KPMG Weekly Tax Review 05 AUG - 12 AUG 2024
Rise in excise duty on cigarettes, other tobacco products and their substitutes.
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Welcome to the next issue of the “Weekly Tax Review” prepared in cooperation with tax experts in KPMG in Poland.
On 5 August 2024, the Government passed a bill amending certain acts related to granting de minimis aid. The key amendments provided for by the bill include raising to EUR 300 thousand the maximum amount of de minimis aid available to an entrepreneur in a 3-year period and a change in the method of calculating that period. Another goal of the bill is to adjust Polish law to EU regulations.
Projekt ustawy o zmianie niektórych ustaw związanych z udzielaniem pomocy de minimis
On 8 August 2024, two regulations of the Minister of Finance dated 31 July 2024 on application for a general ruling (ORD-OG) and on application for an individual ruling (ORD-IN) came into force. The regulations were issued primarily because of a change – effective as of 1 July 2023 – of the address of the National Revenue Information Service Director’s head office appearing in the existing templates. Furthermore, in part D of the ORD-OG form and in part F of the ORD-IN form, there will be now an option to request the return of the undue application fee to the bank account from which it was paid, including foreign accounts.
On 2 August 2024, a bill amending the Excise Duty Act was published on the Government Legislation Centre’s website. The bill provides for an increase in the excise duty on tobacco products and their substitutes, extends the excise duty scheme to vaping devices, and introduces one-year validity of excise stamps for electronic cigarette liquids.
Projekt ustawy o zmianie ustawy o podatku akcyzowym oraz niektórych innych ustaw
Pursuant to the announcement made on 25 July 2024 by the Minister of Finance, the maximum rates of local taxes and fees, applicable as of January 2025, are to be readjusted. The amounts indicated are to be higher than the ones applicable in 2024, it does not mean, however, that the rates will actually increase, since the final decision on the rates of local taxes and fees applied is to be made individually by each municipality.
According to the judgment of the Supreme Administrative Court rendered on 7 August 2024 (case file I FSK 1622/20), despite the repeal of provision of Article 88(1)(4)(a) of the VAT Act, taxable persons running a hotel business, being an essential component of the broader category of tourism, who enjoyed the right to deduct input tax on the purchase of catering and lodging services, in line with Article 176 of Directive 112, still have the right to deductions set forth in the repealed provision, as long as they continue to meet the conditions provided for by that provision.
According to the judgment of the Supreme Administrative Court dated 7 August 2024 (case file II FSK 1984/23), transfer of the claim to the lender, as a result of which the company's obligation to the creditor to repay the financing will expire, does not lead to any disposal of the claim for consideration, as referred to in Article 16(1)(39) of the CIT Act. Rendering a performance instead of discharging the original obligation under acceptance in lieu does not give rise to a relationship of obligation, to which the above-mentioned provision would have applied. As a result, the effect of this action should be considered within the framework of the basic loan repayment relationship, only through a different type of performance.
On 5 August 2024, it was announced that the Head of the National Revenue Administration issued a clearance opinion dated 16 July 2024 (case file DKP16.8082.1.2023) relating to share swapping and a cross-border downstream merger. The opinion pertains to a planned transaction of shared swapping and a planned cross-border downstream merger under Article 516¹ et seq. of the Polish Code of Commercial Partnerships and Companies through transferring all the assets of the acquired company (a Dutch private limited company – naamloze vennootschap, abbreviated as “NV”) to the acquiring company (a Polish private limited company – sp. z o.o.) under Article 492(1)(1) thereof, i.e., through acquisition of the parent company by a subsidiary. A tax benefit of the planned transaction lies in tax neutrality for the acquiring company and the partner of the acquired company, in line with Article 12(4)(3e) and Article 12(4)(12) of the CIT Act. According to the Head of the National Revenue Administration, even though a tax benefit in the form of tax-neutrality of the merger can be identified, it is not the primary or one of the primary purposes behind performing the transaction, nor is it contrary to the subject or purpose of tax law or any of its provisions, and in this case no statutory premises of the artificial mode of operation can be identified. Consequently, in line with Article 119y(1) in conjunction with Article 119a(1) of the Polish Tax Code, the Head of the National Revenue Administration issued a clearance opinion.
On 5 August 2024, a new draft regulation on JPK (SAF-T) for CIT was published on the Government Legislation Centre’s website. An important amendment brought by the regulation is that JPK_ST_KR reporting will be voluntary in the first year of the JPK_ST_KR structure operation. It also introduces the obligation to report the date of acquisition, manufacture, acceptance for use or deletion from the records of fixed and intangible assets, as well as the inventory number assigned by the entity. The provision has been retained, according to which there will be no obligation to report tangible and intangible assets entered in the records before 1 January 2025, while an exemption has been introduced, according to which the provision will not apply to tangible and intangible assets to the extent that they have been disposed of with a KSeF number assigned to them and the date on which they were removed from the records. Another amendment brought is the obligation to report data on amount of revenue and tax-deductible costs not entered in the books. Finally, the method of reporting data within the new JPK CIT structures has been clarified.
