CIT Leaders: How Polish Companies Pay Taxes
Authors: Adam Czerniak, Marta Cymerman, Mateusz Fornowski
Translation: Maria Jaszczurowska
Editing: Anna Chyckowska
Graphic Design: Joanna Pamuła
Year of Publication: 2022
Commissioned by: Philip Morris Polska Distribution
About the Report:
Ranking of the Largest CIT Taxpayers in Poland (2012-2020).
The ranking includes key characteristics ensuring the comparability of data on the value of paid taxes—such as the company's industry, profit margin, business location, and legal form.
The publication also features a list of 13 leaders, companies that collectively paid at least 1 billion PLN in CIT over the analyzed years. Additionally, the report presents essential information about CIT, its importance to the public finance sector compared to other taxes, and the estimated tax gap.
Key Findings:
- Financial institutions pay the highest CIT taxes. According to research by Polityka Insight, among the 13 individual entities that paid over 1 billion PLN in CIT to the state treasury between 2012 and 2020, seven were banks operating in Poland. The highest taxpayer was Bank Pekao, which paid 6.1 billion PLN over the nine-year period. It was followed by Santander Bank Polska (5.2 billion PLN) and ING Bank Śląski (4.3 billion PLN). In total, financial institutions accounted for 20% of all CIT payments made by the largest taxpayers in 2020.
- Retail and wholesale companies also pay high CIT taxes. This sector represents the largest group of CIT taxpayers by number. In 2020, among the largest taxpayers, there were 465 companies engaged in retail trade and 123 in wholesale trade. Among them, Jeronimo Martins Polska and Rossmann Supermarkety Drogeryjne Polska stood out. Between 2012 and 2020, these companies paid 3.9 billion PLN and 1.6 billion PLN in CIT, respectively.
- Among other individual CIT taxpayers, several stand out. Philip Morris Polska Distribution, from the tobacco industry, paid 1.3 billion PLN in CIT between 2012 and 2020, accounting for 75% of all CIT paid by tobacco companies included in the report.Additionally, P4, the owner of the Play mobile network, contributed 1 billion PLN in CIT during the same period.
- The largest taxpayers account for 62.3% of CIT revenue. This group consists of 2,600 enterprises. The taxes they pay are crucial not only for the state budget but also for local government budgets in the municipalities where these companies are registered. In smaller municipalities or counties, the CIT contributions of a single company can represent up to half of total local revenue.
The report is also available in the English language version