Job Discussion Forums

dynow · Joined: 07 Nov 2006 Posts: 1080

I know some of you on this forum have bought/sold real estate in the past, so i have a few questions regarding selling in particular.

here's the deal: my fiance and I own our apt. We want to sell it. trouble is, if we were to sell it this year, from what I am now learning, we would have to pay 19% of what we profit from the sale to the Polish govt. because according to Polish law, once you buy an apt., house, whatever, you need to live there for at least 5 years to avoid the 19% tax pentalty. the way around it is you would have to buy another apt. within 2 years of the date of sale from your last apt., but we have no interest in buying another piece of real estate in Poland, we simply want to sell our current apt. and pocket the money.

anyone have any experiences with this, or better yet, found a way around it?

dynow · Joined: 07 Nov 2006 Posts: 1080

for what it's worth, I recently read that it's a 10% penalty, not 19%, but like anything in Poland, i don't believe anything. Tomorrow I'll read that it's 15%.

anyway, 10% is still way more than I want to give up. don't know if anyone has experience with this, but I'd really appreciate any responses.

justflyingin · Joined: 30 Apr 2009 Posts: 100

dynow · Joined: 07 Nov 2006 Posts: 1080

maniak · Joined: 06 Feb 2008 Posts: 194

dynow · Joined: 07 Nov 2006 Posts: 1080

Maniak,

ok, let me get this straight:

if we bought before 2007, 10% tax.

if we bought 2007 or later, and we've lived in the apt. for at least 1 year, there is no tax penalty.

if that is true, then we have a predicament. we took the loan in late 2006 and started paying it in 2006, but signed the final paperwork for the apt. in 2007. i guess it would depend on where they start counting, but we technically didn't "own" the place till 2007.

i guess i gotta look into this.

regarding dzialalnosc gospodarcza, yes, I freelance and am filed that way in our apt. why?

the landlord route........we'd rather not. we're looking to move to the U.S. eventually, and simply don't want to move out there and have to deal with trying to sell our place here.

what exactly is kombinowanie?

simon_porter00 · Joined: 09 Nov 2005 Posts: 505 Location: Warsaw, Poland

Kombinowac Very Happy

A nice verb which directly translated would mean something like 'combine with something else'. In use it means meddle and bugger around with something in a variety of ways until you achieve the correct result.

Avoiding the tax penalty is virtually impossible to do and can only be done kombinowacing with a very high level legal/tax person, unofficially of course. I heard there's a way of avoiding the tax if the person who bought the flat is a non-national but you'll have to hope that your tax advisor is a part time crook and the people assessing the paperwork are blind. In other words there's about a 0.5% chance of avoiding the tax.

maniak · Joined: 06 Feb 2008 Posts: 194

dynow · Joined: 07 Nov 2006 Posts: 1080

of course I know what the verb Kombinowac means. when speaking about real estate, no, i don't know what that word means.

it looks as though we fall under 2007. if that's the case, and there's no tax, then there's nothing more we need to discuss, but we are in Poland and I'll believe it when I see it.

i have no interest in paying an agency to rent and sell my apt.

dynow · Joined: 07 Nov 2006 Posts: 1080

Maniak, do you have any links you could provide for me showing these real estate sales tax laws?

maniak · Joined: 06 Feb 2008 Posts: 194

dynow · Joined: 07 Nov 2006 Posts: 1080

excellent Maniak. thank you. of course we'll have to check with our local tax office anyways, but things are looking promising! Very Happy

dynow · Joined: 07 Nov 2006 Posts: 1080

Ok, so here's the latest:

went to the tax office. according to the woman I spoke with, i will not pay taxes on the apt., BUT, i will need to pay 19% tax on the land value. granted, the land is far less than the value of the apt. (unlike where I'm from in the states where the land often times holds a higher value than the house itself) but it will still amount to a chunk of change.

i guess i shouldn't complain for I am going to turn a nice profit once I sell my place, but let's be honest, i'd love to find a way to avoid paying this "land" tax as well.....

dynow · Joined: 07 Nov 2006 Posts: 1080

as it turns out, the land tax is going to be a negligable amount.

looks like i'm totally in the clear.

now i just gotta sell the place Very Happy

JPM · Joined: 05 Sep 2005 Posts: 69 Location: Krakow

Hi Dynow and others

Did you sell your flat? How did it go?

What's the current situation on this? (I bought my flat in Krakow in May 2008 and am now wanting to sell). Is tax liable on profit after expenses or on the whole sale price? And at what percentage?

Thanks for any info. Cheers
J.