Work on the Polish REIT is protracted. The bill raises a lot of controversy

In spite of the earlier announcements, the rulers have failed to pass the real estate rental companies act so that it entered into force at the beginning of January this year. Maybe this is good, because as showed by the pending public consultations, the bill raises a lot of controversy. First of all, it is said that the bill does not require REIT shareholders dispersion (i.e. free-float). As a result, there is concern that the exemption from CIT will be available for a company which possesses shares that are not subject to real trading, which will be - in consulting entities’ opinions - a source of potential tax fraud. Further, a lot of comments and questions relate to REIT share capital (according to consulting entities’ opinions, it is too high), opportunities for REIT to run other activities, such as development, the permissible debt of REIT or an associated obligation to pay dividends. It should be also noted that REIT is an ideal mechanism for obtaining equity and en