Archive for: Tax Office

Tax law, case I FSK1644/11

August 27th, 2012, Tomasz Rychlicki

A taxpayer who sold the old porcelain and books which were inherited from grandparents and parents, and bought on the antique fairs, was ordered by the Polish tax authorities to pay VAT for four years. Every year the taxpayer sold hundreds of these things, for more than three thousand PLN. Only 3089 PLN is the amount of income received during the year that is deemed as free of tax,. According to tax authorities this activity could not be regarded as a hobby, but as a professional activity, that should be taxed.

The Supreme Administrative Court in its judgment of 9 August 2012 case file I FSK 1644/11 dismissed the complaint of the taxpayer.

Tax law, case I SA/Ol 270/11

September 24th, 2011, Tomasz Rychlicki

The Director of a Tax office decided that a person who led undeclared but taxable economic activity is subject to VAT. This decision was based on the basis of bank statements and information provided by the auction website Allegro. The amount of the tax obligation was set out in the amount of tax due, without reduction of input tax, because the tax payer did not submit any invoices that would serve as evidence of purchase of the goods that were later resold via Allegro.

The Voivodeship Administrative Court in Olsztyn in its judgment of 29 June 2011 case file I SA/Ol 270/11 held that a person who conducts business activities that were undeclared to tax, has the right to deduct the input VAT due, but such person must have the purchase invoices, because without them, the tax authorities are unable to verify the prices of the goods resold.

Tax law, case II FSK 181/08

August 8th, 2011, Tomasz Rychlicki

The Supreme Administrative Court in its judgment of 27 May 2009 case file II FSK 181/08 held that a company is allowed for depreciation of trade mark rights after the Polish Patent Office grants the right of protection.

Tax law, case I SA/Po 486/10

February 11th, 2011, Tomasz Rychlicki

The Voivodeship Administrative Court in Poznań in its judgment of 22 October 2010 case file I SA/Po 486/10 held that a company that is required to send annual tax information about its employees, is also allowed to send to him or her a tax declaration in the form of electronic message (e-mail), under the condition that such e-mail is signed with the digital signature and the form of the tax declaration is preserved.

See also “E-signatures in Poland“.

Tax law, case II FSK 627/09

August 30th, 2010, Tomasz Rychlicki

The Supreme Administrative Court in its judgment of 25 August 2010 case file II FSK 627/09 held that only a registered trade mark may be depreciated. The Court ruled according to the provisions of Article 16b(1) pt. 6 of the Polish Act of 15 February 1992 on the Legal Entities’ Income Tax – LEIT – (in Polish: Ustawa o podatku dochodowym od osób prawnych) consolidated text published in Journal of Laws (Dziennik Ustaw) of 2000, No. 54, item 654 with subsequent amendments.

Art. 16b. 1. The following intangible assets, acquired and fit for commercial use as at the date of acceptance for use, shall be depreciated, subject to Article 16c:
1) the cooperative ownership right to an apartment;
2) the cooperative ownership right to commercial premises;
3) the right to a single-family house in a housing cooperative;
4) copyright or related proprietary rights;
5) licences;
6) rights to: inventions, patents, trademarks, designs;

The SAC noted although that the LEIT does not provide the definition of registered trade mark or trade mark itself. However, not the same “mark”, but right of protection to the trade mark, which must meet the criterion for classification as a property right (intangible assets), is subject to depreciation.

Tax law, case II FSK 412/08

August 8th, 2010, Tomasz Rychlicki

The Supreme Administrative Court in its judgment of 28 August 2009 case file II FSK 412/08 held that in case of depreciation of trade mark rights in tax practice, according to the established case-law, it is assumed that the trade mark rights are meant only as rights to a registered trade mark, i.e. sign, in respect of which a right of protection has been granted by the Polish Patent Office. Unregistered trade marks, including the application for trade mark registration, are not deemed as such rights. Only after the registration of such a trade mark, it may be entered in the register of intangible assets and then depreciated for tax purposes.

Tax law, case file PO/005-1/06

May 21st, 2006, Tomasz Rychlicki

The Tax Office in Tarnowskie Góry in its decision of 10 February 2006 case file PO/005-1/06 ruled that unconditional sharing for free of a computer program to unlimited recipients is not a civil law act, and donations send by users of such program to its creators, are not a form of payment for the use of the program. There is therefore no legal relationship between the creators of the program and its users and there is no transfer of any rights by the creator to the user, and therefore this form of activity is not subject to tax on civil law transactions.

Tax law, case USPP-IV-440/30/06/P-I/23717

April 21st, 2006, Tomasz Rychlicki

The Tax Office in Chorzów in its interpretation of 27 marca 2006 case file USPP-IV-440/30/06/P-I/23717 held that publishing of a computer program free of charge via the Internet with the possibility of its use by all, is not based on legal title, indicating the obligation for service and the salary and the amount of donations is not dependent on the service, so actons of the applicant cannot be deemed as performed for remuneration. Furthermore, there was no reason to believe that these actions were services provided free-of-charge and therefore this activity is not subject to tax on goods and services.