Tax Office Censors Tax Interpretations, Rendering Them Useless

The Polish Ministry of Finance's approach to publishing individual tax interpretations is raising serious concerns among tax advisors and practitioners. Rzeczpospolita has been informed that tax authorities are increasingly censoring these interpretations, removing essential details such as dates, amounts, and specific descriptions of the factual circumstances or future events. This practice renders the interpretations practically useless for other taxpayers seeking to understand their tax obligations and protections.

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The tax authorities are obliged to publish interpretations. But what good is it if everyone can read them, yet they are useless to anyone. It is unknown what is forbidden and what is allowed, which activities are safe and which are risky, whether something can be done or not.

Experts like Bartosz Przybysz and Dr. Piotr Sekulski highlight that this censorship directly contradicts the spirit, if not the letter, of tax law. Individual interpretations are meant to provide clear guidance and protection to taxpayers who rely on them in good faith. When key information is omitted, taxpayers cannot ascertain whether their situation is similar enough to warrant the same interpretation, effectively nullifying the protection offered. This is particularly problematic concerning the "established interpretive practice," which allows taxpayers to rely on the prevailing views in interpretations issued to others.

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The tax authorities are increasingly deleting important elements of the factual state from interpretations: dates, amounts, details of the event, information about the type of business or the scale of activity. This causes them to become useless for other taxpayers.

Jarosław Szajkowski points out that if published interpretations are so heavily redacted that determining factual similarity is impossible, then invoking this practice becomes futile. This situation creates uncertainty and risk for businesses and individuals alike, who may inadvertently fall foul of tax regulations due to the lack of clear guidance. Rzeczpospolita urges the Ministry of Finance to clarify the reasons behind this censorship and to ensure that published interpretations are sufficiently detailed to be genuinely useful and protective for all taxpayers in Poland.

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The deletion of important information makes the provision on established interpretive practice illusory. The taxpayer will not be able to collect interpretations relating to the same factual states.