| In Principle

Increasing interest of foreign nationals in moving to live and work in the European Union is the main driver in recent times for seeking to obtain citizenship of an EU country. This also applies to Poland, as Polish citizenship gives the right to live and work not only in Poland but also across the entire EU.

Although the definition of a “controlled transaction” has been introduced into the PIT Act and the CIT Act, taxpayers (and lawmakers) still have doubts which events require preparation of transfer pricing documentation. Today, we write about transfer pricing documentation in the case of contributions to share capital, share redemptions, and dividends.

If tax arrears are a ground for exclusion under the procurement documentation, exclusion can be prevented by making payment or entering into an agreement with the tax authority. It is worth considering whether providing voluntary security would be an effective way to prevent exclusion.

To meet conditions of education, professional qualifications and experience in a contract award procedure, a contractor may rely on the abilities of other entities. How to do so properly? And can a defective third-party commitment be corrected? The National Appeal Chamber answered that question in its ruling of 13 July 2020 (KIO 1174/20). A contractor who relies on resources of other entities must entrust the performance of the relevant part of the contract to the entity making those resources available.

On 30 September 2020, an extensive set of proposed amendments to tax laws was submitted to the Polish Parliament. We have already written about how general partnerships and limited partnerships are to be taxed. In this article, we describe the planned form of taxation of income from the sale of real estate companies and related doubts.

The recent amendment to the Construction Law introduces a new element of the construction design: the technical design, which will not be enclosed with the application for a building permit. This will speed up the initial stage of the project.

A relatively small change in the definition of the impact area of a project in the amendment to the Construction Law which entered into force since 19 September 2020 has resulted in a significant change in the rules for determining the set of parties in cases seeking a building permit.

Since 19 September 2020, acquirers of real estate have been able to transfer a building permit to themselves without the consent of the prior investor. Does this change facilitate implementation of development projects by property buyers?

The amendment to the Construction Law has made life easier for some owners of unlawful structures. Those whose structures were built over 20 years ago can rest easy. So long as their structure is in proper technical condition, they are not threatened with a high legalisation fee or a demolition order. The regulations governing other unpermitted structures have also been simplified and consolidated.

Under the amended Construction Law in force from 19 September 2020, in a proceeding seeking legalisation of unlawful construction it will no longer be possible to seek consent to a variance from technical construction regulations, due to the express wording of the new Art. 9(5) of the Construction Law. Investors who had planned to legalise an unpermitted construction while obtaining a variance from technical regulations will not obtain such approval. The same applies to investors who filed a request before 19 September 2020 and were awaiting the minister’s position on the variance.

Poland’s new Public Procurement Law, which enters into force on 1 January 2021, identifies a set of clauses that cannot be included in public contracts. Will Art. 433 of the new act be regarded as a catalogue of abusive clauses? What types of provisions will be prohibited?

Despite its similar function, the general contractor’s retention of a portion of a subcontractor’s fee to secure its own claims cannot be equated with a security deposit. Consequently, the investor is jointly and severally liable for payment of such amounts to the subcontractor.