Starting from 1 January 2019, a fund was created to support the disabled. This fund is financed, among others, from the part of contributions to the Labor Fund and from an additional tax paid by some PIT taxpayers, the so-called solidarity levy.

The solidarity levy has been in force since 1 January 2019 and income gained to that day are subject to the above levy. This is an additional 4% fiscal burden on the income of natural persons. The regulations regarding this tax were included by the legislator in art. 30h-30i of the PIT Act and supplemented with Tax Notes issued on 28.08.2019.

The basis for calculating the solidarity levy is the surplus of over PLN 1 million in the sum of income (revenues minus costs) subject to taxation according to the principles set forth in certain provisions of the PIT Act, including:

• income from employment, business activities, pensions, invalidity pensions, remuneration from mandate and specific work contracts, copyrights, income obtained outside Poland, for which the proportional deduction method applies, i.e. income taxed according to the tax scale;
• income from the sale of securities or derivative financial instruments against payment, from the disposal of shares and interests against payment and from taking up shares and interests against an in-kind contribution;
• from non-agricultural business activities or special departments of agricultural production taxed at a flat rate of 19%;
• revenues of a foreign controlled company.

- after their deductions provided for in the PIT Act.

In the amounts reducing the basis for calculating the levy, the amount of social security contributions (domestic and foreign) deducted from the above income, as well as:

• dividend received from a foreign controlled entity,
• income from the sale of interest in a foreign controlled entity,

included in the tax base of the taxpayer are taken into account.

For the purposes of calculating the basis for calculating the solidarity levy, inter alia, income from undisclosed sources of income, income / revenues from interest, dividends and other revenues from participation in profits of legal persons, from the sale of real estate against payment, income taxed at a flat rate and to which, according to the provisions of double taxation agreements, the method of exemption with progression applies, are not taken into account.

• Note:

The ssolidarity levy is a personal tax liability of a natural person. This means that in case of spouses who jointly settle their liabilities in personal income tax, for the purposes of determining the basis for calculating the solidarity levy, each of them takes into account only his or her income (they do not connect them with the income of the spouse or divide it in half).

The deadline for paying the solidarity levy is 30 April of the calendar year. Within this period, the taxpayer is obliged to submit a declaration to the competent tax office about the amount of solidarity levy (which is the purpose of the form according to the model DSF-1).

• Note:

The obligation to submit a declaration regarding the amount of solidarity levy and the payment of solidarity levy shall be implemented for the first time by 30 April 2020. When determining the amount of the basis for calculating the solidarity levy to be paid within that period, the income obtained from 1 January 2019 and amounts reducing these incomes, shown on forms PIT-36, PIT-36L, PIT-37, PIT-38, PIT-CFC and PIT-40A, whose submission deadline is from 01/01/2019 to 30/04/2020, should be taken into account.