The government is messing around with the deposit tax. Some say "nonsense", others "it depends"

It all started with a statement from an industry expert. While returning your own bottles and cans is not a matter for the tax office, everything becomes more complicated when you return packaging that has not been purchased before. So you come to the machine to get a deposit that is not yours, and therefore you earn money because it is not money that comes back to you.

Simply put, when someone earns several hundred zlotys a day, every day throughout the year, he or she is no longer an amateur collector, but an entrepreneur, even if he or she does not see himself as such. And it doesn't matter that the money is "spewed out" by a machine, each such transaction leaves a digital trace, and the operators of the deposit system keep detailed records - explained Piotr Juszczyk from InFakt.

Just "earning a few hundred zlotys a day" shows that an unlikely source of income is being analyzed. The gate is theoretically opening, although it is difficult to imagine that anyone would still be able to find so many packages just like that, day after day.

Marcin Łoboda, deputy minister of finance and head of the National Tax Administration, commented on the topic, explaining that everything depends on the scale of the project.

If it is organized, when we have people who collect it for us, and we only use it, then the organizational and, above all, systemic traces of economic activity are visible and such things will certainly be taxed - noted the head of the National Tax Administration.

So this is a very hypothetical situation

It would have to be a real deposit business juggernaut to make it profitable for anyone to remunerate employees for collecting packaging. But why would they carry bottles and cans in large numbers when they could bypass the intermediary and go to the bottle dispensers themselves and collect the full amount of the deposit? Unless such activity was just one of the duties. Either way, it's a "what if" situation.

However, the Polish Press Agency decided to pursue the topic further. The Ministry of Finance responded to PAP's questions, explaining that the deposit is refundable, and natural persons who "incur an expense on the deposit, which they then recover by returning packaging covered by the deposit system, do not generate income within the meaning of the provisions of the Personal Income Tax Act."

Okay, what about bail entrepreneurs?

(...) if the benefit obtained is not refundable, i.e. the person who received it does not recover the expense in this way, this may result in a personal income tax liability. Under the PIT Act, the principle of universal taxation applies. This means that all types of income are subject to income tax, except income that is exempt from taxation - it was added.

However, the Ministry stipulates that "the assessment of whether the benefit obtained is subject to taxation, how and in what amount is always made in a specific factual situation." So - it all depends, you need to sit down calmly and check. The only thing missing was the classic: "You'll show me tomorrow."

There is no denying that this is a bit of a storm in a teacup

Yes, sometimes there is a lot of talk about bail record holders who are able to collect vouchers worth several hundred zlotys, but these are a minority. Biedronka once pointed out that returns covering over 50 packages accounted for "just over 5% of all vouchers issued." Most people probably do not earn or make extra money on the deposit system, but only recover their own money that they have already earned.

This does not change the fact that these differences in voices are surprising. The Ministry of Climate on its website quotes Deputy Minister of Climate and Environment Anita Sowińska, for whom rumors about a deposit tax are "complete nonsense" and yet another proof of disinformation. However, we do not know whether it is a tax for people who return the deposit or a hypothetical situation when someone employs others to collect cans and bottles. After all, the head of KAS talked about such a scenario. So how should we treat the Ministry of Finance's announcement sent to PAP?

You can understand that the matter is complicated and that no one knows anything, just like in a Czech film - after all, it is a new problem, and a highly theoretical one at that. But since the government is perfectly aware that any absurdity can be used as a stick to beat, one could expect coherent, specific answers. Meanwhile, one ministry sees it this way, the other sees it differently, noting nuances and catches.

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