Kochański & Partners entered the new year with an expanded team. Wojciech Śliż, the former Director of the VAT Department at the Ministry of Finance, has joined the tax law practice as counsel.

Tax laws are the most frequently changing legislation, as we have seen especially in recent times. Over the Christmas and New Year period alone, over a dozen new taxes or parafiscal levies came into force or increased, underlining the importance of keeping a careful eye on the ever changing tax horizon.

In response to clients’ needs, Kochański & Partners have strengthened their tax law team with the addition of Wojciech Śliż, a VAT specialist tax adviser.

Wojciech is a graduate of the Faculty of Law and Administration at the University of Warsaw and of European Law at the European School of Law and Administration. Wojciech has over 20 years of experience in providing tax advice gained through his work for some of the Big Four companies and leading Polish tax law firms. For 3 years Wojciech served as the Director of the VAT Department at the Ministry of Finance, where he co-authored a number of landmark regulatory changes introduced in recent years, such as split payments, the White List, and a new matrix for VAT rates. It was at his initiative that explanations on VAT on property transactions and guidelines on due care compliance for VAT purposes began to be published.

Wojciech is the author of many advanced tax solutions addressed directly to clients (e.g. optimisation of promotion programmes, optimisation of settlements with suppliers, e-invoicing, electronic review of VAT rates, and optimisation of retail voucher settlements). He has represented some of the largest companies in Poland in disputes with the tax authorities.

In his professional career, Wojciech also served as a judge of the High Disciplinary Court of the National Chamber of Tax Advisers and was a former member of the State Examination Commission for Tax Advisers.  Since 2010, he has been a tax expert in the Polish Organisation of Commerce and Distribution (POHiD), and also serves as a member of the Supervisory Board of LOT S.A. (Polish airlines).

Wojciech was ranked 12th on the list of Poland’s 50 most influential lawyers by Dziennik Gazeta Prawna.

In his free time Wojciech is involved in charity work as a pro-bono adviser to numerous charity organisations such as Federacja Banków Żywności (Federation of Food Banks), WWF, SOS Wioski Dziecięce (SOS Children’s Villages), UNICEF, Caritas, and Wielka Orkiestra Świątecznej Pomocy (charity foundation).