Publication date: June 13, 2025

Cases when valuation of enterprise is required.

What is an enterprise?

The legal definition of an enterprise was introduced on the basis of the Act of 23 April 1964 – Civil Code. According to art. 55 (1), an enterprise is an organized set of intangible and tangible assets intended for conducting business activity. It includes in particular: a designation individualizing the enterprise or its separate parts (name of the enterprise); ownership of real estate or movables, including equipment, materials, goods and products, and other property rights to real estate or movables and others listed in the indicated article. In turn, art. 55 (2) indicates what should be understood by the concept of “legal act involving an enterprise”. According to this regulation: a legal act involving an enterprise includes everything that is part of the enterprise, unless otherwise results from the content of the legal act or from special provisions. As indicated in the literature on the subject: An enterprise as an organizationally connected complex of intangible and tangible assets may be the subject of one legal act (uno actu). The unity of the enterprise is thus presumed, which gives rise to specific rights to the enterprise and all components that were part of the specific enterprise. Additionally, the literature indicates the problem of whether it is permissible for the parties to shape the legal relationship in a different way than through one legal act concerning the enterprise as a whole (in the form of performing several legal acts, which could affect tax optimization). The following position should be indicated here:

The sale of individual components of the enterprise, even if they are of significant value in comparison to the value of the entire enterprise, does not constitute a basis for recognizing that its sale actually took place. The enterprise as the subject of the sale must constitute a whole in organizational and functional terms.

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