The minimum tax will threaten SMEs
02:26
Entering at the last minute to the draft of the Polish Deal, just before it was sent to the Sejm, the so-called minimum income tax, collects very critical ratings. The Entrepreneurship Council, associating nine business organizations, issued a negative position on this matter on their behalf.
The tax rate is to be 10 percent. The assumptions are to be paid by larger Polish companies and establishments of foreign entities that incur losses from sources other than capital gains or show a low operating profitability ratio (no more than 1 percent). Małgorzata Samborska, tax advisor, partner at Grant Thornton, points out that the government justifies the new solution with the need to counteract the budget gap in the corporate income tax CIT resulting from the transfer of corporate profits abroad.
"This solution surprised many taxpayers. It was not the subject of public consultations. According to the representatives of the Ministry of Finance, it is intended to partially compensate for the deficit in the budget related to the change in the provisions of the Polish Order regarding the health insurance premium for some entrepreneurs, reducing its amount from 9 percent to 4.9 percent," Małgorzata Samborska explained.
According to the organizations gathered in the Entrepreneurship Council, contrary to the project initiator's assurances, the new tax will not affect only entities indicated by it.
“The structure of this tax is flawed. It will make it payable by companies that do not use aggressive tax optimization schemes, but have low income due to the specific nature of the industry in which they operate or due to fluctuations in profitability levels related to the business cycle,” the Council said.
