Umorzenie zaległości podatkowych na gruncie art. 67 ustawy – Ordynacja podatkowa
Remission of tax arrears pursuant to the Article 67 of the Polish Tax Code

Summary/Abstract: The purpose of the article is to indicate relevant interpretative guidelines concerning the directive of the important interest of the taxpayer and the public interest, which are established in the Article 67 of the Polish Tax Code (hereinafter referred to as PTC), in relation to their application by the tax authorities, as well as in the framework of judicial verification of decisions made by these authorities. The construction of the provision set in the Article 67 of the PTC is not simple to interpret due to the fact that the operation of the standard requires the consultation with non-legal facts and standards, the conceptual scope of which is also insufficiently defined by the provisions of the applicable law. The reasons for the remission are discussed in the context of the court decisions referring to this area, which is intended, first of all, to demonstrate the functioning of the bi-directional line of decision making, regarding the established scope of a narrow and broad conceptual interpretation of the term “important interest of the taxpayer”; and secondly, to highlight the existing and the unchanging, directed at the superiority of the public interest, argumentation of the “decision-making ability of the tax authorities, which deviates from the standards proper for a democratic state of law and the principle of justice in the broad sense of the word. The article discusses the fundamental issues arising in the proceedings for a remission, which justify the verification of decisions made by the tax authorities and signals the principle of exemption from taxation of income from illegal sources, which eliminates decisions of authorities issued prematurely or subject to a ruling on their invalidity from legal circulation. The author points out in genere the issues which should become the subject of special attention with regard to decisions of tax authorities and their justifications, the literal content of which allows to change the issued decisions and relieve the obligation to pay the dues in a situation where objective facts and the existing important interest of the taxpayer in the decision of the authority should reflect the main principles of a democratic state of law.

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