Citibank wins contested construction tax-break for landmark building

The Supreme Administrative Court has decided Citibank Poland S.A. has the right to an investment tax break for a reconstructing the Jablonski Palace in Warsaw. This means the tax office must return zl. 18 million plus interest to the company, while the fiscal chamber will pay zl. 100,000 in court costs. Together with bank BRE, Citibank established a partnership Budowa Centrum Plac Teatralny, the official owner of the area on which a new building was constructed. In 1996 Citibank deducted the cost of investment without having propriety right to the construction, and the operation was accepted by the fiscal chamber. Problems emerged after the law concerning construction tax-breaks was changed in 1997 and the decision of the chamber was appealed. Yet, according to the court findings, the construction investments tax-break remained in force until the end of 1998, and did not require the ownership of land and buildings at the time the money was being spent. In justifying the jury's decision, the judge said the new regulations concerned only cases of expanding buildings and therefore did not apply in Citibank's case. (Rzeczpospolita, p.A1)