Taxes on historic properties – exemptions

Art. 7 point 6 – Your most important ally

In Polish law, there is a provision that officials rarely mention first. It is about the law on local taxes and fees. If your property is listed in the register of monuments, you can be completely exempted from property tax. In Toruń, this applies not only to buildings on the Old Town Square itself, but also to many facilities in Bydgoskie Przedmieście. An entry in the register is key – just being in the municipal register is not enough to enjoy this relief. We look for a second bottom in every document, because sometimes one error in the plot number blocks savings of PLN 3,450 per year.

The condition for maintaining this privilege is taking care of the building in accordance with the conservation plan. This is a fair deal: the state does not take tax from you, and you invest these funds in preserving the historical tissue. The brick doesn't lie – if you neglect the facade or allow moisture to destroy the foundations, the office can withdraw the exemption. In 2023, we handled the case of a tenement on Łazienna street, where the owner, thanks to correct documentation, recovered an overpayment for 4 years back. The amount of PLN 11,840 allowed for an immediate roof repair, which saved the polychromes on the first floor.

Remember that the exemption does not happen automatically. You must submit an appropriate application to the Tax and Enforcement Department of the Toruń City Hall. We attach the decision on the entry in the register and a declaration on maintaining the object to the application. We count every meter of usable area, because a mistake of 5 meters at rates for buildings for business activity is a concrete loss. At Monetra, we have already prepared 37 such applications in the last year alone and none returned for correction.

Tax exemption is not a gift, it is the right of everyone who takes on the burden of maintaining history.

Relief for monuments, or 'Palace Plus' in 2025

Investing in old walls is a hard piece of bread, but the tax system tries to sweeten it. The so-called relief for monuments allows deducting from income 50% of expenses for conservation and construction works. If in 2024 you spent PLN 94,000 on drying cellars in a tenement, you can write off as much as PLN 47,000 from the tax base. Old walls give new profits if you can correctly settle invoices. It is important that every zloty was spent based on the permit of the provincial monument conservator. Without this piece of paper, the tax office will reject your settlement faster than you have time to protest.

We had a client who bought shares in a tenement on Mostowa street and thanks to this relief financed half of the window replacement costs. Replacing 14 windows cost him PLN 42,600, and the tax return amounted to over PLN 21,000. This is real capital that returns to circulation. We are not looking for complicated financial constructions here, just using what the PIT law gives. The key is synchronization of dates – the invoice must be issued in the same tax year in which the works were accepted by the conservator. One day of delay can cost you several thousand zlotys in savings.

It is also worth knowing that the relief also includes the purchase of real estate itself, as long as it is entered in the register. You can deduct an amount not exceeding the product of PLN 500 and the number of square meters of usable area, but not more than PLN 500,000. For a small tenement with an area of 320 m2, this means a deduction of PLN 160,000 from income. This is a powerful tool when planning the purchase profitability. We count every meter, because with current real estate prices in Toruń, each relief decides whether an investment will pay off in 8 or 12 years.

Traps in renting commercial space

Many people think that if a building is in the register, there is never any tax. This is a mistake that costs a lot of nerves. If you rent the ground floor of a tenement for a shop or cafe, the situation changes. The part of the real estate occupied for conducting business activity usually does not benefit from full property tax exemption, unless local resolutions of the City Council say otherwise. In Toruń, rates for business are high, so precise separation of the residential part from the commercial part is key. We look for a second bottom in lease agreements so as not to pay for staircases or cellars at commercial rates.

In the last quarter, we analyzed an object on Szeroka street, where the owner incorrectly declared the entire tenement as 'related to business'. After our intervention and re-measurement, 214 meters of attic and cellar area were reclassified as other area. Result? Savings of PLN 5,120 on local tax alone per year. The brick doesn't lie, but documents sometimes do. You have to keep an eye on what is entered in the land and building register, because that's where the office takes data for calculations. Often, these data have not been updated for 14 years.

Another trap is the lack of notification of changes in the way of use. If you convert an apartment into an office for a law firm, you must notify the office within 14 days. If you don't do it, and an inspection comes, you face severe penalties and interest. At Monetra, we keep an eye on these deadlines for our clients. We have 43 saved tenements in our base and in each of them we make sure that the relationship with the taxman is clean. Better to pay for a solid tax audit once than to overpay taxes for a decade that no one will return to you without a fight.

How to prepare for a Tax Office inspection?

If you use large deductions, expect someone to knock on your door. This is a normal procedure. The Tax Office in Toruń checks primarily whether you actually performed the works for which you have invoices. You must have photographic documentation 'before' and 'after'. We always advise clients to keep a simple binder with copies of permits, acceptance protocols, and photos. When the official sees order in the papers, the inspection lasts 45 minutes instead of three weeks. Old walls give new profits, but only to those who have order in the archive.

A common mistake is paying for construction materials in cash above legal limits. If the invoice amounts to PLN 16,000, it must pass by bank transfer, otherwise you won't throw it in costs or deduct it under the relief for monuments. We had a case of an investor who paid PLN 22,000 'by hand' for the renovation of entrance doors. Because of this, he lost the right to write off almost PLN 11,000 because the office was adamant. We count every meter and every zloty so that such situations do not occur with our charges.

Finally, remember the final protocol from the Provincial Monument Conservator. This is your 'safe conduct' letter. It confirms that the works were performed according to the art and permit. Without this document, every relief hangs by a thread. In Toruń, this process usually lasts from 14 to 28 days from reporting the completion of works. It is worth remembering this when planning the closing of the tax year in December. If you submit an application on December 29th, you have no chance of a deduction in the current year. We start preparations for investment closings already in October so that nothing surprises us.

Order in conservation documents is the only way for a tenement owner to sleep peacefully.