A producer of free computer games does not earn money by selling them, but by advertising. Therefore, he pays a higher tax than the one who provides games for a fee – according to the interpretation of the director of the Polish National Tax Information.
As a result of this interpretation, the situation of producers (so-called developers) of paid and free games is diversified: the former are not entitled to the IP Box tax relief, the latter indeed are.
Premium games
The IP Box relief in Poland consists in taxing income from qualified intellectual property rights at a preferential rate of 5% of personal income tax or corporate income tax. It concerns, among others the income from fees or charges under the license agreement (Article 30ca (7) (1) of the Polish PIT Act and analogous Article 24d (7) (1) of the Polish CIT Act). In practice, therefore, a person who buys a game from the producer (developer) signs a license agreement with him.
On August 24, 2018, the Polish Ministry of Finance published a draft act amending the act on personal income tax, the act on corporate income tax. One of the proposed changes was the introduction of preferential taxation of income from intellectual property rights (the so-called “IP Box” or “Innovation Box” relief).
Innovation Box – IP Box allowances – were introduced to the Polish Personal Income Tax Act (“PIT”) and to the corporate income tax (“CIT”) as a preferential form of taxation (preferential taxation of earned income) for entrepreneurs obtaining income from commercialization of intellectual property rights. Qualified intellectual property rights are obtained after submitting an application to the appropriate body – then it is possible to take advantage of this relief.
IP Box has been implemented in other countries, including: the Netherlands, Great Britain, Ireland, Luxembourg.
The scale of international investment in Poland in recent years
According to analyses, 2021 a record year in terms of the number and value of investments in Poland. From the beginning of the last year, 402 investment support decisions were issued. By analogy, in the same period last year this was a difference of 56%. The value of investments in 2021 was approximately 17.3 billion PLN, which is an increase of 14% compared to the whole of 2020.
Since the beginning of the Polish Investment Zone (which is an instrument thanks to which one can obtain tax relief for the realization of a new investment, which can be used throughout Poland, regardless of the size of the company. Such support is granted to companies from the industrial and modern services sector), 1209 decisions on investment support have already been issued. 2021 declarations accounted for 33% of the total and were declarations of over 9500 new workplaces.
The Convention on the Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction, signed at The Hague on 25 October 1980, known as the Hague Convention of 1980, is an international agreement of which Poland is a party. It was concluded in order to ensure the immediate return of children wrongfully abducted or detained in one of the States, which are parties to that agreement and to ensure the respect for custody and visitation rights specified by the legislation of those States. Pursuant to Article 5691 of the Code of Civil Procedure, the local jurisdiction for applications under the Hague Convention of 1980 is the regional court in the locality of the court of appeal with jurisdiction over the place of residence or stay of the child. The time limit for the court to give its decision is 6 weeks from the date of the application. Abduction of a child according to the Convention must be unlawful in order for an application to be brought successfully to the central authority of the State in which the child is present. This authority, according to the Convention, is competent to hear the application.
Refugees from Ukraine are starting to enter Polish labor market, which is suffering from a labor deficit. Employment agencies speak of a real boom in their services. There is already a recorded interest of 60% higher level in work enquiries comparing to the same period last year.
The most wanted are construction workers, highly specialized workers, such as welders, locksmiths, carpenters, workers for the production and operation of machinery. There is also great demand in services, trade, tourism and gastronomy, transport, logistics, e-commerce and accounting. Demand is therefore similar to the year before, but the deficit increased. This is due to the fact that the Polish economy is recovering from the pandemic.
