Events

Success in the area of real estate tax, the Supreme Administrative Court resolved all contentious issues

On 3 September, our real estate tax team represented a client before the Supreme Administrative Court in a real estate tax case (the oldest case concerned tax for 2015). The Supreme Administrative Court issued four rulings in which it fully agreed with the arguments presented by us on behalf of the client. The disputed issues concerned:

1. The application of the rules on prohibited state aid to the exemption of railway infrastructure from real estate tax (in this regard, the Supreme Administrative Court found that the arguments we raised during the case were fully confirmed in the CJEU judgment of 29 April 2025, ref. no. C-453/23)*;
2. The limitation period for tax liabilities in connection with the regulations resulting from the so-called ‘Covid Act’, which raised doubts as to the suspension of the limitation period for tax liabilities (here, our original arguments coincided with the relevant resolution of the Supreme Administrative Court in a similar case);
3. The impact of the date of delivery of the decision on the expiry of the limitation period, as well as the application of enforcement measures after that date;
4. The possibility of exempting the so-called broad-gauge infrastructure as shared railway infrastructure (and not exclusively as a railway line).

Several million in tax refunds and tens of thousands in reimbursement of costs for long and complicated proceedings, on which a number of our specialists worked – we warmly congratulate the client and the entire team involved on their victories.

However, this is not the end of our support and hard work – a new resolution of the Supreme Administrative Court on the tax exemption of entire registered plots of land and unclear regulations applicable from 2022 are on the horizon.

* As regards the CJEU judgment referred to in point 1, the Court drew attention to another interesting aspect in its oral reasoning. The CJEU judgment of 29 April 2025, ref. no. C-453/23, in its Polish version, was translated in such a way that doubts may arise as to the categorical nature of the conclusions contained therein. This concerns the use of the phrase ‘it does not appear that the provisions of a Member State which exempt from real estate tax land, buildings and structures forming part of railway infrastructure when it is made available to railway undertakings constitute a measure which confers a selective advantage on the beneficiaries of that exemption’ in the operative part of the judgment. In the opinion of the Court, the CJEU’s ruling was incorrectly translated into Polish. In French, for example, the CJEU’s ruling is more categorical and simply states that such a measure does not constitute an instrument granting a selective advantage to the beneficiaries of that exemption (which significantly strengthens the impact of the CJEU’s ruling itself). The Supreme Administrative Court reported this inconsistency in the translation to the CJEU.

Team involved in the project:

Elżbieta Lis, Partner at Andersen in Poland
Szymon Chyra, Senior Manager at Andersen in Poland
Klaudia Raczek-Słomka, Manager at Andersen in Poland
Elżbieta Kawala, Senior Associate at Andersen in Poland
Zofia Muszala, Consultant at Andersen in Poland