Taxes: Dr. Magdalena Porzeżyńska explains the consequences of delays in implementing the trade tax on Businessinsider.pl.
9 July 2025 • Autor: Kancelaria Brysiewicz Bokina i Wspólnicy
The General Court of the European Union issued a ruling in the joined cases T-836/16 and T-624/17 concerning the so-called retail tax introduced in Poland in 2016, which targeted companies operating in the retail sector. The tax was progressive in nature, with rates depending on monthly retail revenues—0.8% applied to turnover between PLN 17 million and PLN 170 million, while 1.4% applied to turnover exceeding PLN 170 million per month.
Although Poland won the case and the Court’s assessment of the disputed tax is generally sound, it is difficult to ignore the fact that, by failing to engage in dialogue with the European Commission at an earlier stage, Poland once again neglected EU state aid regulations.
Had a dialogue with the European Commission been initiated earlier—e.g., through the pre-notification procedure, which would have allowed for a thorough discussion and clarification of all aspects of the proposed tax—there might have been a chance that the Commission would ultimately not have challenged it. Avoiding a potential dispute with the Commission would have been especially worthwhile given that the expected annual revenue from this tax was around PLN 1.5 billion, yet in the end, it was not collected for three years due to its suspension, explains Dr Magdalena Porzeżyńska.
We encourage you to read the full commentary.
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