The Polish government is to introduce an exit tax for companies and private persons who leave the country. The tax is planned for 2019. It will amount to 3 or 19 percent, depending whether it is possible to give an accurate value of the assets.
The tax office will deduce 19 percent for companies with a value of over PLN 2 million (US$540,000). When it comes to private persons the tax will be 3 percent if they can give an accurate value of their assets or 19 percent if they can only supply an estimate.
The exit tax is meant to limit tax optimization accomplished by moving company headquarters and parts or whole of businesses to different tax jurisdictions or abroad, explains “Puls Biznesu”.
Private persons will fall under the tax only if as taxpayers, they have lived in Poland for at least five years. Apart from private businesses, the exit tax will also cover shareholding, derivative instruments and investment funds also with a value over PLN 2 million ($540,000).
The idea of an exit tax is not out of the ordinary as it functions in many other European Union countries. “We are doing what is commonplace in many countries. We’d also like for this tax to function as early as next year. The whole legislation process should be completed by November this year,” Minister of Finance Teresa Czerwińska explained.
