Get your tips out

7th February 2010

© PD Waitresses may soon have to declare all tips Share:

The Tax office (Urzad Skarbowy) has said it will levy taxes on people working in the customer service industry.

Jobs such as waiters, hairdressers and bar staff, where workers can expect to enjoy receiving tips for good service, may soon require employees to declare any additional income for tax purposes.

At the moment, the focus is more on casino workers, which, according to a study by the chamber, is the area where the declaration of tips is the lowest of all.

“Cash in the form of tips provided by casino customers, being put into one pot and then shared out between the employees, represents income from employment and should be subject to taxation,” says Wieslaw Drozdz, a spokesman for the Tax office on TOK FM. 

“If the tips are going directly into the hands of the employee and not the employer, they should be accounted for.”

But according to Boguslaw Grabowski, a former member of the Monetary Policy Council, tips have always been a separate issue when it comes to general income and should remain so.

“Even in the Income Tax Act of individuals, it is stated that there is a certain amount of income that is exempt from taxation, and we should recognize this within reason.”

“Tipping is something that is a fragment of normal economic and social life. It is absurd to attempt some sort of administrative taxation system. This cannot be done, and you just have to resign from that,” stated former Minister of Infrastructure, Krzysztof Bohemia on Radio TOK FM. 

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