R&D operations in Poland – useful changes for entrepreneurs

The Polish parliament amended the Act on Personal Income Tax and Corporate Income Tax in Poland. New changes in law aim to encourage investors and entrepreneurs to develop research and development activities.
R & D changes introduce: an increase of deduction and extension of the catalogue of eligible costs. Thanks to them, the entrepreneurs will be able to deduct 100% of the costs earmarked for research and development. The requirements are: conducting research and development, coverage of expenses for the type of activity which is the tax deductible cost and a submission of a tax return. The costs may include: purchase of materials and raw materials directly related to the conducted research and development activities, expert opinions, opinions, advisory services and equivalent services, as well as the acquisition of research results.

It needs to be noted that the entrepreneurs’ awareness of the possibility of using such tools in Poland is still considerably low.
The problem is also the lack of certainty as to whether the activities of entrepreneurs qualify as research and development. Ayming Polska survey shows that 45 percent enterprises declare that they do not conduct research and development activities.

According to the Polish Ministry of Finance, for the financial year 2016, there was settled the tax relief for the amount of over PLN 323 million.
The Ministry estimates that in the future years this amount may reach up to PLN 1.6 billion, so it is a still growing form of help for entrepreneurs, which, if correctly used, will allow the entrepreneurs to gain advantage over the remaining competitors on the Polish market.