It is no longer 19 percent. Experts showed how much the largest companies really pay
Although the statutory CIT rate is 19 percent, new data shows that the largest companies paid on average as much as 33 percent. tax.
Poland has a 19% corporate income tax rate, but the latest data shows that the actual tax burden on the largest enterprises is much higher. The Grant Thornton report shows that the average effective tax rate for the largest companies listed on the Stock Exchange in 2024 reached 33%.
This means that the actual taxation was much higher than the statutory CIT rate. As indicated in the report, this level is not a one-off exception, but has been persistent for a long time.
The effective CIT rate increased significantly
According to the data presented, the average effective tax rate is currently almost 7 percentage points higher than the average over the last ten years. It also exceeds the results from previous years. In 2022 it was 28%, and in 2023 it increased to 30%.
As assessed by Grzegorz Szysz, partner in the Grant Thornton consulting department, the report shows that the average level of effective taxation of 33%. has become a lasting phenomenon. In his opinion, this is bad news for both business owners and investors.
Entrepreneurs criticize the tax system
The assessment of business conditions is influenced not only by taxes. The report prepared by MDDP in cooperation with the Lewiatan Confederation shows that as many as 84 percent entrepreneurs negatively assess the stability of tax regulations. In turn, 73 percent finds them incomprehensible.
At the same time, 78 percent respondents claim that entrepreneurs are excessively burdened with responsibilities, and 62 percent critically assesses the fairness of the current tax system.
These assessments are also to be confirmed by international rankings of the competitiveness of tax systems. In the latest International Tax Competitiveness Index, Poland took 35th place out of 38 OECD countries. This result is four positions worse than a year earlier.
Poland at the bottom of the OECD ranking
In the ranking prepared by the Tax Foundation, only Colombia, Italy and France were lower than Poland. Poland scored 54.7 points out of 100, while the average for all assessed countries exceeds 70 points and the median is 69.3 points.
The report also draws attention to the differences between domestic and foreign companies. Currently, the effective tax rate for enterprises with Polish capital is 34%. and is 3 percentage points higher than in the case of foreign companies.
Experts emphasize, however, that this is not due to new optimization activities carried out by foreign entities. According to the report’s authors, this is primarily the result of the specificity and structure of the Polish capital market.
