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Post by Bonobo on Jan 22, 2016 22:40:00 GMT 1
We`ll see what it all leads to.
Polish FinMin: ‘supermarket tax’ in March
29.12.2015 13:01
Paweł Szałamacha, Poland’s Finance Minister has announced that supermarkets in Poland will be paying higher taxes as soon as March, 2016.
The proposal to the bill will force shops with a footprint of more than 250 m2 to pay a two-percent tax off their total income to the national budget.
Public consultations will start in early 2016, the Finance Minister told Polish Radio on Tuesday.
Szałamacha stressed that the tax should generate and additional PLN 2 billion to the Polish budget.
The funds will help finance other important government initiatives, including the 500+ programme, envisioning a benefit payout of PLN 500 (EUR 118, USD 130) a month to Polish families with more than one child. The programme would see families receiving allowance for the second child up, and is meant to increase the birth rate in the country
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Post by Bonobo on Feb 12, 2016 23:43:05 GMT 1
Thousands of shopkeepers protest retail tax in Warsaw 11.02.2016 13:39 Around 5,000 members of the retail industry took to the streets of Warsaw on Thursday to protest against a tax proposed by the Polish government. “Do not let the Polish trade get buried!,” read banners being carried by the small-and-medium-sized traders during the march on Thursday, who fear that the new tax will eat into their livelihood. At 1:00 pm CET, the organisers of the protest handed the speaker of Polish parliament a petition for changes to the draft law on tax on retail sales. The document was signed by some 15,000 shopkeepers. According to plans announced by the Finance Ministry in late December, the tax will be progressive with three rates, 0.7, 1.3 and 1.9 percent, and a tax-free allowance of PLN 1.5 million (EUR 0.3 million) per month. The tax, which was proposed as part of the Law and Justice (PiS) party’s election campaign last year, was originally meant to apply to supermarkets with a retail area of over 250 square meters before being amended to its current form. “The tax will give small commercial enterprises in Poland a fighting chance to compete on the market,” Prime Minister Beata Szydło told members of the retail industry during consultations last month. Szydło added that such a tax sends a message to Polish retailers that “they have a tool, which, if used right, can give them a chance to compete and stay afloat on the market”.( - See more at: www.thenews.pl/1/12/Artykul/240306,Thousands-of-shopkeepers-protest-retail-tax-in-Warsaw#sthash.qiIzcKji.dpuf   |
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Post by Bonobo on Jun 30, 2016 21:39:21 GMT 1
International distributors attack new Polish retail tax law
29.06.2016 15:55
International distributors have described a new tax approved by the Polish government as “discriminatory” and "xenophobic”.
From 1 August, Poland will tax supermarket revenue, based on a progressive tax rate: distributors with a turnover above PLN 170 million (EUR 38.3 million) will have to pay a 1.4% tax. Companies below PLN 17 million (EUR 3.8 million) are exempt.
In between these two thresholds, the tax level is 0.8%.
The so-called "supermarket tax" has to "guarantee equal rights and opportunities for small Polish entrepreneurs compared to the major parties", Polish Prime Minister Beata Szydło said, admitting the tax will mostly hit the major distributors who all happen to be foreign companies.
“We oppose this discriminatory project,” said Maria Andrzej Faliński, chairman of the Polish trade federation (POHiD), which represents companies like French groups Auchan, Carrefour, Castorama and E.Leclerc, German distributors Kaufland, Lidl and Metro and Portuguese Jeronimo Martins and British Tesco.
European retailers such as Jeronimo Martins, Carrefour and Auchan, will pay about EUR 360 million a year.
Online shops and several items (like healthcare items and several food items) are exempt from taxation.
POHiD plans to use "all legal and institutional means" to fight the legislation.
According to French press agency AFP, Faliński said it was aimed at an industry that has invested EUR 50 billion in Poland and created employment for some 200,000 people.
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Post by Bonobo on Sept 19, 2016 21:11:41 GMT 1
We`ll see what it all leads to.
So it finally led to the situation that PiS must withdraw or suffer consequences.
EU launches probe into new Polish retail tax
19.09.2016 12:50
The European Commission on Monday launched an investigation into a recently introduced Polish progressive retail tax, ordering Warsaw to suspend the new rules until the probe is finished.
Brussels is concerned the tax could favour smaller shops, and that this could be considered as state aid.
The Commission, the executive arm of the EU, said in a statement that it "has concerns that the progressive rates based on turnover give companies with a low turnover a selective advantage over their competitors in breach of EU state aid rules."
The retail tax came into force in Poland on 1 September, with the government expecting it to boost state coffers by PLN 1.6 billion next year.
The new rules brought in two retail tax rates: 0.8 percent on revenue between PLN 17 million (EUR 3.9m, USD 4.4m) and PLN 170 million a month; and 1.4 percent on revenue of over PLN 170 million a month.
The tax was proposed as part of the Law and Justice (PiS) party’s election campaign last year.
PiS politicians argued that new rules were needed to even out the chances of small businesses competing with large retail chains.
In letters sent in June and July to Brussels, Warsaw argued that the tax does not constitute state aid.
Revenue from the tax is expected to help fund several of PiS’s electoral pledges, including its flagship “500+” child benefits programme. |
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