Poland’s government has sent a broad package of proposed PIT and CIT changes to parliament, setting up potentially significant changes for companies, entrepreneurs and investors from 1 January 2027.
The Council of Ministers approved the bill on 22 September and formally sent it to the Sejm, the lower house of parliament, on 24 September. As of 27 September, the proposal is listed by the Sejm among newly submitted bills that have not yet been assigned a parliamentary print number. It therefore remains proposed legislation rather than enacted law.
The package covers several distinct areas of Poland’s tax system, including the corporate-tax regime commonly known as Estonian CIT, the solidarity levy paid by higher-income individuals, tax on transferred income, related-party financing and rental arrangements, and depreciation rules for company cars. The government says most of the provisions are intended to take effect on 1 January 2027.
Estonian CIT rules would change
One of the most important parts for companies concerns Poland’s Estonian CIT regime, formally the lump-sum tax on company income.
Unlike standard corporate taxation, the regime generally postpones corporate income tax until profits are distributed or certain other taxable events occur. The new bill would address several areas that have generated disputes or uncertainty for companies using the system.
The government says it will introduce an amnesty for taxpayers whose entry into Estonian CIT during a tax year was jeopardised by formal defects connected with preparing their financial statements. Recent reporting on the government-approved proposal says affected companies would have until 31 January 2027 to correct the relevant financial-statement formalities and submit the documentation to the head of the National Revenue Administration.
The employment test used to qualify for Estonian CIT would also be clarified. The government says companies would be able to satisfy the requirement through a combination of employment contracts and other qualifying contractual arrangements rather than having to meet it entirely through one form of employment.
The package also addresses distributed income, hidden profits and expenditure unrelated to business activity — areas that can trigger taxation within the Estonian CIT system.
There is, however, one point companies considering a mid-year move into Estonian CIT should treat cautiously. Earlier detailed versions of the draft described a restriction on making a new election during a tax year, while the Cabinet’s published summary refers to removing formal obstacles associated with changing to the regime. Until the parliamentary text receives its formal Sejm publication and can be compared provision by provision, businesses should not assume the final rule governing future mid-year elections is settled.
Solidarity levy changes would cut one restriction but broaden another
The bill also changes Poland’s solidarity levy for higher-income individuals.
Under the existing system, the levy is 4% of the relevant income above PLN 1 million — approximately $260,000 or €229,000 using the latest National Bank of Poland average rates available on 25 September.
Under the proposal, taxpayers would be allowed to take previous-year losses into account when calculating the levy, provided the losses relate to the same source of income. That is potentially beneficial to individuals whose taxable income varies significantly between years.
At the same time, qualifying income taxed under IP Box would be brought into the solidarity-levy calculation. IP Box currently allows qualifying income from intellectual-property rights to be taxed at a preferential 5% rate.
For entrepreneurs using IP Box, the practical consequence is therefore mixed: the proposal would allow relevant historic losses to reduce the solidarity-levy base, but income currently benefiting from IP Box could also begin contributing to that base when the statutory income threshold is exceeded.
Transferred-income tax could apply more widely
International corporate groups should pay particular attention to the proposed changes to Poland’s tax on transferred income.
The existing rules can impose additional Polish taxation on certain deductible payments — such as selected financing, licensing and service costs — made to related foreign entities where a series of statutory conditions is met.
The government proposes removing the condition under which the foreign related entity must receive at least 50% of its total revenue from the Polish taxpayer and related Polish entities before the transferred-income rules can apply.
Tax specialists have previously identified removal of that test as potentially widening the range of cross-border arrangements that need to be examined under the transferred-income rules. Other statutory conditions would still matter, so removal of the 50% test would not mean that every payment to a foreign related company automatically becomes taxable.
For foreign-owned groups with Polish subsidiaries, this is one of the provisions that could merit an early review of intercompany financing, licensing and service arrangements if the legislation progresses substantially unchanged.
Related-party rental income faces higher lump-sum rates
The proposal also targets some rental and licensing arrangements involving related parties.
Income from leasing or renting intellectual property to a related entity would be subject to a 17% lump-sum income-tax rate under the proposed rules.
For other qualifying rental or lease income involving related parties, a 15% rate would apply to the portion of annual revenue exceeding PLN 100,000 — approximately $26,000 or €23,000 at the latest NBP average rates.
The provision is particularly relevant to entrepreneurs using Poland’s lump-sum taxation regime who rent assets or intellectual property to companies or other entities with which they are related.
Because the rules focus on transactions between related parties, businesses should distinguish them from ordinary commercial rentals conducted between independent parties.
Debt financing and refinancing also come under scrutiny
Corporate financing structures are another significant part of the bill.
The government wants to strengthen restrictions on deducting debt-financing costs associated with capital transactions. The proposed change would expressly extend the rules to refinancing loans, consolidation facilities and similar obligations, reducing the ability to escape the existing restriction simply by replacing the original financing with a new facility.
The package also changes the transfer-pricing “safe harbour” for loans.
A safe harbour gives qualifying taxpayers a simplified way of demonstrating that financing terms satisfy transfer-pricing requirements when statutory conditions are met. The government says the new provisions will clarify the rules, including treatment of variable interest rates. Detailed pre-Cabinet draft analysis described the mechanism as applying to variable-rate financing updated at least every three months using the base rate and margin specified by the finance minister.
Companies using intra-group loans should therefore check the final parliamentary wording rather than assuming existing safe-harbour arrangements will continue unchanged.
Company-car depreciation rules would be adjusted
The bill also changes how businesses establish a passenger vehicle’s CO₂ emissions when applying tax depreciation limits.
The Central Vehicle Register would no longer be the only permitted source for determining emissions. Draft materials indicate that other evidence could include certificates of conformity and documents issued or recognised by Poland’s Transport Technical Supervision authority.
The proposal would also clarify rules governing changes to depreciation rates and prevent taxpayers from retrospectively lowering or increasing those rates after the deadline for submitting the relevant annual tax return.
The government additionally proposes excluding depreciation of goodwill arising when a business or organised part of a business is taken into paid use under a finance-lease structure.
The package is not law yet
For companies planning their 2027 tax position, the most important procedural point is that none of these provisions is yet final.
The Cabinet approved the bill on 22 September and sent it to the Sejm two days later. It must still go through the parliamentary process. The Sejm can amend the proposal before passing it; the Senate then considers the legislation, after which it would require presidential action and publication before becoming law.
The government’s intended commencement date is 1 January 2027, but that date remains contingent on completion of the legislative process.
The breadth of the proposal means different taxpayers will face very different consequences. Companies using Estonian CIT may benefit from the proposed cure for certain historic formal errors, while international groups may face broader exposure under transferred-income and debt-financing rules. Entrepreneurs using lump-sum taxation for related-party rentals or IP arrangements could face higher rates, while high-income IP Box users would need to account for the proposed solidarity-levy change.
Businesses affected by those areas can therefore use the government-approved bill as an indication of the direction of travel, but final restructuring or tax decisions should be based on the legislation that ultimately emerges from parliament.
