The tax on the assets of financial institutions: Risks and benefits

Abstract

The article characterises the issue of a bank tax, created by economists. It is also focused on a new tax which was introduced in Poland from 1 February 2016 and charges some financial institutions. The paper also presents a brief analysis of empirical data, which characterized the new tax. In particular, this paper presents the volume of state budget revenues from the new tax for the period from March to May 2016 and the results of a survey carried among taxpayers paying this tax. The tax introduced for Polish taxpayers was a new obligation which had to be fulfilled in particular by banks and by insurers. Taxpayers are required to submit their tax returns to the appropriate tax office head, and to calculate and pay a tax for monthly billing periods until the 25th of the month following the month the tax concerns. The tax is 0.0366% of the monthly tax base, which is most often referred to as the surplus of the value of the taxpayer’s assets, resulting from the statement of turnover and balance established on the last day of the month: 4 billion, 2 billion, 200 million PLN—depends on the type of a taxpayer.