Transfer pricing in Poland affects more than multinational groups. Polish companies can be related through ownership, voting rights, profit rights, family links or a person's actual ability to influence key business decisions. Once a relationship exists, the arm's length principle applies to the real terms of the transaction even when the statutory documentation threshold is not exceeded.
1. Start with a relationship and transaction map
Build one register that connects legal, accounting and operational data. It should identify shareholders, voting and profit rights, management links, close family links, permanent establishments and entities under common influence. Add every economic arrangement: sales and purchases of goods, services, loans, guarantees, cash pooling, licences, cost recharges, leases, asset transfers, free-of-charge benefits and business restructurings.
For each item record: counterparty and country; relationship route; agreement and amendments; revenue or cost side; transaction category; value basis; invoices and payments; pricing method; responsible owner; documentation exemption; local-file, TPR and master-file status.
2. Determine who is related — the 25% test is not the only test
Significant influence includes, among other things, a direct or indirect holding of at least 25% of capital, voting rights, or rights to profits, losses or assets. It also includes a natural person's actual ability to influence key economic decisions and marital, kinship or affinity links up to the second degree. A company and its foreign permanent establishment are also treated as related for these rules.
Do not rely only on the KRS shareholder list. Trace indirect chains, shareholder agreements, veto rights, financing dependencies, management practice and family connections. Reperform the map after a reorganisation, acquisition, succession, change of management or new joint venture.
3. Identify homogeneous controlled transactions and aggregate them correctly
Documentation thresholds are tested for each homogeneous controlled transaction, separately for the revenue and cost side. The value is aggregated regardless of the number of contracts, invoices, payments or related counterparties. Splitting the same economic arrangement across group companies or invoices does not create separate thresholds.
| Question | Control |
|---|---|
| What is the economic substance? | Analyse actual functions, assets, risks and conduct |
| Is the transaction homogeneous? | Compare subject, pricing method, market conditions and other material circumstances |
| Which side is tested? | Aggregate revenue and cost transactions separately |
| Which value is used? | Capital for loans, nominal value for bonds, guarantee amount for guarantees, and the relevant transaction value in other cases |
| What about VAT and foreign currency? | Apply the statutory VAT rule and the NBP conversion rule in Article 11l |
4. Apply the Polish documentation thresholds
A local file is required when the annual value of a homogeneous controlled transaction exceeds the relevant threshold. The ordinary thresholds are PLN 10 million for goods and financial transactions and PLN 2 million for services and other transactions. For direct transactions with an entity or permanent establishment in a jurisdiction applying harmful tax competition, the thresholds are PLN 2.5 million for financial transactions and PLN 500,000 for other transactions.
| Transaction | Standard threshold |
|---|---|
| Goods | over PLN 10,000,000 |
| Financial | over PLN 10,000,000 |
| Services | over PLN 2,000,000 |
| Other | over PLN 2,000,000 |
| Direct tax-haven financial transaction | over PLN 2,500,000 |
| Direct tax-haven non-financial transaction | over PLN 500,000 |
A threshold is a documentation trigger, not permission to use a non-market price below it. The arm's length rule applies independently. Monitor cumulative values during the year instead of waiting until the final ledger is closed.
5. Test exemptions and safe harbours transaction by transaction
The domestic exemption can remove the local-file obligation for a transaction concluded exclusively between Polish related entities only when every party meets all statutory conditions for the relevant year: it does not use the specified statutory, special-economic-zone or Polish Investment Zone exemptions and it has not incurred a tax loss. Verify the conditions for every party and retain the evidence; a group-wide assumption is not enough.
| Relief | What it changes | What still needs control |
|---|---|---|
| Domestic exemption | May remove the local file | Arm's length terms, evidence of all conditions and usually limited TPR reporting |
| Low-value-adding services safe harbour | May remove local file and protect the qualifying mark-up | All Article 11f conditions, eligible service, calculation and allocation keys |
| Loan safe harbour | May remove local file and protect qualifying interest | Current ministerial rate/margin, no extra fees, term, PLN 20m limits and lender location |
| Micro/small enterprise simplification | Local file may omit the transfer-pricing analysis | The local file and TPR can still be required |
6. Build a local file that matches the business and the ledger
The local file is prepared electronically. It describes the related entity, the transaction and its functional profile, the transfer-pricing analysis, and financial information. It should reconcile the agreement, invoices, general ledger, trial balance, tax return, financial statements and actual conduct. A template copied from another group company is not sufficient if the Polish entity performs different functions or bears different risks.
Include at least: business and management description; group and ownership context; material changes; transaction object and counterparties; agreements; functional analysis; pricing mechanism and method; benchmark or compliance analysis when required; financial allocation and reconciliation; assumptions, adjustments and source documents.
7. Choose the method and maintain the benchmark
Polish law lists the comparable uncontrolled price, resale price, cost plus, transactional net margin and profit split methods. Another method, including a valuation technique, may be used when the statutory methods are not appropriate. The choice must fit the accurately delineated transaction and the information reasonably available.
A benchmark is not a list of three downloaded companies. Document the tested party, period, database, geographic and industry criteria, independence filters, financial indicator, range, adjustments and rejected results. Update the benchmark or compliance analysis at least every three years, and earlier when an economic change materially affects it.
8. Treat TPR as a management statement, not an administrative attachment
TPR-C or TPR-P is filed electronically by the end of the eleventh month after the tax year. It must be consistent with the local file; where no local file is required, it is based on the financial statements or other records. For tax years beginning after 31 December 2024, the Ministry published the TPR-C(6) and TPR-P(6) electronic forms.
The filing contains a statement that the local file reflects the actual state and that documented prices are arm's length. It is signed by the individual, the authorised branch representative, or the head of the entity; for a multi-person governing body, a designated member signs. A proxy is allowed only if that proxy is an advocate, attorney-at-law, tax adviser or statutory auditor. Designating one board member does not release the others from responsibility for non-filing.
9. Check whether the group must add a master file
A related entity whose financial statements are consolidated by the full or proportional method, and which must prepare a local file, adds a master file when it belongs to a group that prepares consolidated financial statements and whose consolidated revenue exceeded PLN 200 million in the preceding financial year. The deadline is the end of the twelfth month after the tax year.
The group may prepare the master file centrally, including in English, but the Polish entity remains responsible for its compliance. If the tax authority requests a Polish version of an English master file, the statutory response time is 30 days. Obtain the group file early enough to compare its financing, intangibles and value-chain narrative with the Polish local file.
10. Give extra attention to recurring high-risk transactions
- Financial transactions: reconcile principal, interest, guarantees, cash-pool balances, credit rating and covenants.
- Intra-group services: prove that services were actually received, benefited the recipient and were not duplicated or shareholder activities.
- Intangibles: identify legal ownership, DEMPE functions, expected benefits and the basis for royalties.
- Cost recharges: show the original cost, benefit, allocation key and whether a mark-up is justified.
- Restructurings: analyse transfers of functions, assets, risks, contracts, personnel and profit potential before implementation.
Review year-end transfer-pricing adjustments before posting. A Polish tax adjustment under Article 11e is subject to cumulative conditions, including arm's length terms during the year, a qualifying change or true-up, matching evidence from the counterparty and an information-exchange basis. The accounting note alone does not establish deductibility.
11. Control deadlines, requests, corrections and sanctions
| Obligation | Statutory time |
|---|---|
| Local file | by the end of the 10th month after the tax year |
| TPR | by the end of the 11th month after the tax year |
| Master file | by the end of the 12th month after the tax year, if applicable |
| Existing local/master file requested by the authority | 14 days from delivery of the request |
| Below-threshold local file requested in specified risk circumstances | 30 days for a qualifying non-micro taxpayer |
| Polish translation of an English master file | 30 days from delivery of the request |
An arm's length adjustment can increase taxable income or reduce a loss. The Tax Ordinance provides a 10% additional tax liability base rate in transfer-pricing decisions, with statutory circumstances that may double or triple it. Separately, failure to file TPR or reporting data inconsistent with the local file or reality may be punishable under the Fiscal Penal Code by up to 720 daily rates; late filing may be punishable by up to 240 daily rates. These outcomes are case-specific, so escalate errors and corrections promptly.
12. Annual transfer-pricing checklist
- Refresh the ownership, management, family and permanent-establishment map.
- Export all related-party ledger accounts and off-ledger arrangements.
- Group homogeneous transactions separately by revenue and cost side.
- Test ordinary and direct tax-haven thresholds.
- Document every exemption and safe-harbour condition.
- Reconcile agreements, invoices, payments and actual conduct.
- Choose and document the most appropriate method.
- Prepare or update the benchmark.
- Complete the local file by the statutory deadline.
- Reconcile TPR to the file, ledger, return and financial statements.
- Obtain the correct signature and retain submission evidence.
- Obtain the master file and translation plan when required.
- Keep a 14-day response pack ready.
- Approve related-party terms before the next year begins.
inPL can coordinate inPL Accounting, Tax and General Accounting and an Accounting Audit so the relationship map, ledger data, local file, TPR and management evidence remain consistent.
Information verified on 20 August 2026. The result depends on the parties, relationship route, actual conduct, transaction value, tax year, exemptions and group data. Before filing, recheck the current CIT Act, regulations, TPR form and Ministry of Finance guidance. This material is general information, not advice for a specific transaction.