Poland to tackle tax fraud at G20 summit

Preventing tax fraud and stopping multinationals from seeking out tax havens are important issues for Poland and will be discussed at a G20 summit later this week, Polish Finance Minister Mateusz Morawiecki has said.

“We want medium-sized countries as well as smaller countries, which we represent … not to be avoided for tax,” Morawiecki told Polish Radio.

According to Morawiecki, Bermuda has the third-highest number of EU investment, “because it is a tax haven, to which many companies are unfortunately going … to pay lower taxes”.

The finance minister, who is also Poland’s Deputy Prime Minister, said billions of złotys in tax was not being paid into the Polish budget.

Eight years ago “the level of corporate tax was PLN 33 billion (EUR 7.6 billion),” he said, adding that today it was PLN 26-27 billion, some 15 percent less than eight years ago, while profit and turnover has doubled in that time.

“The tax should be PLN 20 billion higher, but is it PLN 5 billion lower,” Morawiecki said.

Poland is among several countries which have been invited to join the 20 most important global economies at a two-day summit which starts in Baden-Baden, southwestern Germany, on Friday.