Poland suspends retail tax

The Ministry of Finance has decided to suspend its retail tax following the EU's step to launch a probe into the levy and will make corrections to a 2017 budget bill draft. The Ministry will also present a new version of a bill on the retail tax, which will be introduced in January 2017. The European Commission  on Monday opened an in-depth investigation into a Polish tax on the retail sector and has issued an injunction, requiring Poland to suspend the application of the tax until the Commission has concluded its assessment. The Commission has concerns that the progressive rates based on turnover give companies with a low turnover a selective advantage over their competitors which is in breach of EU state aid rules. Poland had introduced the retail tax with two rates of 0.8 percent for turnover between PLN 17 and PLN 70 million and 1.4 percent for turnover above PLN 170 million.  The levy also includes PLN 17 million tax-free turnover.