Work continues to change the real estate tax rules. The bill in this regard was sent to the State Finance Committee on Wednesday for further work. As the deputy head of the Ministry of Finance, Yaroslav Neneman, said in the Seimas, this is a small amendment and “the first step” and “taxation of residential buildings, especially in big cities, requires a radical change”.
On Wednesday, at the general meeting of the Sejm, the first reading of the draft government amendments to the documents on agricultural tax, local taxes and payments, and stamp duty, prepared by the Ministry of Finance, took place. The draft has been subject to extensive consultation and this is its third version.
The amendment, which should take effect on January 1, 2025, was sent to the Public Finance Committee on Wednesday for further work.
“The rate will be reduced”
The purpose of the regulation is to clarify the applicable provisions and eliminate interpretational doubts. As Deputy Minister of Finance Yaroslav Neneman said during the presentation of the project, the existing regulations are unclear and do not correspond to reality. He added that a significant number of cases in the Supreme Administrative Court were related to real estate tax.
Neneman explained that the ministry has decided to “maintain legal status” in the tax rules, which means that what is already taxed will be taxed, and what is not taxed, except for silos. The deputy minister assured that local tax money will go to local governments for local needs, that is, for the residents of this area.
As he said, the proposed document changes the taxation method. For example, in the case of garages, a garage may have different taxes depending on its legal status, which should not be the case.
– The rate is adjusted downwards. We estimate that on a national scale it will be a loss of about PLN 170 million, said the Deputy Minister. He added that according to the Ministry's calculations, in other cases the financial consequences of these changes will be “zero”.
He added that in order to ensure a smooth entry into the system, the Ministry of Finance proposes to extend the deadline for submitting property tax returns for 2025 by businesses until March 31, so that they have time to adapt to the changes.
Eighteen PiS reforms
Deputy Janusz Kowalski (PiS) addressed the minister and said: – You promised in the union agreement that the term of vacatio legis in tax laws is at least 6 months, and we should adopt it within a few weeks.
– This rule has been violated, so we, as Law and Justice, will submit a request for a public hearing, – he announced.
Kowalski noted that PiS wants to propose 18 serious amendments and even “a draft law that obliges the Minister of Finance to create a central database of tax interpretations in the field of real estate tax.”
Other clubs, with the exception of the Confederation, welcomed the government's bill, noting that it improves the existing tax rules. However, deputy Witold Tumanovich (Confederation) claimed that it raises new problems of interpretation.
“Taxation of residential buildings requires radical changes”
According to the foundation, “introduction of new definitions of the terms: “structure” and “building” in the project – for the purpose of real estate taxation, clarification of the principles of real estate taxation of garages in residential buildings, clarification of the scope of real estate tax exemption for port infrastructure structures, changes granting exemptions from real estate tax in railway infrastructure facilities, changing the rules for the use of subjective exemptions in the agricultural tax, as well as changes adapted to the current regulations of the European Union to be followed by Polish regulations on the application of investment incentives in the agricultural tax.
Neneman answered the questions of the deputies and reported that 600 comments were submitted to the project. He emphasized that this is a small amendment, a “first step”.
– Taxation of residential buildings, especially in big cities, requires radical changes. (…) This will be a big change, we have to wait for this change for a while, we have to find political agreement – said the deputy minister.
Main image source: Shutterstock
