The Act of 31 March 2020 amending the Act on special solutions related to the prevention and eradication of COVID-19, other infectious diseases and crisis situations caused by them, as well as some other acts (hereinafter: the anti-crisis shield) introduced a number of solutions to support taxpayers in this hard time. In this article, we will try to bring closer to those regarding fixed assets owned by taxpayers.
Income tax on revenues from ownership of a fixed asset
April 20, 2020 is the day for which the tax on building revenues for the previous month is due. However, the owners of commercialized buildings do not have to worry about whether they will be able to meet the statutory obligation on time. Due to the introduced epidemic status in Poland, they are one of those groups that will be able to take advantage of the preferences provided by the so-called anti-crisis shield.
The anti-crisis shield introduces the possibility of extending until 20 July 2020 the deadline for payment of tax on income from buildings. The postponement concerns the tax for the months March-May 2020. It is worth mentioning that this relief is not universal. The legislator decided to impose conditions on it. Taxpayer will be able to take advantage of this relief, in case he fulfilled jointly the following criteria:
1) suffered negative economic consequences in a given month due to COVID-19, referred to in the Act on COVID-19;
2) in a given month obtained revenues lower by at least 50% compared to the same month of the previous tax year, and in the case of a taxpayer who started operating in 2019 – in relation to the average revenues obtained this year (understood as the quotient of revenues generated in the year in which the taxpayer started operating and the number of months in which it was conducted).
It should be noted that the condition indicated in item 2 does not apply to taxpayers who:
1) used in 2019 a form of taxation for which no revenue is determined;
2) began operating in the last quarter of 2019 and did not generate revenue in that period;
3) began operating in 2020.
Legal basis: art. 38h of the Act amending the Act on COVID-19
One-off depreciation write-offs for fixed assets acquired in connection with COVID-19
As a rule, items that meet the criteria for recognizing them as fixed assets – i.e. owned or co-owned by the taxpayer, complete and serviceable, with an expected period of use of more than 1 year, when their price does not exceed PLN 10,000 – can be included directly in tax deductible costs (provided that they are properly documented and meet the definition of cost).
The anti-crisis shield introduced the possibility of one-time depreciation of fixed assets serving the taxpayers in the fight against COVID-19. They obtained the possibility of making one-off depreciation write-offs from the initial value of fixed assets, which were acquired for the production of goods related to counteracting COVID-19 and entered in the register of fixed assets and intangible assets in 2020.
The Act indicates an exemplary catalogue of goods. In particular, protective masks, respirators, disinfectants, medical protective clothing, shoe covers, gloves, glasses, goggles, sanitisers and hand hygiene are considered to be such items. Due to the fact that the catalogue is open, taxpayers may also qualify here also other fixed assets preventing the spread of the virus.
Legal basis: art. 38k of the Act amending the Act on COVID-19