- What do you mean when you say you have a double tax residency? Doesn’t the agreement between Poland and Switzerland say you pay taxes where your “center of living” is?
- What do you mean by “it’s difficult to get rid of”? When I moved to Switzerland in May 2015, I did not file a tax declaration for 2015 in Poland, only Switzerland, and nobody bothered me since. I did not “unregister” or anything.
- What kind of benefits are you talking about?
1 & 2. There is, but each country have a different conditions for claiming you are a tax resident there. For example Poland considers you a tax resident if you have a centre of personal interests or economic interests in Poland even if you don’t live there - examples:
- real estate
- bank accounts
- family (esp. SO or children living back in PL)
- being a member of local associations
- work
I have been told that “unregistering” (wymeldowanie) is also an important condition, but not the only one.
In practice, you have to proof to the PL tax office that you are a non tax-resident there (and have it in writing) if you want to be sure you are not. Otherwise, as a national, probably with some family there you are considered a tax resident.
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If you don’t have income in Poland you are not obliged to file a tax declaration but it doesn’t mean you are not a tax resident (also) in Poland. Now - what about the capital gain tax - CH rate is 0%, but PL rate is 19%, so they have 5 years to ask you about it.
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For me mostly very nice premium banking products (World Elite MC from mBank for example), easy to get with Swiss income levels --> many nice perks
I file tax declaration both in CH and in PL, and in both cases the total income is counted to determine the tax rate which is applied to the income in each country separately.
There are some exceptions, so sometimes but the rule of thumb is that in case of double tax residency you are taxed on the higher rate of the two - in my experience at least.
For example in case of dividends:
- 19% paid in PL on dividends is counted towards Swiss tax
- tax on salary iin PL is counted as a deduction in CH, etc.
References:
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What do you mean they have 5 years? What happens after that?
I have not filed a tax declaration in Poland since 2015. Don’t tell me I have to pay capital gains tax, now? I have no real estate in Poland, I closed my bank account in 2015, my only significant others are my parents, not a member anywhere, don’t have any work contract in Poland since 2015. I guess I will continue not doing anything, and if they come one day, then I will have to look for a lawyer.
What other choice do I have? Can I seek any confirmation from the Polish authorities, that yes, since I moved to Switzerland they will cancel my Polish tax domicile?
I am not a tax adviser, so don’t listen to me but check somebody who know what she/he is saying.
As far as I know:
They can ask you for anything related taxes up to 5 years from the end of the calendar year the event happened. If this is true, if they don’t come after you until December 31, 2020 you should be fine.
I would not ask Polish authorities about anything now… if you ask, they might start checking.
If I were you, I’d ask a certified tax adviser in Poland - there are some doing it by e-mail, 200 PLN and you might know better what to do about it.
From what you said above, it should be doable for you to actually proof that you are not a Polish tax resident if one day they claim you were. One thing you should have had done though (but no one does) is to announce that you are leaving (wymeldowanie). Maybe there is a way of doing it with 2015 date, but that I don’t know.
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Yes, that I was thinking of, but when I recently spoke to my other Polish friend / Swiss resident, he said from what he read the “adres zameldowania” doesn’t matter.
I wonder what would happen with my Polish ID card if I registered out of my current address. Would they change the address to the Swiss one? Give me a new card without the address? Or just do nothing?
At this point I can’t stress enough how negative I feel about the current worldwide state of affairs regarding taxation and domiciles. It’s all a big mess and our home countries partially treat us as slaves or milking cows.
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I only had to send the Swiss certificate of tax residency to Polish tax authorities and they haven’t bothered me anymore.
PS. @Julianek, could you fork?
BTW. You can chill guys:
“Kraj rezydencji podatnika to ten, w którym znajduje się centrum interesów życiowych podatnika. Ustawa podatkowa nie precyzuje pojęcia centrum interesów życiowych. W rzecznictwie najczęściej brane jest pod uwagę miejsce przebywania najbliższej rodziny podatnika, znajomych, miejsce położenia majątku, zatrudnienia, działalności politycznej, kulturalnej i wszelkiej innej, miejsce działalności gospodarczej i miejsce, z którego osoba zarządza swoim majątkiem. Drugim kryterium decydującym o rezydencji podatkowej jest liczba dni spędzonych w Polsce w roku podatkowym - suma 183 dni. Wystarczy spełnienie jednego z tych kryteriów, aby zostać uznanym za rezydenta polskiego.”
https://www.pitax.pl/wiedza/rozliczanie-pit/rezydencja-podatkowa/
“Zdaniem organów podatkowych, przez “centrum interesów osobistych” należy rozumieć wszelkie powiązania rodzinne, tzn. ognisko domowe, aktywność społeczną, polityczną, kulturalną, obywatelską, przynależność do organizacji/klubów, uprawianie hobby, itp. Z kolei “centrum interesów gospodarczych” to przede wszystkim miejsce prowadzenia działalności zarobkowej, źródła dochodów, posiadane inwestycje, majątek nieruchomy i ruchomy, polisy ubezpieczeniowe, zaciągnięte kredyty, konta bankowe, itd. (np. interpretacja indywidualna Dyrektora Izby Skarbowej w Warszawie z 23 lipca 2013 r., nr IPPB4/415-325/13-4/JK2).”
http://www.vademecumpodatnika.pl/artykul_narzedziowa,467,201,5081,osrodek-interesow-zyciowych.html
And how would you judge on this case: my friend moved to CH with his wife, got a kid, then things didn’t work out, she took the kid and moved back to Poland, but they’re still married. I guess the tax authorities could classify his center of personal affairs in Poland, since wife and kid are there? At least until divorce…
Anyway, I will never understand marriage. Let’s take this gentle and intimate relationship between two people and involve the STATE in it!
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