The year 2025 will introduce several significant tax reforms in Poland that are set to take effect on January 1. Businesses will need to prepare for these changes, as well as any adjustments that may be announced or passed throughout the year.
Additionally, 2025 marks the first year in which certain provisions will need to be considered when filing tax returns for prior periods. Companies will have to adapt their tax procedures to the evolving regulatory landscape.
1 Implementation of the OECD’s pillar two
Starting January 1 2025, the pillar two rules will come into effect in Poland, implementing the OECD’s global minimum tax framework for multinational and large domestic groups. This new legislation introduces three key new taxes:
A global minimum tax;
A domestic minimum tax; and
A top-up tax on undertaxed profits.
Businesses with revenues exceeding €750 million in at least two of the previous four years will need to calculate their effective tax rate (ETR) and may face additional taxes if their rate falls below the global minimum of 15%.
The rules are built around three primary mechanisms:
The income inclusion rule;
The undertaxed profits rule; and
The qualified domestic minimum top-up tax.
Businesses affected by Poland’s GloBE Act will need to report detailed tax data and may have to pay top-up taxes based on their ETR calculations. These rules apply to international and domestic groups with significant revenues, necessitating a thorough assessment to ensure compliance.
Although the law comes into effect from 2025, it also provides for an option to select GloBE settlements for 2024.
2 Real estate tax amendments
The first significant reform of real estate tax in years will take effect in 2025, introducing changes to the definitions of ‘buildings’ and ‘structures’. Notably, the definition of structures will expand to cover new types of assets based on their utility and technical features. This will particularly impact businesses in the industrial sector, where technical devices and industrial installations – such as construction equipment – will now be subject to tax (2% of the initial book value per year).
These changes, which broaden the tax base, require a careful analysis by businesses to assess the potential fiscal impact. The deadline for filing property tax returns has been extended from January 31 to March 31 2025, providing businesses a little more time to adapt to these new regulations.
3 JPK CIT reporting
Starting January 1 2025, the JPK CIT reporting tool will be mandatory for the largest taxpayers, including tax capital groups and entities with revenues exceeding €50 million in the previous tax year. For other businesses, the new obligations will take effect in one or two years, depending on their circumstances.
To prepare for JPK CIT, businesses should update their accounting systems, train relevant teams, and conduct audits with test files to identify potential compliance risks.
It is crucial to review fixed-asset registers to ensure they comply with the new reporting requirements.
4 Local Polish minimum tax
Starting in 2025, but for the first time for 2024, taxpayers will be required to calculate, report, and pay the local minimum income tax alongside their annual corporate income tax (CIT) return for the previous tax year. This applies to companies with Polish tax residency and domestic tax capital groups that, in the tax year:
Incurred a loss from operating activities; or
Generated 2% or less of their income from sources other than capital gains in relation to total income.
The minimum tax rate is set at 10%, calculated at 1.5% of revenue from operational activities. There are numerous exclusions and deductions available, and proper identification of ownership relationships, especially within capital groups, will be crucial for the determination of the obligation.
It is important to note that the definition of ‘loss’ for minimum tax purposes may differ from accounting losses, meaning an accounting loss does not automatically trigger the minimum tax obligation. Also irrelevant is whether a loss or an income of less than 2% was in line with the arm’s-length principle.
5 Withholding tax practice
Withholding tax (WHT) continues to be a highly scrutinised area in Poland. The Ministry of Finance has recently issued general rulings on effective taxation criteria and WHT, and further developments in the WHT area are expected in 2025.
Given the increased scrutiny of tax authorities and the changing approaches of the courts, multinational entities with Polish subsidiaries should monitor developments in WHT legislation and practice to ensure that financial flows are compliant with Polish tax law.
6 Planned changes to family foundations
Family foundations, a relatively new concept in Poland, will most likely face regulatory changes in 2025. These foundations have primarily been used for wealth protection and securing family assets, but the expected rules aim to ensure they remain focused on these purposes without excessive involvement in commercial activities.
Key planned changes include:
Taxing rental income of the family foundation;
Introducing a waiting period for selling assets transferred to the foundation; and
Imposing stricter and more costly consequences for engaging in activities outside the foundation’s statutory purpose.
These updates are intended to maintain the foundations’ role in wealth management and succession planning. At the time of writing, the draft changes have not yet been published.
7 Preparation for the implementation of KSeF in VAT (compulsory e-invoicing)
The mandatory implementation of the KSeF, initially scheduled for 2025, has been postponed to 2026. KSeF is a central system for generating and sharing structured invoices, designed to streamline invoice registration by directing them to a single, central location. The system will be rolled out in phases: starting February 1 2026, for businesses with over PLN200 million in turnover, and for all taxpayers by April 1 2026.
The deferral is due to technical issues with the system’s security and performance. Despite the slight postponement, 2025 will serve as a preparation period for businesses, which can focus on necessary adjustments to internal systems and organisational processes to ensure a smooth transition.
8 Special economic zones/other tax allowances and GloBE
For decades, Poland has offered an extensive set of CIT exemptions and allowances, making the country attractive for local and international businesses. Since for the biggest companies they may cause the obligation to pay GloBE, Poland is considering replacing them with an alternative system, most likely based on grants and GloBE qualifying allowances. 2025 is the time to await regulations with new GloBE-resistant incentives.
9 Settlement of tax on shifted profits
While it is not a new regulation, the tax on shifted profits remains overlooked by some businesses. It applies to cross-border passive payments such as royalties, fees for intangible services, or debt financing made to related entities outside Poland. Taxpayers with specific features must pay a 19% tax, though this liability can be reduced by WHT already paid on the same payments, if any.
The tax on shifted profits applies when all the following criteria occur: the recipient’s ETR is below 14.25%; passive income exceeds 50% of the recipient’s gross revenue; at least 10% of that revenue is transferred further, reducing tax liabilities; and payments treated as tax-deductible costs exceed 3% of the taxpayer's total deductible costs.
Payments to EU/European Economic Area entities conducting genuine economic activities are exempt, but businesses should carefully review their cross-border arrangements. The tax must be declared in the appendix to the annual CIT return.
