Pomegranate in the hands of the tax office. Tax optimization is under attack

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Jaroslav Kaczynski’s new tax plan rests on three pillars. The draft provides for an increase in the second tax limit – from 85,000 PLN. Up to 120 thousand zlotys. PiS also wants to increase the free amount to 30,000 zlotys.

The third basis of the “Polish deal” is the elimination of the possibility of deduction of health insurance fees in the income tax settlement. Today 9 per cent. Premiums up to 7.75 percent can be deducted from the tax we pay. Moreover, entrepreneurs, including more than 2.5 million self-employed people, will stop paying the fixed-rate health insurance contribution, which is PLN 382 in 2021, regardless of income. After the changes, everyone will pay 9 percent. And without writing off.

Those running a sole proprietorship, which so far account for 19%, will suffer the most from the changes. flat tax. The inability to write off a health insurance contribution cuts the tax roughly in half, up to 28%.
The moment the “Polish Deal” bills were announced was another moment, when entrepreneurs started asking us how to improve taxes after terrible increases — says Maciej Onischuk of Oniszczuk & Associates.

However, Oniszczuk warns: – We inform potential customers that actions cannot be taken too quickly. Certainly, tax justification is not enough for the tax office, which will meticulously check our activities. The tax evasion clause is a grenade in the hands of the tax office that could destroy our business – warns Maciej Oniszczuk.

The tax evasion clause in the Polish legal system has been in effect since 2016, and the regulations were additionally amended three years later.

Entrepreneurs face problems if the tax office discovers that moving the company to another country is done solely for the purpose of obtaining a tax advantage or is one of the main goals. According to the paragraph, we cannot benefit if the playback style is artificial. However, it is worth emphasizing that it is not only a fictitious transfer of the company outside Poland, but also activities within Poland, which may concern the tax office, for example, a sudden change in the method of settlements – explains Maciej Oniszczuk.

The tax office may interpret “synthetic action” from many activities, for example when the entrepreneur assumes economic risks beyond the expected non-tax benefits to the extent that it must be assumed that the reasonably operating entity would not choose this method of operation. The tax office will also consider situations in which an entrepreneur begins cooperation with an entity that does not conduct a real economic activity or is located or located in a country or territory that applies harmful tax competition – according to the officials -.

– This is only a small part of the hooks for business. Running a business in the Polish reality, or even the legal system, is very difficult. If that’s why it’s worth considering other solutions, but you can’t act too fast. Moving the company outside Poland must, first of all, have a commercial justification – Maciej Onychuk emphasizes.

Importantly, the entrepreneur is not protected by a previously obtained tax interpretation. In the end, the tax office may make a different decision at the expense of the taxpayer. However, he can apply to the director of the National Revenue Administration for a security opinion, but the request for the document itself costs PLN 20,000. A positive opinion will not be issued if the officials find that the circumstances presented in the application indicate that the provisions for tax evasion do not apply to the tax advantage resulting from the transaction.

scarecrows? of course not. According to the latest official information from KAS, by the end of September 2020, 20 cases were closed and 12 companies were accused of circumventing the tax code. They had to pay up to 82 million in back taxes.

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