Expenditure on a business plan can be a tax deductible

The success of the conducted business activity depends mainly on the application of certain premises concerning strategic management. One of its basic elements is the planning process. The most common tool used to create plans for, inter alia, a new investment or broadening the business profile is a business plan. Taxpayers intending to develop their business in practice need significant investment outlays, e.g. loans. Most often, in order to get them, financial institutions require detailed analysis in the form of a formalized document - a business plan. In this article, we will find out whether business plan expenses can be recognized as tax deductible.

Business plan expenses - why create a business plan?

The word business plan comes from the English language and means nothing else than a business plan or a business plan. It is the basic tool used in planning strategic activities of enterprises. The purpose of its creation is mainly to plan the internal and external needs of the company in order to efficiently assess the profitability of the planned projects.

A business plan will achieve the intended effects only if it is made in a clear and reliable manner and describes accurately both the present and future situation of the enterprise. Depending on the purpose for which the plan is prepared, it should include, inter alia, analysis of opportunities and threats for the business, financial forecasts and all strategic plans for the future of the organization. It is important to include information relevant only from the point of view of the addressee to whom the document will be addressed, because it is he / she who, in effect, assesses the probability of the success of the project.

A business plan can be drawn up by the entrepreneur himself, who knows his organization well and knows exactly in which direction he intends to develop it. Another option will be to outsource the plan to an external company that deals with the issue professionally. The advantage of such a solution may be, above all, more accurate market analyzes and maintaining the objectivity that is necessary in this matter. Unfortunately, the use of the second solution involves expenses for a business plan, which can reach up to several thousand zlotys. The value of the order depends mainly on the type of business, company size, scope and type of planned investment.

Expenses on a business plan versus costs?

As you know, in order to be able to classify a given expense as tax deductible costs, it is necessary to analyze whether it meets the cost premises under the PIT Act. Pursuant to Art. 22 sec. 1 tax costs may be expenses incurred in order to obtain revenues or to secure or maintain the source of these revenues.

The exceptions are the expenses mentioned in art. 23, which, even if they meet the above conditions, cannot be costs according to the legislator. Therefore, the fact that expenses for a business plan is not included in this catalog is in favor of taxpayers. Therefore, entrepreneurs commissioning its implementation to an external company can safely increase tax costs by the expenditure incurred for this purpose. Confirmation of this state of affairs is the position of the Director of the Tax Chamber in Łódź in the individual interpretation of June 25, 2012 (reference number IPTPB1 / 415-199 / 12-4 / AG), who in this case recognized the costs incurred for the preparation of a business plan as tax deductible costs in order to obtain EU subsidies. At the same time, he emphasized that "The obligation to indicate the cause and effect relationship between the expenditure incurred and the income obtained from business activity, preserving or securing the source of income, rests with the taxpayer".