The tax authority may ask where you got the money for the car. In the game, it’s even 75% tax.
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The authorities can compare larger expenses with the taxpayer’s income and previously accumulated assets.
If the money came from a donation, loan, savings, or sale of other assets, it’s advisable to keep documents confirming their origin.
The 75% rate applies to the amount determined by the tax authorities as coming from undisclosed sources, not automatically to the full value of the car purchased.
You don’t need to buy a Ferrari for one million zlotys for the tax authorities to become interested in the source of the money. There are media reports of cases involving cars worth less—such as a young woman who bought a car for 50,000 zlotys. She had just started working and previously did not have income sufficient for such an expense. The tax authorities therefore requested explanations.
This certainly doesn’t mean there is some limit of 50,000 zł after which oversight automatically begins. Such a limit does not exist. What matters most is the relationship between expenses and the funds the taxpayer reportedly had available.
For someone who has been earning for many years, purchasing a car for 100,000 zł might not raise any questions. For someone with no reported income, even a much smaller expense may already require an explanation.
How can the authorities know we bought a car?
Purchasing a car leaves behind many traces. If we buy a used vehicle from an individual and the transaction is subject to the tax on civil legal acts, the buyer is responsible for paying PCC. Information about the vehicle also appears in the Central Vehicle Registry. When purchasing from a company, the transaction is recorded in the seller’s documentation instead. The tax authority also has access to a range of other databases and registers and can compare information from various sources.
Of course, the act of buying a car alone is not grounds for the tax authorities to initiate an investigation. Issues may arise when the authority notices a significant discrepancy between a person’s expenses and their known income and assets. A similar situation can apply not only to cars but also to down payments for buying a house, expensive renovations, or other large expenses.
The tax authority may ask: where did you get the money?
Suppose someone has reported low incomes over the past few years and then purchased a car for 150,000 zł using their own funds. The tax authority may request an explanation for the source of funding. There are many possible answers, and none of them necessarily indicate tax issues. The money could have come from savings accumulated earlier, a loan, a mortgage, the sale of a previous car, the sale of property, an inheritance, or a gift from parents.
However, it is crucial that such a source can be proven. Bank statements, the sale agreement for previous assets, credit documents, loan agreements, donation declarations, prior tax returns, or other documents confirming where the funds came from can help.
Can the tax authority view the account?
The tax office does not have unlimited rights to freely inspect any citizen’s account without reason. However, the Tax Code allows tax authorities to request information from banks regarding the party involved in a particular case under certain conditions. This information may include, among other things, the number of accounts, their balances and transactions, as well as details about credit or loan agreements.
In disputes over the source of funds, the account history can be just as useful for taxpayers as it is for tax authorities. It can confirm that the money for a car came from, for example, selling an earlier vehicle, a loan, or a transfer from parents. The issue is that in the latter case, another tax applies.
Parents provided money for the car? Don’t forget about gifts
Suppose a 25-year-old buys a car for 100,000 zł despite having just started working. The source of the money is simple: he received 80,000 zł from his parents. Such a situation can be completely legal and does not necessarily require payment of gift tax. Immediate family members are entitled to a special exemption.
This includes, among others, spouses, children, grandchildren, parents, grandparents, siblings, stepchildren, stepfathers, and stepmothers. However, for larger donations, statutory conditions must be met. In principle, the donation must be reported on form SD-Z2 within six months, and in the case of cash transfers, receipt must be properly documented. If everything is done correctly, even very large donations from parents can enjoy full exemption.
Exemption amounts in 2026
For those who do not benefit from full exemption for immediate family members, tax exemption amounts are relevant. In 2026, they are as follows:
36,120 zł for Tax Group I,
27,090 zł for Tax Group II,
5,733 zł for Tax Group III.
When calculating the limit, acquisitions from the same person within an appropriate five-year period are taken into account. A particularly dangerous situation can arise when a taxpayer fails to fulfill their obligations related to a gift and only remembers it when the authorities ask where they got the money for the car.
An unreported gift may result in a 20% tax
The regulations provide for a punitive rate of 20% in special circumstances. This applies when a taxpayer mentions a previously unreported gift during inspections, tax proceedings, tax audits, or customs and tax inspections, for which the required tax has not been paid.
This is an important distinction. Simply being late in reporting a donation does not automatically mean the authorities will always charge 20%. The penalty rate applies when such a donation is claimed before the authorities under the conditions specified in the law. Therefore, for larger amounts given within a family, it is better to take care of the formalities right away rather than trying to reconstruct the money trail years later.
Where does the 75% tax come from?
Even more serious consequences apply to income that cannot be traced to disclosed sources or comes from undisclosed sources. In such cases, a 75% rate can indeed be imposed by the tax authorities. However, this does not mean that if someone buys a car for 100,000 zł, the authorities will automatically charge them 75,000 zł in tax. The mechanism works differently.
The tax authority compares expenses with income and the funds that could have covered them. If part of the expense remains unexplained, it is this excess amount that may be considered income from an undisclosed source. For example, someone buys a car for 100,000 zł. They can document 70,000 zł—say, 40,000 zł came from savings and 30,000 zł from selling a previous car.
There is still 30,000 zł whose origin they cannot prove. If, after an investigation, the tax authority determines that this amount is income from an undisclosed source, 75% tax will be applied to the 30,000 zł. The tax amount will therefore be 22,500 zł, not 75,000 zł.
The lack of documentation does not always mean 75%
In principle, the taxpayer should demonstrate the income and earnings used to finance their expenses. However, the authority also takes into account information it already possesses or can obtain from public registers. The law further provides special rules regarding older income for which the tax obligation has already expired. Under certain circumstances, such income can be presumed rather than necessarily proven through documents kept for many years.
If, however, a specific source of funds can be identified during the investigation, the matter may be handled according to the regulations applicable to that particular source.
Buying an expensive car? It’s worth keeping the documents.
A car worth 50, 100, or 200 thousand zlotys does not automatically trigger any special tax audit. There is also no specific price threshold above which the owner must explain in advance to the tax authorities where they obtained the money. Problems may arise when a large expense clearly lacks support from income and assets known to the tax administration.
Therefore, when financing a car through savings, selling other assets, borrowing, or receiving a gift, it is important to keep documents proving the source of the money. Especially in cases of family gifts, it’s better to ensure compliance with deadlines and required reports right away. The 75% tax exists and is a very severe penalty, but it is not a “tax on expensive cars.” It only applies when, after an investigation, some expenses remain unexplained with credible sources.
Piotr Sobczyk