January 2017

KSP wins before local government court of appeal (SKO) in a PLN 1.5M real property tax case

The case involved a taxable person who benefitted from a real property tax exemption for a new investment project, based on a resolution issued by the Town Council. The resolution provided that one of the conditions to be met in order to benefit from the exemption was to submit a report according to a specific template by the 15th of January of the year subject to the exemption (and during 5 years from the last year subject to the exemption). According to the resolution, the entrepreneur forfeited the right to the exemption if, for example, the report was not filed on time or the details contained therein were false. Our Client submitted the required report after the deadline (the report was filed on 26 January). The Authority held that the failure to submit the report on time led to forfeiture of the right to benefit from the exemption. In an appeal against the decision of the first instance authority, we pointed out that the provisions of the resolution were worded in an imprecise manner, and the taxpayer must not bear the negative effects of defective legislation. We also emphasized that a delay in submission of the report may not be considered equivalent to failure to submit the same. The court shared our opinion, repealed the decision of the first instance authority, and discontinued proceedings in the case.