Significant Worsening of the Bank’s Financial Standing and the Tax on Certain Financial Institutions

Abstract

The subject of this article was the analysis of the impact of a significant deterioration of the bank’s financial standing on the obligation to pay the tax on certain financial institutions. The assessment that a significant deterioration of the financial situation has occurred results in the creation of obligations and rights towards the bank not only under banking law but also tax law. On the one hand, the bank is obliged to implement a rehabilitation plan. On the other hand, the bank obtains the right to be exempted from the tax on certain financial institutions. In this respect, difficulties emerge for group recovery plans. The plans may be drawn up both for bank holdings and for cooperative banking mutual solidarity systems. The research problem discussed herein boils down to the assessment of whether a significant deterioration of the situation of one of the member banks of the aforementioned corporate structures results in the initiation of the group recovery plan. Adopting such a hypothesis means that all the banks covered by the group recovery plan, regardless of their financial situation, would be exempted from the tax on certain financial institutions. The purpose of this study was to prove the claim that the exemption from the tax on certain financial institutions applies only to banks that have implemented recovery plans due to a significant deterioration of their financial situation. In view of the directive to keep the legal order consistent and coherent, banks that have not experienced a significant deterioration of their financial situation will not be entitled to take advantage of the tax exemption. Therefore, the interpretation of the provisions of the Act on the tax on certain financial institutions must cover the objective of the exemption, namely counteracting the deteriorating situation of unprofitable operators.