Return relief in Poland still raises many practical questions. When reviewing this tax relief, the tax authorities verify not only the period spent abroad. What also matters is the moment of the change in tax residence and where the taxpayer actually had their centre of vital interests. Recently, Rzeczpospolita published our commentary on how the tax authorities approach individuals using this preference.
Let us recall that the return relief in Poland is a PIT exemption intended for individuals who, after spending a sufficiently long period abroad, transfer their place of residence back to Poland. In practice, however, the conditions are much more complex. What may be crucial is not only the return to Poland itself, but also when exactly the change in tax residence occurred.
We also discussed this issue in one of our earlier posts:
The article available under this link contains a number of interesting points explaining return relief in Poland.
tax advisor Piotr Sekulski, PhD
„The relief has been in force since 1 January 2022 and at first it appeared only in tax rulings. In recent months, however, the tax authorities have started to review taxpayers making use of the exemption and, specifically, to verify the dates of their relocations(…)”
tax advisor Piotr Sekulski, PhD
“(…)And it is precisely these family-related aspects that are of the greatest interest to the authorities. It is difficult to convince the tax authorities that we changed our place of residence, for example, only in January, if the taxpayer’s wife and children had already returned to Poland in December. Because of that one month, we may lose the right to the relief, as the full three calendar years of emigration will not be met.
Of course, the tax authorities also check other matters: where we have a home, a bank account, where we go to the doctor, to the gym, and when exactly we crossed the border. They may conclude not only that we returned to Poland earlier, but that we never really left it at all (…)”
This clearly shows that return relief in Poland is not limited to simply determining the number of years spent outside Poland. For the authorities, family, financial and day-to-day life circumstances are also very important. All of these may indicate that the taxpayer’s centre of vital interests remained in Poland or was moved here earlier than the taxpayer assumed.
Several years spent abroad are not always enough to safely apply the exemption. Problematic cases often include situations where the family returns to Poland earlier. The same applies where the taxpayer maintains strong personal or economic ties with Poland, or where there is insufficient documentation confirming foreign tax residence.
Therefore, before filing a tax return, it is worth checking whether, in a given case, the conditions for return relief in Poland have actually been met and whether the taxpayer has appropriate documentation confirming the change of place of residence for tax purposes. If you are wondering whether you qualify for return relief in Poland, feel free to contact us at www.outsourced.pl .
