New tax from today. It affects home buyers

Today, an additional tax on civil law transactions (PCC) on the purchase of the sixth and subsequent apartments comes into force. It was introduced by the government of Mateusz Morawiecki. The then Prime Minister spoke about the need to implement it a year ago on RMF FM.

– Already a year ago, we announced that we would impose fees primarily on funds, on those investors who buy 100, 200, 500 apartments at a time, which means that the demand remains the same, but the supply decreases because they keep these apartments in the pool for sale. in a while – said Morawiecki. – If someone has already bought 7 or 8 apartments, you should also take a closer look at this, because it means that he or she is a wealthier person – added.

Housing tax. When do you have to pay?

The new regulations – as the radio station reminds – are included in the Act amending the Act on municipal self-government, the Act on social forms of housing development, the Act on real estate management, the Act on tax on civil law transactions and certain other acts. The regulations, with a few exceptions, entered into force 30 days from the date of announcement, i.e. August 31, 2023. The list of these exceptions included changes to the Civil Law Transactions Tax Act, which are in force from the beginning of 2024.

The new regulations – as the radio station reminds – assume that the tax on civil law transactions amounts to 6%. you will have to pay for the purchase of at least six apartments in one investment. This should be understood as one building or several buildings, but created on one piece of land.

– If the buyer purchases at least six residential premises constituting separate real estate in one or several buildings built on one piece of land, subject to value added tax, or shares in these premises, or has already purchased at least five such premises or shares in them, the tax rate on the sales contract concluded with the same buyer for the sixth and each subsequent such premises in this building or buildings or on an interest in such premises is 6 percent – written in the regulation.

Tax of 6 percent. will also apply when “if a residential premises constituting a separate property is purchased under joint ownership by several buyers, (…) when at least one of the buyers is obliged to pay tax at such a rate. The changes will apply to contracts concluded after the entry into force of the new regulations in life.

Tax rates on civil law transactions depend on the type of civil law transactions performed; in the case of a purchase/sale agreement of real estate from the secondary market, it is 2%. In the case of the primary market, i.e. purchase from a developer, there is no PCC, but we pay VAT, which is included in the price of the apartment.

Let us recall that at the end of August last year, the PCC exemption for the purchase of the first apartment on the secondary market came into force. At that time, the Ministry of Finance emphasized that sales that would be exempt from tax on civil law transactions include: ownership of a residential premises constituting a separate property, ownership of a single-family residential building or cooperative ownership right to a residential premises or a single-family house.