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Robotisation relief - a new income tax credit on the horizon
Who and on what terms will be eligible to use such a tax relief?
16 September 2020
As recently announced, both the Ministry of Development as well as the Ministry of Finance are working on solutions aimed at supporting the digital transformation of enterprises, including robotisation. With this new tax credit taxpayers are to be entitled to make an additional deduction from the taxable base at the level of 50% of robotisation-related expenses. It is likely that the robotisation credit will come into force at the beginning of the next year and will apply throughout 5 years, i.e. by the end of 2025. The possibility of settling expenses till the year 2031 is being considered.
Robotisation credit - who will be entitled to use it?
A robotisation credit is above all meant to be a systemic and common solution. Thus, both PIT and CIT taxpayers will be entitled to use it - regardless of whether they represent a small, medium or large enterprise, or regardless of the sector they are operating in.
How will this credit work in practice?
The robotisation credit in its construction is similar to the research and development credit (R&D credit) introduced several years ago. This means that an entrepreneur will have the possibility to deduct 50% of robotisation-related expenses from the taxable base.
For instance:
- PLN 100 000 spent on a robot will allow to obtain PLN 9 500 of additional CIT tax savings (19% x PLN 100 000 x 50%).
What can be deducted?
Based on the information made available by the Ministry of Finance, a definition of an industrial robot has been coined for the purpose of the robotisation credit; according to this definition an industrial robot is an automatically operated, programmable and multitasking mobile machine, both stationary as well as mobile, with at least three degrees of freedom.
Work on the definition is still in progress and it remains unknown whether the robot definition in such shape will include the category of so-called programming robots.
On the other hand, a list of eligible costs, which can be settled within the credit, includes expenses incurred on:
- the purchase or lease of new robots and cobots,
- the purchase of software,
- the purchase of accessories (e.g. runways, rotators, drivers, motion sensors, end effectors),
- the purchase of occupational health and safety devices,
- training for employees who will operate the new equipment.
Also, please note that at the current stage expenses related to the introduction of additive manufacturing and CNC machine tools processes have not been classified as eligible costs; according to the Ministry of Development, even though such expenses play an important role in the digital transformation, they cannot be treated as robotisation-related expenses.
The final shape of the credit will be known once a draft bill is published. We will inform you about the latest developments on this matter in the next issues of “Exemptions and Grants”.
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