Poland’s Ministry of Finance is preparing a comprehensive reform of the rules governing the issuance and operation of tax rulings. Draft Bill UD445 provides, among other things, for a five-year validity period for individual tax rulings, a procedure for extending their protective effect, broader protection covering tax consequences arising before a ruling is served, and new grounds on which existing rulings may cease to apply. Draft Bill UD450, in turn, would transfer responsibility for issuing rulings on taxes and charges administered by municipal tax authorities to the Director of the National Tax Information Service. Not all elements of the reform are at the same stage of the legislative process. Draft Bills UD445 and UD450 have not yet been enacted. However, legislation requiring municipal tax rulings to be published in the central EUREKA tax rulings database has already been adopted. When assessing the implications of the reform, it is therefore important to distinguish between enacted measures and legislative proposals whose final wording may still change.

Why are tax rulings to be valid for only five years?

The Polish Tax Ordinance currently does not impose a general expiry date on individual tax rulings. This does not mean, however, that a ruling, once obtained, will protect the taxpayer indefinitely.
A ruling provides protection only if the transaction or arrangement carried out in practice corresponds to the facts or future event described in the application. Its protective effect may also be limited by an amendment to the applicable legislation, the issuance of a general tax ruling, the amendment or revocation of the individual ruling, or the application of statutory provisions that exclude protection in certain circumstances. The absence of a fixed validity period therefore means that a ruling does not expire solely because time has passed. It does not amount to unlimited or unconditional protection.

According to the Ministry of Finance, the current system nevertheless allows rulings to remain in circulation even though they no longer reflect prevailing case law, the practice of the tax authorities or current commercial realities. It may also result in unequal treatment. A business holding a favourable ruling issued many years ago may continue to benefit from protection that would not be available to another taxpayer applying today in relation to the same issue.

Draft Bill UD445 seeks to address this problem by introducing a five-year validity period for individual tax rulings. The end of this period would not necessarily mean that the protection is lost permanently. Taxpayers would be able to apply for an extension for a further five years.

For rulings concerning future events, the extension procedure is intended to be simplified and free of charge. The draft also provides for a tacit extension mechanism. If a taxpayer submits a valid application and the authority fails to decide it before the ruling expires, the ruling’s protective effect would automatically be extended for another five years. A similar mechanism would apply to clearance opinions on the application of withholding tax preferences. Their validity would be extended from 36 months to five years, with the option of applying for further extensions.

 

How will the new rules affect existing rulings?

The reform would not be limited to rulings issued after the new legislation enters into force. Transitional rules are also proposed for rulings already in circulation.

Under the current proposals:

• rulings issued before 1 January 2023 would expire on 30 June 2028; and
• rulings issued between 1 January 2023 and 31 December 2027 would expire five years after their issue date, but no earlier than 1 January 2029.

An application to extend an existing ruling could be submitted during the six months preceding its expiry date.

Consequently, even rulings issued many years ago would not continue to provide protection unless the taxpayer takes the necessary action. Businesses will therefore need not only to record the dates on which their rulings were issued, but also to identify which rulings continue to underpin their current tax treatment.

This will be particularly important for rulings concerning recurring transactions or long-term business models, including the VAT treatment of composite supplies, applicable tax rates, input VAT recovery, intragroup settlements, withholding tax obligations and the classification of income generated under particular contractual arrangements.

 

A ruling may cease to apply before the five-year period ends

The passage of five years would not be the only factor limiting the effect of a ruling. Under the draft legislation, an amendment to the tax provisions addressed by a ruling would cause it to expire by operation of law.

This is significant in practice. The loss of protection would not require the tax authority to issue a separate decision. Instead, it would follow automatically from the change in the legal basis. Taxpayers would therefore need to determine whether an amendment affects a ruling they hold and from what date they can no longer safely rely on it.

Draft Bill UD445 would also require individual rulings to be revoked where they conflict with subsequently issued official tax guidance. A comparable mechanism already applies where an individual ruling is inconsistent with a general tax ruling.

The EUREKA tax rulings database would show the validity period of individual rulings and indicate where a document has become outdated as a result of legislative amendments. Outdated general rulings and official tax guidance would also be marked accordingly. This should make the database easier to use, as it currently contains numerous rulings relating to provisions that are no longer in force.

 

Protection for tax consequences arising before a ruling is served

The proposed time limit would be accompanied by an extension of the scope of taxpayer protection. One of the most important proposals concerns tax consequences arising before an individual ruling is formally served on the applicant. Under the current rules, the date on which a ruling is served affects the extent of the protection available to a taxpayer who follows the authority’s position. The draft legislation would extend that protection to tax consequences arising before service of the ruling. This may be particularly relevant where a taxpayer applies after beginning to implement a particular business model or where tax consequences arise while the application is still being considered.

The reform would also affect general tax rulings. In respect of tax consequences arising before a general ruling is published, taxpayers would be able to choose between following the interpretation set out in the new general ruling and relying on the protection afforded by the tax authorities’ previously established interpretative practice.

The definition of established interpretative practice and the conditions for relying on it would also be clarified. Tax authorities would be expressly required to take such practice into account in tax proceedings.

General tax rulings would be required not only to explain how the relevant provisions should be interpreted, but also to describe the tax consequences of the interpretation adopted. This may increase their practical value, particularly where they affect transactions or settlements completed before publication.

 

Partial discontinuance of ruling proceedings

Draft Bill UD445 would also change the way applications are dealt with where they cover issues already addressed in a general tax ruling or official tax guidance.

If only some of the taxpayer’s questions concern matters already resolved in a published position of the Minister of Finance, the authority would be able to discontinue the proceedings as moot in respect of those questions. It would still be required to consider the remaining issues. This is intended to ensure that the fact that one question no longer requires a separate determination does not prevent the taxpayer from obtaining answers to the other matters raised in the same application.

The authority would not be permitted to refer the applicant to existing materials in general terms. It would have to identify the relevant general ruling or official tax guidance, indicate where it was published and quote the section addressing the issue raised by the applicant.

The deadline for remedying formal or substantive deficiencies in an application would also be extended from 7 to 14 days. The formal requirements applicable to applications would be set out directly in legislation, while the relevant forms would be published in the Public Information Bulletin (BIP).

 

Municipal tax rulings to be published in the EUREKA database

The first stage of the reform concerning local taxes has already been enacted. The Act of 29 May 2026 amending the Polish Tax Ordinance was published on 23 June 2026 in the Polish Journal of Laws of 2026, item 825, and will enter into force on 24 September 2026.

The amendment requires tax rulings issued by local government tax authorities to be submitted for publication in the central EUREKA tax rulings database. At present, anonymised rulings are published on the websites of individual authorities, meaning that businesses wishing to determine the practice adopted by different municipalities must search numerous separate sources.

Central publication will make it easier to access rulings concerning matters such as real estate tax, tax on means of transport and local charges. It should also facilitate the identification of inconsistencies between positions taken by different authorities.

Publication in the EUREKA database will not, in itself, change which authority is responsible for issuing a ruling. Until the further reform enters into force, that responsibility will remain with local government tax authorities – in practice, primarily commune heads (wójt), mayors (burmistrz) and city mayors (prezydent miasta).

 

The Director of the National Tax Information Service to take over rulings on municipal taxes and charges

Draft Bill UD450 goes further by proposing that responsibility for issuing individual rulings on taxes and charges administered by municipal tax authorities be transferred to the Director of the National Tax Information Service.

The purpose of centralisation is to reduce inconsistencies in the interpretation of legislation applied by approximately 2,500 municipalities. The current decentralised system is particularly problematic for businesses that own taxable property or carry out projects across several municipalities. A ruling issued by one municipal authority does not protect the taxpayer in another municipality, even where the facts and the relevant legal provisions are identical.

Following the reform, taxpayers would submit their applications to a single ruling authority. Municipalities would not, however, be excluded from the procedure. The Director of the National Tax Information Service would be required to provide the competent municipal tax authority with the issues raised in the application and a draft of the proposed ruling. The municipality would have 14 days to issue an opinion. Failure to respond within that period would be treated as approval of the draft.

In the circumstances specified by law, the municipal authority would also be entitled to challenge the ruling before a Voivodeship Administrative Court. Such a challenge would have a significant consequence for the taxpayer: the ruling’s protective effect would be suspended until the proceedings had been finally concluded. Under the current proposals, protection would take effect only once the municipality’s challenge had been dismissed or rejected by a final court ruling.

Centralisation would not deprive local authorities of their powers to set tax rates and exemptions, assess and collect taxes, or conduct audits. The reform would change only the authority responsible for issuing individual tax rulings.

The proposed effective date is 1 July 2027. Draft Bill UD450 is, however, still at the legislative preparation stage.

 

Businesses will need to manage their tax rulings proactively

The proposed reform changes the way individual tax rulings should be viewed. A ruling would no longer be a document requiring review only when the law or the taxpayer’s business model changes. Taxpayers would also need to monitor its validity period, the continued relevance of its legal basis, new general rulings and official tax guidance, and the deadline for filing an extension application.

Businesses should therefore consider reviewing their existing rulings now to determine:

• which rulings continue to form the basis of their current tax treatment;
• whether the business model implemented in practice continues to match the facts or future event described in the original application;
• whether there have been any relevant changes in legislation, case law or administrative practice since the ruling was issued;
• when the ruling may expire under the proposed transitional provisions; and
• whether applying for an extension would be appropriate or whether submitting a new application would provide greater certainty.

Rulings concerning long-term and recurring tax arrangements require particular attention. In such cases, the loss of protection may affect not merely a single transaction, but the tax treatment of an entire area of the business.

Draft Bills UD445 and UD450 are scheduled for adoption by the Council of Ministers in the fourth quarter of 2026, so their final form may still change. Nevertheless, the overall direction of the reform is already clear: the duration of protection afforded by individual tax rulings is to be limited, and maintaining that protection will require regular review and proactive steps by taxpayers.