The International Journal
of Not-for-Profit Law
Volume 4, Issue 2-3, March 2002
A publication of the International Center for Not-for-Profit Law
Articles
Charity Law and Alienation in Northern Ireland: The Findings of a Research Project and the Resonance Between Events in New York and Belfast
By Kerry J. O'Halloran
Freedom of Association in a Nigerian Community - Old Usages, New Rules
By Emeka Iheme
Liability of Not-for-Profit Organizations and Insurance Coverage for Related Liability
By Jerold Oshinsky and Gheiza M. Dias
El Proceso de Reforma del Heptaedro Legal del Tercer Sector
By Antonio L. Itriago Machado y Miguel Angel Itriago Machado
Reviews
American Foundations: An Investigative History
By Mark Dowie
Reviewed by Robert O. Bothwell
Case Notes
Central and Eastern Europe:
Poland
North America:
Canada
European Court of Human Rights:
Stankov and the United Macedonian Organization Ilinden v. Bulgaria (European Court of Human Rights: October 2001)
Country Reports
Asia Pacific:
China | Japan | Vietnam
Central and Eastern Europe:
Regional | Bosnia and Herzegovina | Croatia | Poland | Slovakia | Republic of Srpska
Latin America and the Caribbean:
Regional | Brazil | Nicaragua | Venezuela
Middle East and North Africa:
Egypt
Newly Independent States:
Armenia | Moldova | Tajikistan
North America:
Canada
South Asia:
India
Western Europe:
Regional | Austria | France
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Case Notes: Central & Eastern Europe
Poland
Decision in the Foundation for Polish Science Case
On Wednesday, March 13, 2002 Poland's Supreme Court reversed a ruling of the Supreme Administrative Court, which required that monies invested by foundations in securities be subject to corporate income tax. The case before the Supreme Court stemmed from an attempt by Poland's Treasury Chamber to tax revenues that the Foundation for Polish Science invested as part of its endowment during the years 1995-1997. The amount of assessed tax was in excess of $20 million.
Last year, Poland's Supreme Administrative Court sided with the Treasury Chamber, ruling that "an expenditure" of funds to purchase securities could not be considered a furtherance of the Foundation's statutory purposes. Inexplicably, the Supreme Administrative Court ruled that the only place where a foundation could invest its funds was a bank. Any other type of investment, according to the Court, would constitute "an expenditure" inconsistent with a foundation's statutory purposes and thus taxable under Poland's corporate income tax law. Wednesday's Resolution of the Supreme Court reverses this ruling.
According to Gazeta Wyborcza, Poland's most popular daily newspaper, the Supreme Court, deciding the case in its complete complement of seven justices, deliberated for approximately 90 minutes, before rendering the decision. "In a short justification of the resolution, the leader of the panel, Walerian Sanetra, confirmed that the acquiring of securities by the Foundation falls within its statutory purposes." A written justification of the resolution should be available within a few weeks and will be published in IJNL.