In recent years, we have become accustomed to numerous changes in tax law coming into force on the first of January. New legislation was usually passed in the last months of the previous year and took effect after a very short vacatio legis. So short, in fact, that the first weeks of each new year were a time for analyzing and adjusting to these changes.
No tax revolution
2024 starts differently in this respect. There are fewer changes in tax law, entrepreneurs and those responsible for tax returns do not start it by studying extensive guides and summaries of the changing regulations, analyzing problems and doubts about how to apply the new regulations. Although with the beginning of the year we do not have a revolution in tax law on the scale of the Polish Deal (Polski Ład, the plan for recovery from the Covid-19 pandemic), the biggest challenge awaiting entrepreneurs this year is still ahead of them.
National e-Invoicing System
“In July, the National e-Invoice System will come into effect. It will be crucial for companies to build, adapt and integrate their accounting systems to be able to issue and send invoices under KSeF. Furthermore, in addition to changes to the accounting systems, invoicing processes, procedures, contracts and other documents will need updating. This is a huge amount of work that will have to be done by entrepreneurs and those responsible in companies for tax matters,” says Przemysław Pruszyński, director of Lewiatan’s tax department.
Concern for the quality of tax legislation
We are entering 2024 with a new government and new leadership of the Ministry of Finance, which has not announced a revolution in the tax system, and this gives hope for greater stability and predictability in this matter. And this is very important for companies at the moment, as previous years, unfortunately, brought many chaotic and unnecessary changes that hindered business decision-making. Lewiatan is counting on the fulfillment of the promises made, that tax legislation will be passed with greater respect for the rights and interests of entrepreneurs, that more emphasis will be placed on the debate about the needs and expectations of business. The measures taken should be aimed at creating better conditions for the development of companies, and not just at maximizing the tax burden.
To-do list
“A test for these declarations will be the discussion of issues of great importance to business, such as the correction of the system of paying health insurance premiums for entrepreneurs and the return to a lump-sum contribution, as well as the development, together with business, of new definitions of buildings and structures for the purposes of property taxation; the current definition of structures will cease to apply at the end of the year as a result of its recognition by the Constitutional Tribunal as unconstitutional. The enactment of legislation implementing the EU directive on the so-called global minimum tax on corporations will also be important for large companies,” adds Pruszyński.
2024 should be a time for reflection on how to correct flawed tax legislation, remove unnecessary uncertainties, simplify excessive reporting and burdensome procedures. It should not bring a revolution in the tax system, apart from the changes that need to be made.
Source: Konferederacja Lewiatan
