The Financial Services Team of the Tax Department was established to meet the growing demand for consulting services within the financial industry. At present, the Financial Services Team consists of almost 20 specialists - among them a Partner, two Directors, Senior Manager, and a number of experienced Consultants. All team members possess extensive knowledge and experience in the scope of tax and legal regulations specific to the environment of financial institutions.
The Financial Services Team possesses broad experience in advising with regard to undertakings and transactions on the capital market, structured financial instruments, transactions in the banking, insurance, investment and pension funds and leasing sectors, which require complicated tax and legal consulting services. Industry specific consulting knowledge is crucial in the light of the complex interaction of the regulations affecting the financial sectors, specifically in the area of:
- Foreign Exchange Law;
- Banking Law;
- Insurance Law;
- Securities Law (substituted by the Law on public offer and requirements for introducing financial instruments into the organized system of trading and on public companies, the Law on trading in financial instruments and the Law on supervision over capital market);
- Investment Funds Law and
- Pension Funds Law.
We also advise in connection with tax optimization of transactions relating to shares of companies listed on the Warsaw Stock Exchange.
The Financial Services Team also participates in numerous projects, requiring complex tax and legal advisory services in relation to mergers and acquisitions and reorganization of legal structures - including the set up of holding structures and tax capital groups as well as branches of foreign entities.
Thanks to the long term co-operation with the banking, insurance, leasing, pension and investment funds sectors, the Team members have gained a sound understanding of tax settlement methodologies applied by financial institutions, which is necessary to assess the tax risk in the light of inconsistent court decisions and interpretations of the Ministry of Finance and the tax authorities - both for financial institutions and their Clients.
The specialists of the Financial Services Team provide assistance, among others, in the following areas:
- optimization of the tax structure with regard to maximizing corporate income tax savings;
- utilization of any potential tax relieves and incentives for investors and other tax saving opportunities;
- preparation of tax efficient structures relating to acceleration of recognition of losses carried forward;
- creation and restructuring of tax efficient legal and organizational structures in Poland;
- advising on tax effective structures for financing of business activities, including tax efficient arrangements for international financing;
- tax and legal analyses of financial instruments, and in particular of:
- securities and derivatives;
- promissory notes;
- Global Depository Receipts (GDR);
- tax reviews and pre-investment analyses of Polish banks, insurers and other financial institutions;
- tax evaluation of activities of National Investment Funds;
- advising on structures and schemes related to VAT formalities as well as evaluation of the VAT consequences of particular transactions and advising insurers, banks and other financial institutions with regard to structuring transactions from the VAT perspective, and, in particular:
- correct identification of the ratio of activities with the right to input VAT deduction;
- identification of VAT exempt turnover;
- maximization of VAT to be returned (refunded);
- preparation of guidebooks, which support tax settlement procedures by formalizing and integrating the process of registering specific tax and accounting data, and in particular, with respect to foreign exchange differences and derivatives;
- assistance in creating internal procedures, policies and by-laws in relation to the settlement of tax liabilities and verification of such procedures, specifically, in view of the Law on the liability of collective entities and the possibility to avoid such liability;
- transfer pricing - analysis of the terms of transactions and their determination on market levels, as well as:
- preparation of transfer pricing policies and procedures for financial institutions and their implementation into practice;
- establishment of procedures relating to the preparation and gathering of transfer pricing documentation in line with the requirements of the Corporate Income Tax Law, and
- preparation of transfer pricing documentation according to the statutory requirements.
WE SHARE OUR EXPERIENCE
Due to long term co-operation with the insurance, banking, leasing, pension and investment funds sectors, the Team members have achieved a sound understanding of tax settlement methodologies used in the financial industry, which is necessary to assess the tax risks in the light of inconsistent court decisions and interpretations of the Ministry of Finance - both for banks, insurers, pension funds, investment funds and leasing entities as well as for their Clients.
Bearing in mind our sound understanding of problems specific to the financial sector, the in-depth knowledge of tax matters and particular provisions regulating the financial industry, the scope of services rendered by the Financial Services Team includes not only standard advisory services but also the analysis of legal and business aspects exclusive solely to financial institutions.
Below we present the key tax issues, in which our sector-oriented groups specialize:
