Entrepreneurs carry out on a daily basis
numerous
commercial
transactions
and
payments related to their business activities.
Some are made in cash; however, due to legal
constraints, the great majority of them must be
effected through bank accounts.
According to the current wording of Article 22
of the Freedom of Economic Activity Act of 2
July 2004, economic operators are required to
make and receive payments related to their
business activity through a bank account
whenever another entrepreneur is a party to the
transaction giving rise to the payment in
question and if the one-off value of the
transaction, regardless of the number of
payments to be made under that transaction,
exceeds the equivalent of EUR 15,000.
It should be noted that these conditions must be
fulfilled cumulatively, which means that this
rule will not apply, for example, in situations
where the value of a payment made to an
economic operator is in excess of EUR 15,000
euro, but its beneficiary is a natural person not
conducting business activity, or if the
transaction
is
made
between
two
entrepreneurs, yet its value does not exceed
the prescribed limit.
The above regulation was amended by the Act
of 13 April 2016 amending the income tax act,
corporate tax act and the freedom of business
activity act (the “Amending Act”). Pursuant to
the amendments adopted, the upper limit of
payments that can be made in the form of cash
was lowered to PLN 15,000. The value of
transactions carried out in foreign currencies is
to be converted into Polish zlotys according to
the average exchange rate of relevant
currencies as published by the National Bank
Poland for the last business day preceding the
date on which the transaction is made.
Neither the existing nor the amended text of
the Freedom of Business Activity Act provides
for any sanctions for failure to comply with the
obligations to effect the aforementioned
payments through a bank account. However,
under the Amending Act additional provisions
intended to discourage economic operators from
carrying out cash transactions were introduced
into the Individual Income Tax Act of 26 July
1991 and the Corporate Income Tax of 15
February 1992. In accordance with Article 15(d),
which was included in both Acts, the portion of
a transaction for which the related payment did
not go through a bank account cannot be
claimed as tax deductible expense by the
taxpayer.
The said amendments are intended to enhance
the certainty and transparency of business
dealings, while making it more difficult for
economic operators to evade their tax
obligations. Moreover, the solutions introduced
follow the trend in European Union countries to
lower the
upper thresholds for cash
transactions. Similar regulations have already
been adopted in France, Portugal, Bulgaria or
Hungary, among others.
The Amending Act will come into force on 1
January 2017. However, the limit of EUR 15,000
will continue to apply to transactions concluded
prior to its effective date.
MILLER, CANFIELD,
W. BABICKI, A. CHEŁCHOWSKI I WSPÓLNICY SP.K.
ul. Batorego 28-32
81-366 Gdynia
Tel. +48 58 782-0050
Fax +48 58 782-0060
gdynia@pl.millercanfield.com
ul. Nowogrodzka 11
00-513 Warszawa
Tel. +48 22 447-4300
Fax +48 22 447-4301
warszawa@pl.millercanfield.com
ul. Skarbowców 23a
53-125 Wrocław
Tel. +48 71 780-3100
Fax +48 71 780-3101
wroclaw@pl.millercanfield.com
Disclaimer: This publication has been prepared for clients and professional associates of Miller Canfield. It is intended to provide only a summary of
certain recent legal developments of selected areas of law. For this reason the information contained in this publication should not form the basis of any
decision as to a particular course of action; nor should it be relied on as legal advice or regarded as a substitute for detailed advice in individual cases.
The services of a competent professional adviser should be obtained in each instance so that the applicability of the relevant legislation or other legal
development to the particular facts can be verified.