Polish Ministry of Finance officially relaunches work on the REIT Act

The Ministry of Finance has restarted work on the draft law on Polish REITs or “Firmy Inwestujące w Najem Nieruchomości” (FINN). The official draft law has not yet been presented, but some information regarding FINN has been published in the official journal.

FINN are to operate in the form of joint-stock companies, and their main business will be renting residential real estate. According to the official information issued by the Ministry of Finance, FINN will be subject to preferential taxation rules, which assume:
- the introduction of am 8.5 pct CIT (Corporate Income Tax) rate on a FINN's income from the rental of residential real estate;
- the deferral of the obligation to pay CIT by FINN on income from the rental of residential real estate and from the sale of such real estate – until its equivalent is paid out to investors (shareholders) in the form of a dividend;
- a tax exemption for FINN subsidiaries for rental income from residential real estate and from the sale of residential real estate, provided that the dividend is paid to FINN on a specified date;
- CIT and PIT (Personal Income Tax) exemptions for FINN investors on income from capital investments in FINN.

FINN will be public companies – that is, FINN stock will have to be admitted to trade on a regulated market. Over the course of legislative process, the assumptions here presented may be subject to significant modification.