Tax risk in cash pooling agreements in Polish enterprises

Abstract

Cash pooling is a service addressed to enterprise groups, which enables effective management of cash pooled on a bank account. In Poland, there is no normative definition of the cash pooling agreement, what is a source of the tax risk of qualifying such an agreement as a loan agreement. The consequence of the recognition of cash pooling as a loan agreement is an increase of the tax burden resulting from the application of the thin capitalisation rules (TCR). In 2013, such interpretation was presented by the Polish tax authorities. The aim of the article is to identify the tax risk in Poland in income tax issuing from the application of the TCR. Referring to the construction of the cash pooling agreement and the features of indirect financing and making appropriate analysis of tax law the author has shown that this interpretation is wrong.

JEL codes: G32, H25.