Real estate and global minimum tax in Poland: The most important changes in the new tax regulations

Two new tax regulations came into force in Poland on 1 January 2025. They concern real estate tax and the global minimum tax (2nd pillar). The deadline for submitting the property tax return under the new regulations has been extended to 31 March 2025 (previously: 31 January 2025). The Ecovis consultants know exactly what those affected need to take into account.

Real estate tax

The purpose of the amendments was to clarify and eliminate interpretative doubts surrounding the current regulations and ensure their correct application.

The amendments include among other things:

• amendment of the definition of “building” and “structure”
• clarification that buildings and structures are only objects erected as a result of construction work (and not, for example, by assembly)
• introduction of an annex that lists objects defined as a non-building structure
• clarification that in the case of photovoltaic power plants, energy storage facilities, industrial furnaces, cable cars or ski lifts, only the construction part of these installations (e.g. foundations) will be subject to taxation
• removing of the requirement to recognise the facility and installation as a “technical and utility whole” – the decisive criterion for taxation will now be whether the installations ensure the possibility of using the building or non-building structure in accordance with its intended purpose

Since the law was only promulgated at short notice in the Journal of Laws of 29 November 2024 the legislator has introduced the possibility of filing the annual real estate tax return later if the conditions specified in the law are met (by 31 March 2025 instead of the usual deadline of 31 January of a given year).

The extension of the deadline for filing the property tax return is intended to allow taxpayers to adjust to the changes and correctly determine the tax base according to the new regulations (see also info box).

We can help you in determining whether the changes to real estate and global minimum tax in Poland affect your company.

Hubert Kaczyński, Tax Advisor, ECOVIS Poland, Warsaw, Poland

Global minimum tax (Pillar 2)

Regulations on the global minimum tax, which came into effect on 1 January 2025, were introduced on 6 November 2024 in the Law on Compensatory Taxation of Component Units of International and Domestic Groups (the so-called Pillar 2), which was published in the Journal of Laws No. 1685 of 2024.

The tax will not apply to all corporate income tax taxpayers, but to entities that are part of large capital groups (with consolidated revenues exceeding EUR 750,000,000). The regulation introduces compensatory taxation for international and domestic groups seeking to avoid income tax by shifting profits to countries offering lower taxation. It aims to ensure that the group’s effective tax rate in any given country is not less than 15%.

In practice, the tax is a new form of taxation on the income of business entities that will work alongside and supplement the “standard” corporate income tax. This means that every corporate income tax taxpayer will have to verify whether they are subject to the minimum tax.

The calculation of the tax will be multi-level and will require the extraction/calculation of many auxiliary values, which, as a rule, will be derived from financial statements. The starting point for determining the key values and indicators are the rules derived from the accounting standards used and the source data taken from the financial statements.

There are two main reporting obligations for members of tax groups:

1. Filing the GloBE Information Return
2. Filing a qualified minimum top-up tax return (and possibly paying the tax)

The deadlines for companies

The deadline for filing the GloBE (Global Anti-Base Erosion) Information Return and notification of the reporting entity is, as a rule, 15 months starting from the last day of the reporting tax year. In the first year in which the tax is calculated in a given jurisdiction/Poland, this is extended to 18 months.

The deadline for filing the qualified minimum top-up tax return and paying the tax is 18 months after the end of the tax year. In the first year in which the compensatory tax is calculated, this deadline is extended to 21 months after the end of the tax year (see info box).

For further information please contact:

Hubert Kaczyński, Tax Advisor, ECOVIS Poland, Warsaw, Poland
Email: hubert.kaczynski@ecovis.pl