Taxing income from DAOs – our approach confirmed by the Polish tax authority

We are pleased to share that we have obtained a positive tax ruling from the Director of the National Tax Information (Krajowa Informacja Skarbowa) for our client. Our client, a blockchain developer, provides software development and IT infrastructure management services to one of DAOs, whose members consist mostly of natural persons.

As the DAO does not have a clear legal status under Polish law, our client was uncertain about their obligations under the Polish VAT Act and what kind of accounting documents are required to account for the income from DAO.

To address these issues, we submitted a request for a tax ruling to the National Tax Administration. In our opinion, under the current Polish legislation, a DAO does not poses legal personality. Consequently, it is reasonable to conclude that the DAO lacks legal capacity and cannot acquire rights or obligations. Therefore, it is logical to view the client’s services as being provided directly to the individual natural persons participating in the DAO, who could be considered the direct purchasers of these services. 

The obligation to record sales can be fulfilled by issuing fiscal receipts to individual DAO members. This approach allows the client to properly account for the revenue generated from the services provided to the DAO, including the correct handling of value-added tax (VAT).

In response, the Director of the National Tax Administration agreed with our interpretation, enabling the client to appropriately report and account for the income generated from their collaboration with the DAO.