Poland to speed up tax avoidance law

Poland’s Finance Ministry is trying to make sure that a new regulation against corporate income tax avoidance comes into force before the end of the year.

In cooperation with the ministry, a group of MPs has submitted an amendment to the recently approved regulation, which cuts short its vacatio legis period. The law states that companies registered abroad and owned by Polish taxpayers are subject to income tax in Poland, if the only reason for setting up the foreign entity was to cut down taxation. The original regulation was signed on 17 September, but the Government Legislation Centre failed to publish it in the required two-week period. The law was meant to come into force three months after the day it was published. Not publishing the regulation in the required time meant that the state budget would fail to receive some 3 billion zloty (or 715 million euro) in 2015. Tax-related legislation has to be in force before a new year starts. Finance Minister Mateusz Szczurek said he would take action to make sure the law does come into force before the end of the year, by shortening its vactio legis period, now set at three months. He is counting on completing the legislation process for the amendment by the end of November. MPs from all groupings are also convinced that an investigation should be conducted to find the reason for the delay. (kw)