How long 12% lump-sum taxation rule for IT going to stay?

9 comments

1. That’s why Poland is on the bottom of rankings of the best countries to run business. Nobody knows when this shitty semi-communist government fucks you in the ass. It can happen anytime with only few months notice.

   EDIT: I forgot to mention that you can get fucked by IRS anytime. Because different IRS offices can interpret the same tax laws diffetently and this depends on the head of your specific office. The decision of one office is non-precedent so an other office will not take other offices similar situation decisions into account while analysing your situation. That’s why you have to ask for personal interpretation of your situation to your specific IRS so you know they don’t fuck you with backlog taxes and fines.

2. No one can guarantee you the exact date, but so far there’s no signs that things will change in near future. From my observations I would say that more than half IT in Poland works on B2B basis, so such change affects a lot of people. In any case you can close your one-men company online at anytime.

   BTW, If you are really considering tax optirmalasition there’s an option to have even 5% tax (so called IP Box), but its a hard way.

3. I don’t even know how it works, but I pay effectively 30% of taxes working in IT, including 60% copyrights bonuses. 12% would be a bliss.

4. Nobody knows, really. Most probably it’ll stay next year, as now we have election on October and nobody is going to change it now. In 2025? God only knows.

5. Before even worrying about that. You need to establish more context. The lump sum taxation is something you need to qualify for. For example, what are you doing? One of the first things is to establish what business activities you’re engaging with, depending on what other taxation might come into effect, being a VAT payer or not for example. Will you work with a company that you were an employee for? In this case you go straight to tax scale like the average Joe, plus pay the full social contribution.

   So tldr it’s not that easy

6. First, mentioned lump sum tax is reserved only for sole proprietors. If you would like to move here and pay your taxes using this method, you would have to also establish a business and work on a B2B contract. That means the employment code would not apply to you and your relation with an employer would not be protected by the law. Do keep in mind that being on a B2B contract with just one company and behaving like it’s employment is often considered as “fake business activity”. There were attempts by the government to make it illegal and push those “fake sole proprietors” to employment contracts and thus making them pay higher taxes.

   Second, a lump sum tax is not viewed in Poland as a full-fledged taxation method. It’s supposed to be an ease for some professionals and smaller businesses. You pay the tax on revenue, not income, but the tax rate is lower and your accounting burden is easier. The problem is that the list of applicable professions is not well defined and also the tax authorities often present rather hostile approach. However, the 12% rate is the higher one for IT (it is 8.5% or 12% depending on the type of IT work) so I think it should not be a problem with the authorities.

   As to the possibility of changing it… Well, the tax rates are not written in the stone. Our PIT act is just an ordinary act and the government can change it anytime and how they like, just like any other law. And current government unfortunately likes to change the tax law without any prior notice. Changing tax code mid season is the new normal for us in Poland now.

7. If I had to guess I would say it’ll be changed after the elections. Which is this year.

8. Why wouldn’t it stay though? It’s a reasonable tax rate. Not to small, not to high. I’d be more worried about ZUS, *e-faktury* and *test przedsiębiorcy*.

9. My sister with boyfriend (both IT) run from Poland to Georgia, almost no tax and stable financial law.