Sales tax comes into force

As of September 1 the new sales tax law enters into force. The government says the predicted income for the treasury will reach PLN 1.6 billion next year. As FinMin Paweł Szałamacha wrote in the draft budget for 2017, the amount is at a "safe" level and predicted with a "conservative approach." If the biggest retail chains want to avoid the tax by raising prices, Szałamacha says it will "create space" for competition coming from "smaller taxpayers." The law establishes two tax rates: 0.8 percent for businesses with a revenue between PLN 17 million and PLN 170 million, and 1.4 percent for those with higher revenues (all counted monthly). Stores earning less than PLN 204 million yearly (PLN 17 million a month) are not included as taxpayers. Only retail sales will be taxed; the new law does not include B2B transactions.