Construction tax regulations need to be rewritten
The starting point, as always in property tax, is flawed regulations. From this perspective, it is not surprising that taxpayers try to interpret them to their advantage, while the tax authority to which the taxpayer has applied for an interpretation tries to do the opposite, i.e. pro-fiscally - writes Michał Nielepkowicz, tax adviser, partner in Thedy & Partners for the portal prawo.pl.
The recent judgment of the Voivodship Administrative Court in Białystok confirms that a petrol station must pay real estate tax also on fuel and gas tanks. According to the court, these are structures.
This case, concerning taxation of pumps at a petrol station, is a perfect example of the fact that in today’s real estate tax it is not enough to know the regulations and, what is more, the jurisprudence, but it is also necessary to follow the history of changes in regulations and also changes in the approach in jurisprudence. All this means that, in fact, these regulations should be rewritten, which is something that not only I but also other experts have been calling for for a long time. And if there are any doubts as to their interpretation of the absolutely key issue, i.e. the scope of taxation – until the regulations are changed, these doubts should be resolved in favour of the taxpayers, which has been repeatedly pointed out by the Constitutional Tribunal in the context of real estate tax in the last few years only.