KPMG Weekly Tax Review 06 MAY - 13 MAY 2024

On 9 May 2024, the Act amending the Value-Added Tax Act and certain other acts was passed by the Lower House of the Polish Parliament. It was submitted before the President and the Speaker of the Senate.

The act amends provisions determining the date the obligation to use KSeF enters into force, postponing it to 1 February 2026.

According to the Ministry of Finance, a new act providing for even more changes to the KSeF scheme would be made available already this year. Notably, the Senate is now also to assess bills on contribution holiday and adopting Polish law to EU regulations on obligations for importers of tin, tantalum, tungsten (and their ores), and gold.

The Minister of Finance has published tax clarifications dated 8 May 2024 on applying real estate tax exemption to railway freight terminals as of 1 January 2024. The Minister explained that although regulations on exempting freight terminals from real estate tax came into effect on 1 January 2024, the notification procedure has not been fulfilled, meaning that the material exemption cannot be applied until the notification period has been completed. 

During the meeting of the Monetary Policy Council held on 8-9 May 2024, it was decided to keep the NBP interest rates unchanged, i.e.:

• reference rate at 5.75% annually
• lombard loan interest rate at 6.25% annually
• deposit rate at 5.25% annually
• rediscount rate at 5.80% annually
• discount rate on bills of exchange at 5.85% annually.

Changes to the reference rate affect other financial parameters, e.g., the amount of interest on tax arrears. Given that the rates remain unchanged, interest on tax arrears continues to amount to 14.5% on an annual basis.

On 8 May 2024, the Directorate-General for Taxation and Customs Union (DG TAXUD) of the European Commission published the Taxation and Customs Union Management Plan 2024. The Plan aims to continue supporting the Commission's agenda for a fairer, greener and more competitive future and the six Commission priorities for 2019-24.

The Plan sets out the main outputs of modernizing the DG TAXUD management in terms of its internal control system.

On 2 May 2024, the Minister of Finance issued a general ruling no. PT1.8101.1.2023 on VAT taxation of activities performed by local government bodies, consisting in building installation of renewable energy sources and removing asbestos in connection with judgments of the Court of Justice of the European Union in cases C-612/21 (Gmina O.) and C-616/21 (Gmina L) rendered on 30 March 2023.

The Minister of Finance stated that where activities in the field of supply and construction of RES systems or removal of products or waste containing asbestos performed by a local government unit in circumstances similar to those being the object of CJEU proceedings have been taxed by that local government unit and the output tax on this account has been settled, that local government unit is authorized to correct such a settlement.

The Minister of Finance noted that local government units that meet the conditions for making relevant adjustment to their settlements in connection with CJEU’s judgments in cases C-612/21 and C-616/21 may, but do not need to do so.

According to the judgment in case C‑241/23, rendered by the Court of Justice of the European Union on 8 May 2024, the taxable amount of a contribution of property by one company to the capital of a second company in exchange for shares in the latter must be determined in relation to the issue value of those shares where those companies agreed that the consideration for that capital contribution was to be that issue value.

During the meeting held on 6 May 2024 by the Ministry of Finance, detailed solutions related to and consequences of the reform of income of local government units (LGU) were presented.

Income generated by local government units is to meet some baseline conditions, i.e.:

• local government finance must not be subject to tax-related amendments to corporate income tax (CIT) and personal income tax (PIT) schemes
• (increased) LGU income must rely on PIT and CIT taxable base, with the result that subsidy income will cease to be dominant, and will only be supplementary to LGU budget income
• income of LGU will be determined on the basis of a precise algorithm, calculated on the basis of categories of such units, including those covered by a separate category of cities with district rights, and considering, among other things, ecological needs or different spending needs of local government units (based on objective parameters according to the method developed by the Ministry of Finance together with the World Bank).