law. Therefore, it is also important for the tax law and tax research, in which there are relations between the state and taxpayers and other entities of tax law. Although from the most general point of view the structure of the legal relationship may seem to be very similar, however, legal relations in particular branches of law have their own characteristics. This diversity results from the fact that the content of elements determining specific legal relations in these branches of law is different, such as: the subject of the law, facts causing the creation and termination of the legal relationship as well as the content of the rights and obligations of the parties to this relationship. Research on these elements of the legal relationship allows to achieve specific theoretical and practical goals. Due to the fact that they are embedded in applicable law, they allow to build a model of legal relationship, which becomes a tool for practical analysis of applicable law. Secondly, their study allows to deepen knowledge of the characteristics of individual elements of this relationship, such as the subjects of this right. Thanks to this, it is possible to decide what features an entity should have to be able to become the owner of the rights or obligations of a given branch of law, including tax law. The structure of subjectivity in this branch of law is significantly different from the legal subjectivity of civil law. They also allow to catch the relationships between individual rights and individual rights and obligations regulated in a given branch of law. Finally, they allow to understand the premises that give rise to the rights and obligations incumbent on the subjects of a given branch of law. This in turn allows for an in-depth analysis of the tax law norms themselves, as well as views on individual institutions of this law and their critical analysis, as well as a critical analysis of the views of case law on these legal institutions. In the field of tax law science of various countries, models of a tax law relationship have been already created, which allow ordering and analysis of tax law norms. However, many other countries as the Polish tax law science did not pay much attention to this issue of tax law. Therefore, in many countries the most general model of tax law relationship created by the theory of law is used. The same has happened in Polish tax law science. However, this is an insufficient model, as it requires taking into account the state of tax legislation and the specifics of its regulations. Hence, considerations of tax law doctrine’s sometimes lack consistency due to the lack of an appropriate research tool in the form of a tax law relationship model. They also often conflict with each other, because the starting points for the analyses are different. Therefore, further research on tax law relationship is necessary in this field. This paper presents the assumptions concerning scientific research on developing the concept of a tax law relationship.

Best practices concerning private tax rulings according to Base Erosion and Profit Shifting (BEPS) Action 5 and Polish Tax Law

Best practices concerning private tax rulings according to Base Erosion and Profit Shifting (BEPS) Action 5 and Polish Tax Law

Concubinage in the Polish Tax Law

The main goal of this study is to assess whether, and if so, how the tax policy is implemented in Poland in relation to informal partnerships. The justification for conducting research in this area is the growing number of such relationships and the demands formulated by the public on the principles of taxation of cohabitants. The study analyzes not only taxes on natural persons, but also the provisions governing the principles of tax liability. The research shows that while pro-family tax policy is implemented on a fairly large scale in Poland, it does not apply to cohabitants. In principle, cohabitants do not have the right to any preferential taxation rules, above all tax reliefs and exemptions. Moreover, the analysis of the research material clearly indicates that staying in cohabitation can even aggravate the situation of a cohabitant under tax law (which can be seen perfectly well on the example of a cohabitant's liability for his partner's taxes). On the basis of a critical analysis of the Polish tax law provisions, the general thesis has been formulated that the situation of cohabitants is affected by deep asymmetry, because on the one hand the legislator uses cohabitation to improve the allocation of public revenues, but on the other hand it does not include cohabitants with pro-family tax policy (although cohabitation is very similar to marriage). The study includes certain demands on the legislator, thanks to which it is possible to cover cohabitants by pro-family tax policy.

Flat-Rate Tax on Ship Construction or Ship Reconstruction as a New Institution of Polish Tax Law

<p>At the beginning of 2017, a new form of taxation was introduced into the Polish tax system – flat-rate tax on ship construction or ship reconstruction. It should be one of the elements of support for the Polish shipbuilding industry. However, this solution has many disadvantages. First and foremost, difficulties arise from the interpretation of the provisions of the act introducing a new tax. In addition, the introduction of a flat-rate tax on ship construction or ship reconstruction resulted in the European Commission launching a verification procedure in terms of its compatibility with the internal market. These circumstances mean that potential taxpayers are suspicious of this form of taxation. It may turn out that this tax will share the tonnage tax fate, which was also introduced as a tax preference, and did not gain popularity among taxpayers at all and thus did not fulfil the function assigned to it. The purpose of the article is to describe the construction elements of the new form of taxation with an indication of the doubts arising in connection with its introduction. The article also attempts to evaluate the presented solutions.</p>

Taxation of Incomes of Athletes from Professional Practice of Sports under the Polish Tax Law

Taxation of Incomes of Athletes from Professional Practice of Sports under the Polish Tax Law

Selected Aspects of the Generation of Tax Liability in the Field of Maritime Activities of Taxable Persons

This article deals with the issue of tax liability arising when taxpayers undertake economic activity in maritime areas. The research was conducted both on the grounds of direct taxes, indirect taxes and property taxes. The article verifies the hypothesis that the current provisions of Polish tax law do not fully comply with the tax authority granted to Poland as a coastal state in its maritime areas. The research method used in this study was a critical analysis, including a linguistic analysis of the provisions of tax acts and international agreements to which the Republic of Poland is a party. In addition, the research used the analysis of views of doctrine and jurisprudence of administrative courts and tax authorities.

Instruments for the Protection of Victims of Natural Disasters in Polish Tax Law

. The destructive impact of natural disasters (and other random events that are usually difficult to predict) is increasingly being felt in all areas of the functioning of modern states. The governments of those countries (often in cooperation with local authorities) take various measures to prevent such events and to minimise their consequences, including helping victims of their occurrence. One way to achieve some of the above intentions – although certainly not of fundamental importance – is the use of tax law instruments, in particular tax preferences. This study is an attempt to analyse and assess these provisions of tax law that allow victims of natural disasters to benefit from preferential tax rules. The study discusses the tax instruments used to help victims of natural disasters used by tax authorities. The analysis shows that the system of tax instruments protecting victims of natural disasters is largely based on discretionary solutions, used only as a result of an appropriate procedure followed by a formal decision of an authorised body (legal act or decision). In light of the studies carried out, it can be concluded in general that the system of tax instruments to protect persons affected by natural disasters requires certain measures to improve its effectiveness. Certain requests in this regard, addressed to the legislature, were generally indicated in the study. The article also presents some specific issues related to the interpretation of of the regulations under consideration, including some editorial and terminology doubts.

Application of the General Clause of Reasonableness and Criterion of Rationality in Polish Tax Law

This paper’s objective is to present two methods of introducing elements of the civil general clause of reasonableness into tax law. One of them is the lawmaking process, the other is the application of law, i.e. the decisions of tax authorities and the jurisprudence of national administrative courts.

Tax subsidies for entrepreneurs in case of property tax

In Polish tax law, real estate is subject to taxation. Property tax rates depend not only on the type of property but also on the taxable person. Thus, as far as persons conducting business activity are concerned, real estate in their possession is taxed at a higher rate than that of natural persons. The amount of the tax payable annually may exceed the income of the trader concerned, since it does not depend on the taxable person's financial situation (as is the case with other taxes, e.g. personal income tax). Due to this fact, a catalog of tax reliefs and exemptions, i.e. the so-called tax subsidies, as well as the possibility of spreading the tax in instalments and deferring its payment date is an important role in real estate tax. The state, including municipalities, may create this form of aid, as long as it does not conflict with the provisions of the Act on State Aid and similar provisions in force in the European Union, which are designed to observe free competition in the market. The purpose of this Article is to indicate what are the current forms of assistance to entrepreneurs on the example of property tax.

Polish tax system overview

The article analyses the “tax system” concept. The authors have mainly referred to the views of the Polish tax law doctrine. The analysis also covers issues on public levies, with a particular emphasis on taxes, their most important components. The article also presents issues concerning the classification of taxes and their structure.

Kilka uwag o responsywności prawa podatkowego na przykładzie urzędowych interpretacji prawa podatkowego

The article is an attempt to look at the development of Polish tax law through the prism of the concept of law development proposed by Ph. Selznick and Ph. Nonet. In the study Law and Society in Transition. Towards Responsive Law they distinguished three stages of evolution of legal systems: repressive, autonomous and responsive. The focus of the article is on the institution of the official interpretation of tax law, because an analysis of the transformation of the legal system allows to capture trends that are present in the development of its individual institutions as well as social relationships among its recipients. By indicating the evolution of official in terpretations of tax law in its two basic functions – those of informing and those of guaranteeing (protective) – the authors point to a wider context of the development of tax law to show whether and how changes in the normative regulation of official interpretations of tax law may affect the shape of the relationship between a tax payer and tax administration, where the perspective of the analysis of demand is the responsiveness of law. An analysis of the regulation of an official interpretation of tax law leads to the conclusion that due to the assigned ratio legis this interpretation must characterise them as corresponding mainly to the autonomous model. At the same time a responsive model of law does not undermine the autonomous model attributes. Thus if we were to accept that the provision of interpretation corresponds to the autonomous model, it would not be possible to note that it also has attributes that make it a responsive model. Irrespective of the fact that there is no element of negotiation, it is based on the interaction between the taxpayer and the tax administration. As part of this interaction, tax administration responds to the reported social need in terms of the ambiguity of law, which de iure – not least because of the possibility of bringing an action against the content of interpretation – takes place in the framework of a communication situation that is free from external coercion.

Bezpośredni wpływ orzecznictwa Trybunału Sprawiedliwości Unii Europejskiej na stanowienie prawa podatkowego w Polsce (wstęp do badań)

Artykuł został poświęcony metodologicznym aspektom badań prowadzonych nad wpływem orzecznictwa Trybunału Sprawiedliwości Unii Europejskiej (TSUE) na stanowienie polskiego prawa podatkowego. W tekście wskazano, że wpływ orzeczeń TSUE na krajowy system prawny może mieć charakter bezpośredni, gdy orzeczenie dotyczy danego przepisu prawa krajowego lub pośredni, gdy orzeczenie dotyczy podobnego przepisu tego samego państwa lub innych państw. Prowadzone badania zostały oparte na założeniu, że chociaż zasadniczo skutki orzeczeń TSUE dotyczą sfery stosowania prawa, to mają one jednak istotny wpływ także na stanowienie polskiego prawa podatkowego. W rezultacie przebadane zostały orzeczenia TSUE odnoszące się do przepisów polskich ustaw podatkowych. W wyniku przeprowadzonej analizy wyselekcjonowane zostały te orzeczenia, które wywierają bezpośredni wpływ na polskie prawo podatkowego. Z opisanych w tekście badań wynika, że orzeczenia te zostały wydane po przeprowadzeniu postępowań zainicjowanych skargą Komisji oraz z odesłania prejudycjalnego sądów krajowych.

Transfer Prices and Aggressive Tax Optimization

Summary Subject and purpose of work: The subject of this study is transfer prices and their use for optimization of financial burdens of international companies (capital groups). The purpose of this study was to present transfer pricing issues in the light of applicable law and using them for tax purposes. Materials and methods: The study uses literature and data from the World Bank and Google. Methods of descriptive and tabular analysis and inference were used. Results: Google makes 91% of its revenues outside the US. Conclusions: Transfer pricing is a tool for optimizing tax burden of international companies that bring them benefits in the form of the so-called “globalization annuity”, which makes them economically stronger and more technologically competitive. Polish tax law on transfer pricing has been tightened since 2001; transfer pricing issues are also regulated by the European Union and the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD).