Poland – Transfer Pricing (2025)

Legal framework and scope

Poland’s transfer pricing regime is primarily governed by the Corporate Income Tax act (CIT act) and the Personal Income Tax act (PIT act). The arm’s length principle is explicitly referenced in Article 11c para. 1 and 11j para. 1 of the CIT act and in Article 23o para. 1 and 23v para. 1 of the PIT act. Domestic rules set out the scope of controlled transactions and documentation obligations and delegate considerable detail to Minister of Finance regulations covering TP assessment procedures and TP documentation, which take the OECD Transfer Pricing Guidelines into account. Broadly, where related-party links produce conditions different from those between independent parties and result in lower taxable income, the tax authority may determine taxable income disregarding those controlled conditions and, where appropriate, determine income on the basis of a “proper transaction.”

Definition of related parties

Polish law provides a detailed definition of related parties. Under Art. 11a para. 1 point 4 and para. 2 of the CIT act (and corresponding provisions Art. 23m para. 1 point 4 and para. 2 of the PIT act), related subjects include: a) those where one subject exercises considerable influence over at least one other; b) subjects over which the same persons or the spouse, relative or relative by affinity up to the second degree of a natural person exercise considerable influence over at least one subject; c) a partnership and its partners; and d) a taxpayer and its foreign establishment, and, for tax capital groups, a company of the group and its foreign establishment. “Considerable influence” is defined as, inter alia, direct or indirect holding of at least 25% of shares or voting rights, actual ability of a natural person to influence economic decisions of an entity, or marriage/consanguinity/affinity up to the second degree.

Arm’s length principle and role of the OECD Guidelines

The OECD Transfer Pricing Guidelines are not part of Polish law but are used as an explanatory and interpretative instrument. The Minister of Finance’s regulations on TP assessment procedures and TP documentation mainly take the OECD TPG into account. Specific statutory references include Art. 11j para. 1 and Art. 11q para. 4 of the CIT act and Art. 23v para. 1 and Art. 23zc para. 4 of the PIT act, together with the Minister of Finance acts on TP assessments procedure and on TP documentation.

Methods and application criteria

Polish legislation explicitly allows use of the five standard transfer pricing methods—CUP, Resale Price, Cost Plus, TNMM and Profit Split—as set out in Art. 11d para. 1 and 2 of the CIT act and Art. 23p para. 1 and 2 of the PIT act. If it is impossible to apply those five methods, another method or valuation technique appropriate to the circumstances may be used. The selection criterion is the “most appropriate method” in the given circumstances rather than a strict hierarchy; this approach is established in Art. 11d para. 3 of the CIT act and Art. 23p para. 3 of the PIT act and requires analysis of the conditions agreed between related parties, availability of necessary information and specific criteria for applying the chosen method.

Comparability analysis and use of ranges

Poland follows the OECD guidance on comparability analysis in Chapter III. Local transfer pricing documentation must contain a comparability analysis of unrelated parties or transactions deemed to be comparable to the controlled transactions (Art. 11q para. 1 point 3 letter a of the CIT act; Art. 23zc para. 1 point 3 letter a of the PIT act). There is a preference for domestic comparables under general comparability guidance. The domestic rules do not prohibit the use of arm’s length ranges or statistical measures; the OECD TPG is applied as interpretative guidance. Comparability analyses must be updated at least every three years unless there are significant economic changes affecting the analysis in the year such changes occur (Art. 11r of the CIT act; Art. 23zd of the PIT act). Secret comparables are not used by the tax administration.

Documentation and reporting (Master, Local, CbC, thresholds, language, deadlines)

Poland requires taxpayers to prepare transfer pricing documentation. The obligations include a master file consistent with Annex I to Chapter V of the OECD TPG, a local file consistent with Annex II, and a country-by-country report consistent with Annex III. Specific transfer pricing returns and declarations are required, and from 1 January 2022 the obligation to provide information on transfer prices is framed under Article 11t para. 2 point 7. Taxpayers obliged to prepare local documentation must submit a declaration of its preparation to revenue offices by the end of the ninth month following the end of the financial year; the local file must be provided in Polish.

Documentation thresholds are set out in domestic law. For financial transactions, local documentation must be prepared where the value of a homogeneous controlled transaction, net of VAT, exceeds PLN 10 000 000 in the financial year. For service transactions the threshold is PLN 2 000 000, and for other transactions the threshold is PLN 2 000 000. Related subjects consolidated using the full or proportional consolidation method must append group transfer pricing documentation (master file) by the end of the twelfth month following the end of the financial year provided they belong to groups for which consolidated financial statements are drawn up or whose consolidated revenues exceeded PLN 200 000 000 in the previous financial year (Art. 11k, 11m, 11p of the CIT act; Art. 23w, 23y, 23zb of the PIT act; relevant provisions of the act on exchange of tax information with other countries).

Country-by-Country Reporting follows the international threshold: the profile indicates EUR 750 000 000 as the consolidated revenue threshold for MNE groups; the source document also includes a national currency reference (PLN 3 250 000) in the narrative. The parent entity with its registered office or place of effective management in Poland must submit group information to the Head of the National Revenue Administration within 12 months from the end of the reporting financial year. Constituent entities that are not parent entities may be required to file the CbCR locally under specified conditions including when the parent entity does not file in its jurisdiction, or when information exchange agreements are not in place or have been suspended; surrogate filing is provided for in applicable situations.

Penalties and compliance incentives

Poland’s legislation provides for specific penalties and enforcement measures. Failure by an entity in a group to comply with the obligation to provide CbC information or notification, or providing incomplete or inconsistent information, may result in a financial penalty imposed by the Head of the National Revenue Administration of up to PLN 1 000 000. The penal fiscal code contains provisions imposing fines for failure to submit declarations on the preparation of local TP documentation, submission after the deadline, or certification of information inconsistent with actual circumstances; sanctions may reach up to 720 daily rates (Articles 56c and 80e of the penal fiscal code, as amended effective January 1, 2022). Specific wording in Art. 56c and Art. 80e penal fiscal code details fines for not preparing or improperly preparing local TP documentation and for not submitting or submitting late or false TPR information, with separate scales for late submission (up to 240 times a daily fine) and larger sanctions for more serious breaches.

Safe harbours and other simplification measures

Poland provides safe harbour rules for certain intra‑group transactions. For low value‑adding intra‑group services, the tax authority may refrain from determining the taxpayer’s income to the extent of a surcharge on the costs of those services, provided that conditions are jointly fulfilled: the surcharge determined using an appropriate method amounts to no more than 5% of costs in the case of purchase of services and no less than 5% of costs in the case of provision of services; the service provider is not resident in a jurisdiction applying harmful tax competition; and the service recipient holds the calculations detailing the type and amount of costs and the basis for allocation keys for related subjects using the services. These provisions apply to services listed in the schedules to the PIT and CIT acts and where additional conditions are met, such as that the services support the economic activity of the recipient and are not the main business of the group, that the value of services rendered to unrelated parties does not exceed 2% of the value rendered to related and unrelated parties, and that the services are not subject to further resale beyond permitted re‑invoicing.

For loans, a safe harbour exists if the interest rate is based on the base interest rate and margin published by the Polish Minister of Finance, no fees other than interest are envisaged, the loan term does not exceed five years, the borrower’s total liabilities or dues on account of capital or loans during a financial year do not exceed PLN 20 000 000 (calculated separately for loans granted and taken), and the lender is not resident in a jurisdiction applying harmful tax competition. The Minister of Finance publishes the type of base interest rate and margin at least annually (see Art. 11f and Art. 11g of the CIT act; Art. 23r and Art. 23s of the PIT act; Announcement of the Minister of Finance of 21 December 2021).

Advance Pricing Agreements (APAs), MAP and dispute prevention

Poland offers multiple mechanisms for preventing and resolving transfer pricing disputes. APAs (unilateral, bilateral and multilateral) are available and may be in force for up to five years; at the end of the term they can be renewed via a simplified procedure if the key elements have not changed substantially. APAs may be amended or repealed by the Head of the National Fiscal Administration where economic conditions change materially. The MAP procedure is available if a domestic related party considers that actions of one or both tax administrations have led or may lead to taxation inconsistent with an applicable treaty; MAP requests must specify the dispute resolution procedure to be followed. In case of a non‑resident permanent establishment in Poland, the MAP application should normally be submitted in the taxpayer’s state of residence. The MAP request does not prevent concurrent processing of an APA request. Legal provisions relevant to these procedures include Art. 86, Art. 87, Art. 106 of the DRM Tax Act and Art. 14a, 14b, 20s, 20zb of the Tax Ordinance Act.

Year‑end adjustments, secondary adjustments and PEs

Taxpayers are allowed to make year‑end adjustments to correct transfer prices by amending the amount of revenues or deductible costs where conditions justifying such correction exist, including that the same conditions would have been determined by unrelated parties, a material change of circumstances occurred, and that the related party makes an equivalent correction and is resident in Poland or in a jurisdiction with legal grounds for information exchange; the taxpayer must confirm the correction in the annual statement for the relevant tax year (Art. 11e of the CIT act; Art. 23q of the PIT act). The available information indicates that Poland does not apply automatic secondary adjustments. Regarding attribution of profits to permanent establishments, Poland has not fully adopted the Authorised OECD Approach (AOA) in its bilateral treaties and the treaties still reflect the prior OECD approach; however, amendments to Polish transfer pricing provisions in 2019 make domestic law closer to the AOA by considering parent companies and their PEs as related entities that may provide services to each other at arm’s length.

Other relevant aspects

Poland does not have separate domestic legislation governing cost contribution arrangements (CCAs), but CCAs are treated as controlled transactions under the broad domestic definition and are analysed in practice in line with the OECD Transfer Pricing Guidelines. The master file must, among other things, describe group strategy for creation, development, ownership and use of intangibles and the group’s transfer pricing policy for R&D and intangibles; however, the domestic law does not set out detailed separate pricing rules for intangible transactions and relies on the OECD TPG for interpretation.

Conclusion

Poland’s transfer pricing framework establishes a comprehensive domestic regime that codifies definitions, methods and documentation obligations while formally relying on the OECD Transfer Pricing Guidelines as interpretative guidance. The law emphasizes the application of the most appropriate method, mandates detailed local and group documentation with specific thresholds and deadlines, provides safe harbours for low value‑adding services and certain financing transactions, enables APAs and MAP procedures for dispute prevention and resolution, allows year‑end corrections under conditions, and imposes significant penalties for non‑compliance.

References

For more information and the full country profile on the OECD website, see: https://www.oecd.org/en/topics/sub-issues/transfer-pricing/transfer-pricing-country-profiles.html