ATTENTION – THIS IS AN AUTOMATIC TRANSLATION FROM POLISH
The Provincial Administrative Court in Bydgoszcz, in its judgment of February 3, 2026 (file no. I SA/Bd 672/25), clarified the concept of a "single parent" in the context of the Personal Income Tax Act and repealed the individual interpretation issued by the Director of the National Tax Information Service on October 22, 2025, which restricted the applicant's right to preferential income tax treatment.
In this case, the applicant, divorced in 2012, was raising her son, born in 2009, alone. The father had no contact with them, did not participate in their upbringing, and child support payments were enforced by bailiffs. The applicant had full custody of their child.
In 2019, the applicant gave birth to a daughter from an informal relationship, whom she raised together with her partner. Importantly, the partner was not the Appellant's son's guardian, did not contribute to his expenses, and did not interfere with his upbringing. Due to her daughter's upbringing, the court recognized the Appellant's entitlement to the tax relief only for 2021, denying it for 2022-2024 (Article 6, Section 4f of the Personal Income Tax Act).
The court found the court's position that jointly raising a second child with a new partner automatically deprives the first child of single status, whose father is not involved in their life, to be erroneous. The justification indicated that the criterion of singleness should be applied to the specific child and the lack of participation of the other parent, and not to the taxpayer's overall living situation or the presence of third parties in the home.
Thanks to this ruling, the woman gained the right to benefit from the preferential income tax settlement for 2022-2024, because her current partner is not the legal guardian of her older son and does not participate in his upbringing.
The court correctly noted that the legislature, by introducing Article 6, Section 4f of the Personal Income Tax Act, had failed to recognize the right to a tax relief for 2022-2024. Article 6, section 4f of the Personal Income Tax Act sought to eliminate abuses in situations where both biological parents share custody (e.g., alternating custody), yet one of them declares a sole parent. Applying this principle to a situation in which the new partner has no rights or obligations towards the child from a previous relationship would be an overinterpretation of the law to the citizen's detriment. The ruling therefore constitutes a powerful argument in disputes with the State Treasury for all individuals in a similar family situation.
The ruling in question is not final.