New environmental charges on the horizon
Besides regular taxes like CIT, VAT or PIT, conducting business in Poland may be associated with other additional charges or duties depending on the sector of operation. In 2020-2021, new charges such as sugar charge, retail tax or charge for VOD operators were introduced, and the introduction of a so-called advertisement contribution is under discussion.
In terms of so-called environmental charges (taxes), tax on unprocessed plastic (“plastic tax”) – a result of an EU Directive – should be collected this year (a draft bill implementing the EU Directive is under legislative process).
Moreover, as a result of the implementation of other EU Directives, the Polish Ministry of Environment plans to introduce a new “packaging” charge which will be related to entry into the market of packaging designated for households. This new charge will exist alongside the already collected product fee, which is related to the failure to meet statutory targets for the treatment of packaging waste, including non-household (i.e. bulk and transport).
The basis for determining the amount of the packaging fee will be the weight of the packaging (preliminary estimations set the fee at PL 0.50 / kg of packaging, however the final fee will depend on the type of packaging).
Besides the necessity to pay the fee, entities entering products in packaging designated for households will be obliged to pay remuneration to the Producer’s Responsibility organizations which they are represented by; the minimum amount of remuneration is to be determined.
It is planed that the new fee will be due for 2023 as the first year and it is estimated that the overall packaging fee due for this year will amount to PLN 1.5 bln.
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