The German-Polish Tax Problems of Cross-Border Workers in the COVID-19 Pandemic – When the Remedy is Worse than the Problem

Abstract

The article pertains to the tax issues arising from the COVID-19 pandemic in respect of cross- border workers. The main issue is the impact of the restriction in cross-border movements during the pandemic on the determination of the place of work. The authors refer to two situations. The first is when a Polish worker employed by a Polish employer and working abroad cannot return to Poland. The second is when he or she performs work at home in Poland instead of at the normal place of work abroad. The authors consider the legal fiction of carrying out work in the place where it would have been done before the pandemic as a rational solution. However, they are strongly critical of the introduction of such solution via the Mutual Agreement.