Amendments to the Tax Ordinance Act effective from 1 October 2026

The key changes include, among others:

• a significant simplification of MDR obligations, in particular by limiting reporting to cross-border arrangements and streamlining procedural and information requirements;
• an increase in the threshold for corrections to tax returns made by the tax authority as part of verification activities, from PLN 5,000 to PLN 10,000;
• an increase in the amount of tax that may be paid by a third party, from PLN 1,000 to PLN 5,000;
• the removal of the requirement to submit a separate application for confirmation of a tax overpayment where the overpayment arises directly from a corrected tax return;
• the introduction of the possibility to apply for tax remission before the tax payment deadline;
• enabling a person requested by a tax authority to provide explanations or submit documents to appoint an attorney;
• changes concerning tax powers of attorney.

The most significant change remains the limitation of MDR obligations. Below, we present the key elements of the new regulations and their practical relevance for taxpayers.

MDR changes – key considerations for taxpayers

1. End of reporting for domestic tax arrangements – from 1 October 2026, only cross-border arrangements are reportable. However, this does not automatically close all MDR obligations relating to events that occurred before the changes entered into force; the transitional provisions and any ongoing reporting processes should be reviewed, in particular with regard to the reporting of cross-border arrangements, standardised arrangements and information obligations towards other participants.
2. Closer alignment of the MDR scope with the EU framework (primarily income taxes) – the scope of the regulations is narrowed primarily to income taxes, but not exclusively, as it also covers other taxes not expressly excluded by the legislation, such as the tax on civil law transactions. Accordingly, indirect taxes cease to be covered, which had previously been one of the features specific to the Polish regime.
3. Change to the definition of the main benefit test – under the new regulations, the key question is whether obtaining a tax advantage is one of the main expected benefits of a given arrangement. At the same time, the existing reference to whether the taxpayer could have chosen another reasonable course of action not giving rise to such a tax advantage has been removed. In certain situations, this may mean that MDR reporting obligations will apply more broadly than before and will cover some situations that were previously outside the reporting scope.
4. Changes to the catalogue of hallmarks – the amendment brings the scope of Polish MDR reporting closer to the standard arising from the DAC6 Directive. In practice, this includes the removal of the so-called “other specific hallmarks”, which constituted an additional Polish extension of the EU rules. As a result, certain situations previously reported on the basis of these domestic hallmarks should no longer be subject to MDR.
5. Changes to the roles of entities participating in an arrangement – the category of assistant will be abolished; however, certain “supporting” entities may, in specific circumstances, fall within the definition of a promoter. This requires responsibilities to be reassigned between the adviser, taxpayer, group companies, operational teams and other relevant parties, and may also require updates to procedures other than MDR procedures, including those relating to the Fiscal Penal Code, the tax strategy and the tax control framework.
6. No individual tax rulings concerning MDR – the changes also remove taxpayers’ ability to obtain an individual tax ruling confirming the correctness of the classification of a given arrangement for MDR purposes.
7. Changes to reporting and forms – certain information obligations have been simplified. In particular, the MDR-3 information on the use of a tax arrangement may be submitted by an attorney, while the MDR-2 information requirement has been abolished.
8. Professional and sectoral secrecy – the amendment changes the reporting rules applicable to entities bound by legally protected professional secrecy. As a rule, instead of reporting arrangements, lawyers and tax advisers will only inform users of the obligations imposed on them, thereby increasing the compliance burden on taxpayers.

Impact of the amendment on existing MDR procedures

From 1 October 2026, the regulations no longer require taxpayers to maintain an internal MDR procedure, and the provisions concerning penalties for failure to comply with this obligation have been repealed. However, the removal of the statutory requirement does not mean that internal mechanisms for identifying and reporting tax arrangements cease to be relevant in practice.

In practice, particularly for entities conducting cross-border activities, it may be reasonable to retain internal rules enabling the identification of arrangements potentially subject to reporting and the appropriate allocation of obligations among the relevant participants.

For many taxpayers, updating the existing MDR procedure and adapting it to the new, significantly narrower scope of reporting obligations may be a more practical solution than abandoning it entirely. The procedure may then serve as a proportionate internal control tool focused primarily on cross-border arrangements

Source: Act of 29 May 2026 amending the Tax Ordinance Act and certain other acts (Journal of Laws of 2026, item 846)