Awards and bonuses from the bank - settlement

Banks are outdoing each other in inventing ways to attract and retain customers. One method is to offer various gratuities for opening and using an account with a specific financial institution. This is beneficial for taxpayers, although the question arises - do these rewards and bonuses from the bank have to be shown as income in the tax return? Let's take a look at this case.

Awards and bonuses from the bank - tax exemption

Gratuities transferred by the bank - depending on their characteristics - may be a prize in a competition or a free benefit granted by the service provider on the basis of promotional campaigns carried out. Art. 21 sec. 1 point 68 and 68a of the PIT Act say that in both cases tax exemption applies up to a certain level. In the case of the revenues mentioned in the first of them, the limit is PLN 760 of the one-time value of prizes and winnings. In the case of free benefits related to promotion and advertising, the taxation obligation arises when their one-off value exceeds PLN 200, provided that the benefit is not made for the benefit of an employee of the service provider or a person remaining with the service provider in a civil law relationship.

The key exception are bonus sales awards granted to the taxpayer in connection with his business. In this situation, the benefit - regardless of the amount - may be classified as income from this activity. Then the taxpayer is obliged to record and tax the amount received. Another derogation concerns free benefits related to marketing activities - when they are transferred to an employee of the service provider or a person related to him by a civil law relationship. Then the bank must pay an advance for PIT and issue a PIT-8C for the taxpayer.

What if the value of a one-time award for a natural person who does not run a business is greater than PLN 760? Then you have to pay 10% tax on the total value of the prize. The payer is the bank - and it must send the appropriate declarations to the buyer and to the Tax Office. After 10% of the tax on the bonus is deducted, it should be lowered by this tax. When it comes to prizes in kind - the payer (bank) should wait with their release until the taxpayer (recipient) pays him the tax amount.

Awards and bonuses from the bank - bonus sale and free benefit

It's time to look at two key concepts - bonus sales and gratuitous benefits. There is no point in finding their definition in tax law - one has to resort to individual interpretations and court judgments. According to them, a bonus sale is a sale that is an additional service, in addition to the basic sale made to the buyer. Importantly, selling a product at a reduced price (e.g. 99 groszy) is not a premium sale. Instead, they are various cash or material prizes (bonus, free service, voucher).

Interpretation of the Director of the Tax Chamber in Warsaw of August 31, 2009, file ref. IPPB4 / 415-399 / 09-4 / PJ “(Bonus sale - editorial note) is treated as a variant of ordinary sale within the meaning of Art. 535 of the Civil Code. Pursuant to this provision, the seller undertakes to transfer ownership of the goods to the buyer and hand over the goods to the buyer by the contract of sale, and the buyer undertakes to collect the goods and pay the price to the seller. In practice, it is assumed that a bonus sale is related to the public promise of a prize on equal terms for each participant who meets the conditions of the regulations announced publicly by the sales organizer. Such a sale should be characterized by a close link between the delivery of the prize and the fact that the person receiving the bonus is purchasing the promotional good, and should be guaranteed to receive the bonus upon meeting the agreed conditions. In accordance with the practice developed by the tax authorities, bonus sales are a promotional campaign with prizes, in which the condition for granting the award is the purchase of goods (or services) covered by this promotion "

The concept of a free benefit is also not defined in the PIT Act - here, too, you need to support yourself with interpretations and jurisprudence. And so the Provincial Administrative Court in Gliwice on February 6 this year (file reference number I SA / Gl 1011/13) issued a judgment in which free benefits were defined as "no fee, no fee, free". Thus, the court assumed that such a benefit is an event the effect of which is a gratuitous gain of property for one person at the expense of another person's property.

To sum up, awards and bonuses from the bank are not connected with the obligation to present them in the annual declaration - the exception is when the benefits exceed the established limits. Then you need to enter the appropriate amount in the tax return - on the basis of PIT-8C. An exception also occurs when the gratuitous benefit is received from a payer who is in an employment relationship with us or in a civil law relationship. The same thing happens when the award is received by the person who runs the business - and that award is associated with it. Then the amount must be shown among the revenues from the activity.