The rules allowed pressure
The amendments are to apply to Article 70(6) of the taxation Code. So far, it has given taxation offices freedom to exert force on taxpayers. This was due to the fact that the initiation of the carnoscarb proceeding automatically stopped the limitation period for the taxation liability. This, in turn, gave the fiscal officer more time to possibly draw back.
The ‘Rzeczpospolita’ notes that this practice has been widely criticised and administrative courts have increasingly treated it as abused. Many years of taxpayers were worried at the end of the year, wondering whether officials would appear or not.
Jarosław Neneman, Deputy Minister of Finance, stated during the debate in the Sejm that "the situation has matured to change", and that provision is no longer justified. He announced that in the first 4th of 2025 a draft amendment of the taxation government would be presented, which provides for the elimination of this provision. He besides pointed out that the fresh regulations must guarantee a delicate balance between the interests of taxpayers and the needs of the State Treasury.
Sentences force a change?
The amendment is most likely the consequence of an expanding number of administrative court judgments that criticised fiscal practices. In 2021, the ultimate Administrative Court in the resolution of 7 judges (file number: I FPS 1/21) explicitly stated that the instrumental initiating of criminal-carb proceedings to suspend the statute of limitations was unacceptable.
This landmark ruling has importantly reduced the number of specified cases. It is estimated that their number dropped from 1326 in 2020 to 409 in 2022.
The draft amendment went to the parliamentary committee, where the discussion process would continue. Janusz Kowalski of the Law and Justice Committee recalled that in 2020, the then ombudsman Adam Bodnar challenged this provision before the Constitutional Tribunal as being unconstitutional. Changes to the taxation legislation, as stated in “Rz”, can bring relief to many entrepreneurs.
