Minister of Finance in Interpretation dated 31 October 2013 reference no. DD6/033/164/MNX/09/PK-28/RD-114159/13 considered the company's position to be incorrect, which qualified for tax costs the expenses for the employees' rewards from the profit earned and contributions to the Workers' Pension Programme from these awards.
The company asked whether the prizes and contributions paid from them to the occupational pension scheme could be included in the tax costs. According to the company, the expenditure referred to above represents the cost of obtaining revenue, since regardless of whether the payment is made from a net profit, it is linked to both the company’s business and the revenue it generates.
The Katowice Tax Chamber confirmed the position of the company, but the interpretation was modified by the Minister of Finance, who stressed that such payments were not of a cost-effective nature at all, as they came from the profit of the company after tax on income tax.
The Minister of Finance considered that the basic condition for recognising the expenditure incurred as the cost of obtaining revenue, in addition to the causal link between the expenditure incurred and the revenue generated, was their cost-effective nature. In this case, it is irrelevant that the reward received for the employee constitutes income from the employment relationship.
Therefore, the provision does not apply in this case. Articles 15(1) and 16(1) point 57 Corporate Income Tax Act.
The non-cost nature of this kind of remuneration is also due to Article 16(1)(40) Corporate Income Tax Act, according to which they are not considered to be the cost of obtaining income, among others, contributions to the Social Security Office and to the Labour Fund on prizes and bonuses, paid in cash or in securities from income after tax. Therefore, since this provision shows that contributions which are inherent in the remuneration paid do not constitute a tax cost, it would be incomprehensible to consider the net reward itself as such.