On December 10, 2020, the tax authorities issued an opinion (ref. DKP3.8011.15.2020) on the application of General Anti-Abusive Regulations (GAAR). The opinion was favourable for the applicants.
What kind of activities was the subject of the opinion?
Envisaged operations encompassed (i) share for share exchange, (ii) transformation of companies into limited liability partnerships and (iii) transformation of a HoldCo, limited liability company, into a joint-stock partnership.
The tax authorities confirmed that activities planned by the Applicants, although aimed at achieving a tax benefit in the form of tax consolidation at the level of partners of the joint-stock partnership, are actually not contrary to the subject or purpose of the tax regulations.
The tax authorities underlined that the applicants’ actions are not artificial as they seem to be economically justified, whereby the tax benefit results directly from the provisions of the income tax regulations.
The tax authorities indicated that the envisaged operations do not involve any intermediaries and the target structure is developed on the basis of already existing entities. The above allowed to assume that any reasonably operating entity could, and in fact probably would choose the same course of action as the applicants.
Consequently, General Anti-Abusive Regulations (GAAR) shall not apply in this case.
Łukasz Bączyk
Head of Tax, Board Member
E: lbaczyk@asbgroup.eu
Paweł Jóźwik
Tax Manager – Attorney-at-law
E: pjozwik@asbgroup.eu
