The Polish tax system is considered one of the most complex. This is due, among other things, to its casuistic nature. The tax treatment of an event may depend on a single detail or the assessment of an interpreting body. There are also obligations imposed on specific groups of taxpayers. One of these is the obligation to report on the implemented tax strategy, effective from 2021.
This obligation was imposed on two groups of corporate income tax payers:
1) tax capital groups,
2) taxpayers other than tax capital groups, whose revenues in the tax year ending in the previous calendar year exceeded the equivalent of EUR 50 million converted into PLN at the average euro exchange rate announced by the National Bank of Poland on the last business day of the calendar year preceding the year in which individual taxpayer data was made public.
These entities are obliged to post information on the implemented tax strategy for the tax year, prepared in Polish or translated into Polish, on their website by the end of the twelfth month following the end of the tax year.
Therefore, if the tax year coincides with the calendar year, obliged entities must publish information on their tax strategy on their website by 31 December 2023.
The published information should include:
1) information on the taxpayer's:
a) processes and procedures for managing the performance of obligations arising from tax law provisions and ensuring their proper performance,
b) voluntary forms of cooperation with the National Tax Administration bodies,
2) information regarding the taxpayer’s performance of tax obligations in the territory of the Republic of Poland, together with information on the number of tax schemes submitted to the Head of the National Tax Administration, broken down by the taxes they concern,
3) information on:
a) transactions with related entities, the value of which exceeds 5% of the balance sheet total of assets within the meaning of accounting regulations, determined on the basis of the last approved financial statements of the company, including entities that are not tax residents of the Republic of Poland,
b) restructuring activities planned or undertaken by the taxpayer that may affect the amount of tax liabilities of the taxpayer or related entities,
4) information on applications submitted by the taxpayer for the issuance of:
a) a general tax interpretation,
b) an individual tax interpretation,
c) binding rate information, d) binding excise duty information,
5) information relating to the taxpayer’s tax settlements in territories or countries applying harmful tax competition (tax havens) – excluding information covered by commercial, industrial, professional or production process secrets.
A tax strategy should be published annually. The fact that no changes have occurred in the required information during the tax year does not exempt the entity from the obligation to publish the document.
In addition to the obligation to publish the strategy's implementation, entities are also required to notify the head of the tax office of the website address where it was published within the same deadline. Failure to comply with this obligation is punishable by a fine of up to PLN 250,000.
Universities and taxpayers who have concluded a cooperation agreement with the Head of the National Revenue Administration are exempt from the obligation to publish a tax strategy.
This article is for informational purposes only and does not constitute legal advice.
Legal status as of October 13, 2023.
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