Chair of Finances and Financial Law The Position of Family in the Regulations of the Material Part of General Tax Law

Abstract

The norms of general tax law do not create family to be a separate tax subject. Family is deprived of the attribute of Tax subject and it cannot be the addressees of a tax decision, nor be an independent body with the tax institutions. It may, however, bear the economic effects of carrying out the norms of general tax law.

It is the taxpayer himself who takes principal responsibility on behalf of liabilities. Irrespective of that, general tax law - in order to safeguard the fiscal interests of the subject of public law - makes use of the concept of the "third person". Legislative practice points out that the term is not understood in one manner and it is characterized by quite a wide variety of contents. There is no closer definition of that concept in the doctrine. The legal acts we have had so far, which regulate responsibility on behalf of liabilities, have always concerned members of the taxpayer’s family. The position of family is therefore fixed, above all, by defining the circle of member of the taxpayer's family and determining the range and character of their liability for his tax payment.

Polish tax law, both its general and particular parts, is a historical system. This means that it grew gradually due to the evolution of various processes and changes in legal regulations. Many current constructions of general tax law emerged owing to the experiences and results of their application in the past. Many a time the current solutions are to a lesser or greater extent a faithful reflection of the former institutions. Consequently, the author, in order to gain a wider image of the question under analysis, discusses the position of family not only in view of the current tax regulations, but reaches also to former Polish legal acts, those which regulate the liability of family members.