Podatkowe elementy w ubezpieczeniach

Abstract

Premiums constitute the cost of insurance protection. There are however authors who tend to find some tax elements in them. This article aims at presenting the conditions in which such a view may be regarded as correct and when the marks which are the characteristics of taxes can also appear in premiums paid on account of insurance as part of the Polish insurance system. Taxes are commonly regarded as being obligatory and not subject to refund. Compulsion cannot, however, be the right criterion that differentiates taxes from other payments and also from premiums. Although premiums are compulsory payments paid by the insured they cannot be compared to taxes. It is not because of the fiscal reasons that obligatory insurance was introduced. It was destined to popularize it in those fields in which such popularization proved to be necessary. Premiums as a cost for insurance protection must be equivalent. The degree of the rate of payment depends upon the realization of the principle of equilibrium between the premiums and the amount recoverable. In practice the premiums paid by the insured are not only destined to make good any loss or damage or to pay benefits, but also form a preventive fund and a reserve fund. The part of premiums which constitutes the preventive fund can be regarded as a specific kind of tax securing financial means for undertakings preventing the occurrence of events. The other part of the premiums which provides for the reserve fund bears even more distinctive marks of a tax. This fund is a form of revenue subject to refunding. As the insurance company has never exercised its right to that fund the payments on that account may be considered a permanent source of budget income.