Publication date: May 26, 2025
Polish provisions and procedure
Entities authorized to submit an application for a tax interpretation
The entity entitled to obtain an interpretation is the “interested party”. The regulations do not define the concept of interested party. It is assumed that the group of entities entitled to obtain an interpretation includes entities listed in the provisions of art. 14a-14p of the Polish Tax Ordinance, which are: taxpayers, payers, collectors, third parties responsible for tax liabilities – regardless of whether the interpretation concerns their current or future situation; persons who have or may have tax arrears, referred to in art. 52 § 1 of the Tax Ordinance; persons planning to establish a company – in matters related to the future situation of this company, as well as entrepreneurs intending to establish a branch or representative office – in matters related to the future situation of this branch or representative office.
There are however views that such a restriction of the right to interpretation only to the aforementioned entities is unacceptable, because with such a constructed list, apart from the entitled persons, there are individual entrepreneurs planning to establish an enterprise, although persons planning to establish a branch, representative office or company may apply for an interpretation.
Some analyses attempt to limit the subjective and objective scope of this concept and to enumerate the circle of entities entitled to apply for an interpretation, while currently the regulations do not block the possibility of providing an interpretation to any person who applies for it. Of great importance, in the context of the legitimacy to file a request for an interpretation, is the resolution of the Supreme Administrative Court of 10 December 1999 which states that if an unauthorized entity requests written information on the scope of application of tax law provisions, the tax authority is not only not obliged to provide such information, but also that authority has no right to provide the requested information to any person other than a taxpayer, payer or collector who has demonstrated a significant tax interest in obtaining it in an individual case.
As of 1 January 2016, the statutory catalogue of “interested” entities has been extended by adding Art. 14s to the Act, including contracting entities within the meaning of the Act of 11 September 2019 – Public Procurement Law (consolidated text: Journal of Laws of 2024, item 1320) to the extent that affects the method of calculating prices in connection with the awarded public procurement contract. In the event of an application for an individual interpretation being submitted by the ordering party within the meaning of the Public Procurement Law, the scope of protection will cover the entity that executes the order – this is a consequence of the judgment of the Supreme Administrative Court of 2 May 2013 (I FSK 863/12).
Furthermore, in order to obtain the status of an “interested party” and to be able to file an application for an individual interpretation, it is not enough for a given entity to have a legal interest, there must also be a tax law interest, as the Voivodship Administrative Court in Łódź aptly pointed out in its judgment of 11 January 2011: “If the factual circumstances resulting from the application for an individual interpretation of tax law indicate that it does not concern the tax rights and obligations of the applicant, and therefore does not concern their individual tax case, then the applicant for the interpretation does not have a legal interest justified by a specific norm of substantive tax law. Such an entity cannot then be referred to as an “interested party”, and is therefore not a party to the interpretation proceedings”.
Unfortunately, the Polish Tax Ordinance Act does not contain a legal norm that would indicate the obligation of the authorized body to issue a decision when the application comes from an entity that the body has not qualified as an “interested party” – in such a situation, it seems, per analogy, that the body should apply the provision of Art. 14g § 1 of the Tax Ordinance Act, leaving the application for an individual interpretation without consideration.
The entity authorized to issue an interpretation and the procedural and content requirements of the application
Tax law regulations raise many doubts. Hence, the institution of interpretation is to explain complexities and controversies, and additionally protect the applicant who has complied with the answer provided in the interpretation – the body competent to issue such an interpretation is the Director of the National Revenue Information (KIS). According to their competence, individual interpretations are also issued by the mayor (city mayor), district governor or province marshal. Therefore, the relevant bodies issue – within their competence – interpretations concerning, among others, real estate tax, agricultural tax, forestry tax or tax on means of transport.
The concept of “interested party” is very broad and such status may be granted to, for example, a commercial law company planning to transform into another commercial law company. However, it should be remembered that the interested party may submit an application for a tax interpretation based on the existing factual situation or a future event (this involves determining the tax consequences even in a purely hypothetical situation that has not yet occurred in the course of business activity). The person filing an application for an individual interpretation is obliged to provide an exhaustive presentation of the actual state of affairs or a future event and to present their own position on the legal assessment of this actual state of affairs or a future event – this is extremely important, because the tax authority is closely bound by the actual state of affairs presented in the application, so it is the applicant who bears the risk resulting from a possible erroneous or imprecise presentation of the description of the actual state in the application. If the applicant has not met the requirement of an exhaustive presentation of the actual state of affairs (or their own position), the tax authority first requests the applicant to supplement or correct the application, and if this does not help – then they leave the application without consideration, but the decision in this matter may be appealed. On the other hand, the authority does not request the submission of additional documents (e.g. contracts, invoices), does not hear witnesses, does not conduct inspections, does not appoint experts, etc. Evidence is not taken, no hearing is organised, etc. (the director of the National Revenue Information Office assesses the legal state rather than the actual state, and the analysis and assessment of the attachments to the application sent by taxpayers would cause the authority to conduct the interpretation procedure incorrectly). The authority, however, only requests additional information. In order to correctly determine the tax consequences of a given event, the interpretation authority often asks several or a dozen additional questions – because an individual interpretation can only cause legal and tax consequences when the actual factual state of the case that is the subject of the interpretation coincides with the factual state provided by the applicant. In the event of a change in any element of the factual state presented in the application, the answer provided loses its validity . If, in the event of an audit or tax proceedings, it turns out that the factual state is different from that described in the application, the interpretation does not protect the taxpayer. In addition, the authority does not conduct evidence proceedings.
The so-called principle of objective truth, which obliges the authority to determine the factual state, does not apply here. However, in case of doubt, the authority should request the party to specify the request contained in the application. Moreover, the applicant submits a declaration under penalty of criminal liability for false testimony (Article 233 of the Act of 6 June 1997 – the Penal Code (Journal of Laws of 2025, item 383)) that the elements of the factual situation covered by the application for an interpretation on the date of submission of the application are not the subject of ongoing tax proceedings, tax audit, customs and fiscal audit and that in this respect the case has not been resolved as to its substance in a decision or resolution of the tax authority.
In the event of submitting a false declaration, the individual interpretation issued will not produce legal effects. On the other hand, an extremely complex and important issue is the subject matter of the application for an individual interpretation. Legal provisions mainly indicate the normative matter that cannot be the subject of such an application. For example, the application cannot concern the provisions of tax law regulating the competence and powers and obligations of tax authorities (e.g. provisions on powers of attorney, verification activities, procedure for annulling a decision, etc.). Furthermore, the subject of an application for an individual interpretation cannot be provisions of tax law aimed at counteracting tax avoidance, which refer to the abuse of tax law provisions, conducting actual business activity or undertaking actions in an artificial manner or without economic justification; concerning revenues of a controlled foreign entity derived from transactions with related entities in the event that the entity does not generate any added value in economic terms in connection with these transactions or such value is insignificant.
Moreover, the subject of an application for an individual interpretation cannot be the provisions of tax law concerning the global equalisation tax, the national equalisation tax and the equalisation tax on under-taxed profits, referred to in the Act on Equalisation Taxation. An individual interpretation is also not issued in respect of those elements of the factual situation or future event that, on the date of filing the application for an interpretation, are the subject of ongoing tax proceedings, tax control or customs and fiscal control, or when in this respect the case has been resolved as to its substance in a decision or ruling of the tax authority or agreed in a tax agreement or investment agreement.
Moreover, if the factual situation or future event presented in the application corresponds to the issue that is the subject of a general interpretation issued in the same legal status, a decision is issued stating that the general interpretation applies to the factual situation or future event described in the application, while simultaneously stating that the application is irrelevant. In such a case, the decision indicates the designation of the general interpretation together with the place of its publication. An appeal may be lodged against the issued decision. It is also worth noting that no individual interpretation is issued in respect of those elements of the factual situation or future event for which there is a reasonable assumption that they may: constitute an act or an element of an act specified in art. 119a § 1 of the Tax Act (anti -tax avoidance clause) or be the subject of a decision issued using measures limiting contractual benefits, or constitute an abuse of the right referred to in art. 5 sec. 5 of the Act of 11 March 2004 on the Goods and Services Tax.
However, if the factual circumstances or future event presented in the application for an individual interpretation include a transaction, set of transactions or other events: involving a natural person, legal person or organizational unit without legal personality that have their place of residence, registered office or management outside the territory of the Republic of Poland or that conduct business outside the territory of the Republic of Poland through a foreign establishment, and the transaction, set of transactions or other events constitute part or all of the business activity of the foreign establishment, or are parties to the transaction, set of transactions or participants in the event that have their place of residence, registered office or management in more than one country or territory, or have cross-border effects, the person filing the application for an individual interpretation is also obliged to indicate, respectively, the country or territory of the place of residence of that natural person, data identifying that legal person or organizational unit without legal personality, including the country or territory of their registered office, management or location of that foreign establishment or the country or territory in which these cross-border effects occurred or may occur. The obligations listed above do not cover applications for an individual interpretation: concerning exclusively the individual case of a natural person and in the scope of excise duty and goods and services tax.
How to submit applications for individual interpretations
Since March 2017, individual interpretations have been issued by the Director of the National Revenue Information as a specialized body of the National Revenue Administration (KAS). The application can be submitted in three ways: via the Internet, at the National Revenue Information and by mail. Detailed information can be found on this website: https://www.gov.pl/web/gov/uzyskaj-podatkowa-interpretacje-indywidualna .
If the applicant wishes to submit an application via the Internet, the interested party must have a trusted profile or a qualified certificate – this is necessary to confirm identity.
Then the applicant follows to the internet address: https://epuap.gov.pl/wps/portal/strefa-klienta/katalog-spraw/podatki-oplaty-cla/najczesciej-zalatwiane-sprawy/wydanie-podatkowej-interpretacji-indywidualnej-2 and follows all the instructions that appear on the website one by one.
The interested party must also have a copy of the proof of payment or confirmation of transfer for the individual interpretation – this document should be attached to the application or submitted to the National Revenue Information within 7 calendar days. The template for such an application can also be found in the regulation of the Minister of Finance of July 31, 2024 on the application for an individual interpretation (Journal of Laws item 1211). In the case of both forms of submitting the application, the application should always include, among others: the type of tax, the status of the applicant (including an indication of whether it is, for example, a taxpayer, payer, entity participating in the public procurement procedure), the subject of the application (occurring factual situation/future event).
However, it is an extremely important issue that in an application for an interpretation, one cannot ask about what may be the subject of binding rate information (usually the VAT rate). However, it is worth noting that any subject exemptions are still analyzed in interpretations (e.g. issues of medical services, financial services, etc.).
Deadline for issuing interpretation
An individual interpretation of tax law provisions is issued without undue delay, but no later than within 3 months from the date of receipt of the application. When calculating this period, periods of delay due to the party’s fault or for reasons beyond the control of the authority are not taken into account. Additionally, it is worth pointing out, for example, that the period of waiting for the application to be specified, as well as the period related to paying the missing fee amount, are not included in the 3-month period referred to in art. 14d of the Tax Code. It is assumed in the doctrine that this refers to the issuance of an interpretation in the literal sense, and not to the delivery of the interpretation within 3 months from the date of receipt of the application (the legislator did not identify the issuance of an interpretation with its delivery). Another important issue is the effects of failure to meet the deadline by the authority competent to issue the interpretation. In such a situation, we are dealing with a so-called silent interpretation. This is an assumption that on the day following the day on which the deadline for issuing the interpretation expired, an interpretation was issued confirming the correctness of the applicant’s position in full. The applicant may at any time request to be informed by telephone or electronic means of communication about the date of issue of the individual interpretation and the assessment of his/her position contained therein or about another method of resolving the case. The information is provided immediately, and in the event that the applicant made this request before the individual interpretation was issued – no later than on the business day following the date of issue of this interpretation or another decision in the case. Additional requirements have been specified in the case of delivery of the individual interpretation using electronic means of communication. In such a situation, the interpretation is deemed to have been issued within three months if proof of sending was issued before the expiry of this period. On the other hand, in order to deliver a letter in the form of an electronic document, the tax authority sends a notification to the addressee’s electronic address containing: information that the addressee can collect the letter in the form of an electronic document; an indication of the electronic address from which the addressee can download the letter and at which he/she should confirm delivery of the letter and instructions on how to receive the letter, in particular how to identify himself/herself at the indicated electronic address in the tax authority’s IT system and information on the requirement to sign an official acknowledgment of receipt in a specified manner.
The issue of the deadline for issuing an individual interpretation has been the subject of court rulings several times. The case law has reached several important conclusions in this matter, firstly, in the event of an application for an individual interpretation filed by an applicant represented by a professional attorney, the tax authority should, within 3 months from the date of receipt of the application, not only prepare the interpretation, but also send the attorney a notification about the possibility of downloading such an interpretation in the form of an electronic document – because only when such a procedure is completed is the 3-month deadline for issuing an interpretation met, and secondly, after the individual interpretation is annulled by the provincial administrative court, the deadline for reconsidering the application for the interpretation, resulting from art. 14d of the Tax Code, is counted from the date of delivery of the final court judgment to the interpreting authority (more precisely – from the date of delivery of the files to the authority; the court returns the case files together with a copy of the judgment with a statement of its finality).
Proceedings for issuing an individual interpretation
This type of proceeding, which was referred to in the subtitle, is extremely specific, because the provisions regulating it in certain situations refer to certain provisions concerning tax proceedings. An interpretation is not an assessment proceeding, because its purpose is not to determine the amount of the tax liability and, for example, no evidence is taken, etc. In this proceeding, the provisions concerning, for example, some general principles will apply, i.e. the rule of law, the principle of conducting tax proceedings in a manner that inspires confidence in the tax authorities or the principle of speed and simplicity of tax proceedings; power of attorney or deliveries and summonses. A contrario, the provisions concerning, for example, the principle of objective (material) truth, according to which the body takes all necessary actions to thoroughly explain the factual situation and should collect and exhaustively consider all evidence; evidence and setting a 7-day deadline for the party to express its opinion on the evidence collected, will not apply.
Content of tax interpretation
An individual interpretation must necessarily include an assessment of the applicant’s position formulated by the tax authority and the legal justification for this assessment – the latter element may be waived in the interpretation if the applicant’s position is correct in its entirety. The situation is slightly different in the case of a negative assessment of the applicant’s position – then the interpretation must always include an indication of the correct position together with the legal justification. The tax authority is obliged to describe in detail the factual circumstances or future events presented in the application (to include more or less synthetically what the interested party described in the application) – this is very important due to the publication (with the taxpayer’s personal data being kept confidential) of the content of the interpretation, which is very helpful and useful for other taxpayers. The assessment of the position may mean for the applicant that the Director of the National Revenue Information considered the position to be correct, incorrect or partially correct (the latter option most often applies to situations where the applicant formulated at least two questions in the application). There are also situations where the authority considered the applicant’s position to be incorrect, but the interpretation is beneficial to them. In addition, the interpretation must include the legal basis on which it was issued (Article 13 §2a and Article 14b §1 of the Tax Ordinance).
Challenging the individual interpretation by the party
Another extremely important element of a tax interpretation, due to its specificity, included in a separate subtitle, is the information to the applicant about the right to appeal against the individual interpretation to the competent provincial administrative court (the competent provincial administrative court is the one in whose jurisdiction the complainant resides or has its registered office). The procedure for issuing the interpretation is a single-instance procedure. A complaint to the provincial administrative court is filed through the body whose action, inaction or excessive length of the proceedings is the subject of the complaint, and the body forwards the complaint to the court together with the case files and the response to the complaint within 30 days of the date of its filing (in this case, the complaint is filed through the Director of the National Revenue Information – this results from Article 54 §1 and 53 §1 of the Act of 30 August 2002 – the Code of Administrative Court Procedure ( i.e. Journal of Laws of 2024, item 935; amended: Journal of Laws of 2024, item 1685)). Such a complaint may be filed in paper form, in two copies (original and copy) to the appropriate address of the National Revenue Information or as an electronic document, in one copy (without a copy) to the address of the Electronic Mailbox of the National Revenue Information on the ePUAP platform (Article 47 §1 and 3 and Article 54 §1a of the PPSA). Moreover, a complaint against an individual interpretation may be based solely on an allegation of a violation of procedural provisions, an error of interpretation or an incorrect assessment of the application of a provision of substantive law.
The court is bound by the allegations of the complaint and the legal basis cited (Article 57a of the PPSA). After filing such a complaint, the body should send the case file to the court together with the response to the complaint or change the individual interpretation as a result of upholding the complaint to the administrative court. The court has the latter right within 30 days of receiving the complaint. In such a case, the body prepares a new interpretation and indicates that it is an interpretation issued as a result of upholding the complaint.
There is no longer an obligation to call on the authority to eliminate the violation of the law before filing a complaint with the provincial administrative court. If the complaint reaches the provincial administrative court and it accepts it, it will annul the individual interpretation and, as a result, the authority will have to issue a new interpretation, respecting the legal views of the court contained in the justification of the judgment. However, tax authorities often disagree with the decision of the provincial administrative court and file complaints with the Supreme Administrative Court. Sometimes, on occasion, the NSA (or the provincial administrative court) decides to refer a question for a preliminary ruling to the Court of Justice of the European Union. It should be clearly emphasized that the right to file a cassation appeal to the Supreme Administrative Court is granted not only to the tax authority, but also to the complainant.
Challenging general and individual interpretations by tax authorities
The previous subtitle describes the situation of challenging a tax interpretation in court and administrative proceedings, however, the elimination of such an interpretation from legal circulation may occur ex officio.
Since 1 March 2017, specific competences in this area are vested in the minister responsible for public finances, the Head of the National Revenue Administration and the Director of the National Revenue Information. The Minister of Finance may ex officio change the issued general interpretation or tax explanations if he finds them to be incorrect, taking into account in particular the case law of the courts, the Constitutional Tribunal or the Court of Justice of the European Union. In turn, the Head of the National Revenue Administration may ex officio: change the issued individual interpretation if he finds them to be incorrect, taking into account in particular the case law of the courts, the Constitutional Tribunal or the Court of Justice of the European Union; annul the issued individual interpretation and discontinue the proceedings on the issuance of the individual interpretation if on the date of its issuance there were grounds for refusing to initiate the proceedings on the issuance of the individual interpretation, as well as annul the issued individual interpretation due to the occurrence of the premise mentioned in art. 14b § 5b of the Tax Code (issues of tax avoidance, contractual benefits or abuse of law in VAT) and refuse, by way of a resolution which may be appealed, to issue the individual interpretation. The Director of the National Tax Information has even broader powers, who may ex officio: change the individual interpretation as a result of upholding the complaint to the administrative court; declare the expiry of the individual interpretation if it is inconsistent with the general interpretation issued in the same legal status; annul the issued individual interpretation and issue a resolution stating that the general interpretation applies to the factual situation or future event described in the application; change the resolution stating that the general interpretation applies to the factual state or future event described in the application – in the event of a change in the general interpretation indicated in this resolution, and repeal the above-mentioned resolution stating that the general interpretation applies to the factual state or future event described in the application, if the factual state or future event presented in the application does not correspond to the issue that is the subject of the general interpretation indicated in the resolution, and consider the application for an individual interpretation.
When discussing this topic, it is also necessary to indicate that the change in the individual interpretation occurs in relation to the factual state or future event described in the application, on the basis of which the changed interpretation was issued. In addition, the change in the individual interpretation and the resolution stating that the general interpretation applies to the factual state or future event described in the application are delivered to the entity to which the individual interpretation or resolution was issued in a given case, or to its legal successor. In turn, the annulment or declaration of the expiry of an individual interpretation and the change or annulment of a decision stating that a general interpretation applies to the factual situation or future event described in the application shall be made in the form of a decision against which an appeal may be lodged. When stating the expiry of an individual interpretation, the decision shall indicate the designation of the general interpretation together with the place of its publication. Information on the change, annulment and declaration of the expiry of an individual interpretation shall be published in the Public Information Bulletin on the website of the office serving the minister responsible for public finances. Information on incorrect individual interpretations which, due to the death, liquidation or dissolution of the applicant for whom the individual interpretation was issued, cannot be amended, annulled or their expiry cannot be declared, as well as tax explanations, shall also be published there.
Protection gained by receiving an interpretation
At this point, it is necessary to mention an extremely important principle concerning protection as a result of receiving a tax interpretation, namely, compliance with an individual interpretation before it is changed, its expiry is stated or before the tax authority receives a copy of a final administrative court ruling annulling the individual interpretation cannot be detrimental to the applicant; also in the event of its failure to be taken into account in the resolution of the tax case. To the extent related to compliance with an interpretation that has been changed, whose expiry has been stated or an interpretation that has not been taken into account in the resolution of the tax case, proceedings in cases involving fiscal offences or fiscal misdemeanours are not initiated, and proceedings initiated in these cases are discontinued and default interest is not charged. Compliance with an interpretation that was subsequently changed or was not taken into account in the resolution of the tax case also cannot be detrimental to the taxpayer. In the event of compliance with the interpretation, there is, by operation of law, an exemption from the obligation to pay tax to the extent resulting from the event that is the subject of the interpretation, if the obligation was not properly performed as a result of compliance with the interpretation that was changed, or the interpretation that was not taken into account in the resolution of the tax case and the tax consequences related to the event to which the factual situation that is the subject of the interpretation corresponds, occurred after the publication of the general interpretation or after the delivery of the individual interpretation. In the context of the exemption from the obligation to pay tax to the extent resulting from the event that is the subject of the interpretation, it should also be noted that it covers the period until the end of the tax year (quarter, month) in which the amended general interpretation was published, the amended individual interpretation was delivered or its expiry was found or a copy of the administrative court ruling annulling the individual interpretation was delivered to the tax authority, with a statement of its finality (of course, depending on whether we are dealing with an annual (e.g. CIT), quarterly or monthly (e.g. VAT) tax settlement). In the case of monthly or quarterly settlement, the exemption from the obligation to pay tax also extends to the following month or quarter. The exemption from the obligation to pay tax also affects the fact that interest for late payment cannot be charged; it is also unjustified to initiate tax proceedings in the case. However, it often happens that the tax authority, during a tax (fiscal) audit, finds a completely different situation than that described in the factual state in the application for interpretation. In such a case, an individual interpretation does not protect the interested party from tax liability. Interpretative protection is applied accordingly in the case of: the company complying with an individual interpretation issued before the company was established at the request of persons planning to establish this company – in the scope concerning the company’s activities; the application by a tax capital group within the meaning of the provisions on corporate income tax to an individual interpretation issued before the formation of the group at the request of the company planning to create this group – within the scope of the activities of this tax capital group and the application by a branch or representative office to an individual interpretation regarding the activities of this branch or representative office issued before the establishment of this branch or representative office at the request of the entrepreneur establishing it.
From 2023, protection has been extended to the case of the application by a VAT group within the meaning of the provisions of the Act of 11 March 2004 on the tax on goods and services to an individual interpretation issued before the formation of the group, at the request of the entity planning to create this group, within the scope of the activities of this VAT group.
Joint application
The provisions of the Tax Ordinance allow for the possibility of two or more interested parties participating in the same factual situation or who are to participate in the same future event filing an application for an individual interpretation (joint application). In the joint application, the interested parties indicate one entity that is a party to the proceedings on the interpretation and submit the declaration referred to in Art. 14b § 4 of the Tax Ordinance (a declaration that the elements of the factual situation covered by the application for the interpretation on the date of submission of the application are not the subject of ongoing tax proceedings, tax audit, customs and fiscal audit and that in this respect the case has not been resolved as to its substance in a decision or resolution of the tax authority – in the event of submitting a false declaration, the issued individual interpretation shall have no legal effects). The individual interpretation or resolution in the case shall be delivered to the entity indicated as a party. The other interested parties shall be delivered a copy of the interpretation or resolution. In addition, the party may submit an application for an individual interpretation within the meaning of the provisions on public procurement to the extent that it affects the method of calculating the price in connection with the public procurement contract being awarded.