Tax sanctions
The legal position in 2019
Assessment of an additional tax liability
From 1 January 2019 the sanction tax rate of 50% was replaced by the new concept of an additional tax liability assessed by the tax authority.
Conditions for applying the additional tax liability and its amount
In the case of decisions concerning corporate income tax or personal income tax, with the exception of lump-sum forms of taxation, the additional tax liability amounts to 10% of the sum of the unduly reported or overstated tax loss and of the taxable income not reported in whole or in part.
Where:
the basis for assessing the additional tax liability exceeds PLN 15,000,000.00, or
the party has not produced the tax documentation to the tax authority, as regards that part of the basis for assessing the additional tax liability which results from the application of the transfer pricing rules and relates to a transaction for which no tax documentation was produced.
the rate is 20% (the rate of the additional tax liability is doubled)
Where the above conditions are met together, the rate is 30% (the rate of the additional tax liability is trebled).
Where incomplete tax documentation is supplemented in full within the time limit set by the tax authority, which may not exceed 14 days, the provision concerning the failure to produce tax documentation does not apply.
The additional tax liability does not apply to a natural person who, for the same act, bears liability for a fiscal misdemeanour or for a fiscal offence.
The possibility of assessing an additional tax liability extends to all transactions with related parties, that is, not only those subject to the documentation obligation.
The sanction tax is due on every understatement of income, including where the business has made a loss.
The legal position in 2017
A sanction of 50% on the difference between the income declared and the income determined by the tax authority.
The application of the 50% rate does not release the persons responsible for financial and business affairs in companies, or persons conducting a business or being partners in partnerships, from liability under the provisions of the Fiscal Penal Code.