To start with, it is worth mentioning that measurements for tax purposes and measurements for lease purposes each have their own, different rules. This article is dedicated only to measurements for tax purposes. The only regulated by norms area measurements in Poland\u00a0 are those used for calculating building (or building parts) taxes, or the area of a property that is later put in the notarial deed at the moment of purchase. Two laws can be mentioned here – the Act on local charges and fees (Uopiol) of January 12th 1991 with later changes, as well as the PN-ISO 9836:1997 norm (technical support to the act). All buildings in Poland are measured in accordance with these two documents for tax purposes. How does it all look in detail?<\/strong><\/p>\n [\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column 0=””][vc_column_text]<\/p>\n There aren\u2019t many details about the ways of performing measurements and calculations in the Uopiol act. However, the Act has always referred to Polish norms. Since April 29th 2012, the only applicable norm in Poland is the PN-ISO 9836 (the regulation of the Minister of Transport, Construction and Maritime Economy on the detailed range and form of a building project, Dz. U. 2012 poz. 462). My and the lawyer\u2019s way of thinking is that since Uopiol mentions words such as \u201cbuilding\u201d or \u201cconstruction\u201d.<\/p>\n [\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row full_width=”stretch_row_content” equal_height=”yes” css_animation=”fadeIn” bg_type=”image” parallax_style=”vcpb-vz-jquery” bg_image_new=”id^15733|url^https:\/\/resources.geodetic.co\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/09\/114.jpg|caption^null|alt^null|title^114|description^null” bg_image_repeat=”no-repeat” bg_image_size=”contain” bg_img_attach=”fixed” parallax_sense=”30″ bg_override=”1″ disable_on_mobile_img_parallax=”disable_on_mobile_img_parallax_value” enable_overlay=”enable_overlay_value” overlay_pattern=”01.png” overlay_pattern_opacity=”85″ overlay_pattern_attachment=”fixed” css=”.vc_custom_1504779159254{padding-top: 69px !important;padding-bottom: 69px !important;}”][vc_column 0=””][vc_column_text css_animation=”fadeIn”]<\/p>\n [\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column 0=””][vc_column_text]<\/p>\n According to Uopiol (art. 1a pt. 5) the subject to taxation is the usable floor area. In accordance with PN-ISO 9836:1997, service areas (which in fact are considered technical areas – the creator of the norm didn\u2019t use the term accurately) i.e. all technical rooms, for example mechanical room or electrical room, are not considered part of the usable floor area. Additionally, movement areas (staircases, hallways, indoor ramps) are not included. Construction area doesn\u2019t consist only of construction walls, but also of partition walls, chimneys, shafts and ventilation shafts. According to art. 1a pt. 5 Uopiol, the usable floor area of a building or a part of the building is the area measured at the inside length of walls on all storeys, excluding the staircase and elevator shafts areas. Underground garages, cellars, basements and usable attics are also considered storeys. The difference in defining the same term between Uopiol and the PN-ISO 9836:1997 norm is now clearly visible. To clear up this confusion, the easiest way to put it is that we don\u2019t pay taxes for staircases, shafts without floors, unusable attics, plastered walls (including partition walls) and for areas with height below 1.40m.<\/p>\n [\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column 0=””][vc_column_text]<\/p>\n If the room height or the height of its parts is between 1.40 and 2.20m we pay for 50% of such an area. For rooms above 2.20m we pay 100% of the tax. It\u2019s logical that the Act is superior to the norm. It\u2019s worth noting that the height limits come from the old (now outdated) norm PN-70B-02365 – what\u2019s good is the fact it\u2019s been continued in the following years. It\u2019s also worth mentioning that those limit values have nothing to do with the regulation of the Minister of Infrastructure of April 12th 2002 on technical conditions, which buildings and their location should meet. In my opinion, those two documents should be concurrent. I\u2019d also like to mention that Uopiol and the Construction Law don\u2019t provide a definition of unusable and usable attics, which is problematic when deciding whether the attic is usable or not. When it comes to garages, we pay for the area of underground parking lots along with the communication area inside. We also pay for all the technical rooms, even if it\u2019s a so-called technical storey.<\/p>\n [\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column width=”1\/2″][vc_single_image image=”15734″ img_size=”500×500″ alignment=”center” css_animation=”fadeIn”][\/vc_column][vc_column width=”1\/2″][vc_single_image image=”15662″ img_size=”500×500″ alignment=”center” css_animation=”fadeIn”][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column 0=””][vc_column_text]<\/p>\n The Construction Law doesn\u2019t provide a definition of a staircase either. It also is problematic, especially after the amendment of the act, as it requires measuring and taxation of the common parts of a building. I\u2019ve said before that we don\u2019t pay for a staircase – but where does a staircase have its limits? As it turns out, we have to pay for the area where the staircase ends. Nowadays new buildings have open or semi-open stairways, so the division line isn\u2019t very clear. Escalators in the common areas of shopping centers are also an issue. In those cases we project an opening in the ceiling, which gives us an \u201carea confined by walls used for stair installation\u201d – the only definition of a staircase which can be found in the PN-ISO 9836:1997.<\/p>\n [\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column 0=””][vc_column_text]<\/p>\n We don\u2019t pay taxes for shafts, so an elevator shaft isn\u2019t taxed either. However, when it comes to elevator machine rooms we pay a property tax. It is a separate room, it has a ceiling, floor and doors and it cannot be considered a continuation of the elevator shaft. And what can you do when there is a multi-level parking lot next to the shopping center, and the highest level is open (without a roof) and the walls and barriers are e.g. 1.2m high? There are a lot of examples of non-standard cases in buildings, and each one of them should be interpreted individually. This is due to the fact that Polish laws are not precise enough and don\u2019t mention many situations.<\/p>\n [\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column 0=””][vc_column_text]<\/p>\n I\u2019d like to remind property owners, that according to the art. 4 pt. 1.3 (Uopiol) we pay taxes for buildings or their parts that are connected with economic activity, subject to the act 4-6. The value mentioned in income tax laws, given on January 1st of the financial year, which is the base for calculating tax amortisation for that year, is not reduced by depreciation charges. In case of building which are fully amortised we use the value given on January 1st of the year of the latest depreciation charges. Thus, we also pay taxes for roads, paved areas, installations, lighting, fences and ramps.<\/p>\n [\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column 0=””][vc_column_text]<\/p>\n The important thing is that if we have a \u201cmedical\u201d tenant we don\u2019t pay taxes for the area of the lease. The other case is when there is a historical building that is uninhabited. For such area, as long as it remains uninhabited, we don\u2019t pay a property tax either.<\/p>\n [\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column 0=””][vc_column_text] Copying an article or its parts without the author’s permission is forbidden.<\/span><\/p>\n Author: Adrian Ho\u0142ub<\/p>\n Translation: Julia Paj\u0105k<\/p>\n Co-owner Polish Geodetic Group<\/p>\n szkolenia@geodezyjny.com<\/p>\n Tel.: +48 785 041 07<\/p>\n [\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column][vc_column width=”1\/2″][vc_column_text]<\/p>\n Co-owner Polish Geodetic Group<\/p>\n adrian.holub@geodezyjny.com<\/p>\n Tel.: +48 608 577 042<\/p>\n [\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column 0=””][vc_column_text]<\/p>\n [\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row 0=””][vc_column 0=””][vc_column_text 0=””]<\/p>\n [\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column][\/vc_row]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" [vc_row][vc_column 0=””][vc_column_text] Do you know – what kind of area are you paying taxes for? To start with, it is worth mentioning that measurements for tax purposes and measurements for lease purposes each have their own, different rules. This article is dedicated only to measurements for tax purposes. The only regulated by norms area measurements…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":15735,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[58,66],"tags":[162,172,160,175,173,75,170,171,166,174],"class_list":["post-15988","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-for-manager-eng","category-dla-zarzadcy-pl","tag-pomiar-powierzchni-en","tag-area-measurement","tag-boma-en","tag-lease-purposes","tag-pn-iso-9836","tag-pn-iso-98362015-12","tag-podatek-od-garazy-en","tag-podatek-od-nieruchomosci-en","tag-powierzchnia-wspolna-pietrowa-en","tag-property-taxes","category-58","category-66","description-off"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/resources.geodetic.co\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15988","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/resources.geodetic.co\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/resources.geodetic.co\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/resources.geodetic.co\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/resources.geodetic.co\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=15988"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/resources.geodetic.co\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15988\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":15995,"href":"https:\/\/resources.geodetic.co\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15988\/revisions\/15995"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/resources.geodetic.co\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/15735"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/resources.geodetic.co\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=15988"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/resources.geodetic.co\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=15988"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/resources.geodetic.co\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=15988"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}The legal aspect of taxes<\/h3>\n
The area measurement for tax purposes <\/span><\/h2>\n
They will always give you smaller areas than for rental purposes!<\/span><\/h3>\n
What is the subject to taxation<\/h3>\n
Height reduction<\/h3>\n
Staircases<\/h3>\n
Shafts, elevators, machine rooms, roof garages<\/h3>\n
Area around the property<\/h3>\n
What other areas can we exclude from taxation?<\/h3>\n
Contact with<\/h3>\n
![\"\"](\"http:\/\/uslugi.geodezyjny.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/02\/Monika-Ho\u0142ub.jpg\")
<\/a><\/strong>\u00a0Monika Ho\u0142ub
\n<\/strong><\/h3>\n<\/a><\/strong><\/h3>\n\u00a0Adrian Ho\u0142ub
\n<\/strong><\/h3>\nMeasure it soon!<\/strong><\/h1>\n