In the case of both new businesses and so-called small taxpayers, the right to one-off depreciation applies. In practice, it means that expenditure incurred in order to acquire or produce property, plant and equipment may be deductible for tax purposes. This is done in the form of a one-off depreciation write-off, which is a significant change, as otherwise it would be a write-off spread over time. However, it turns out that we are not talking about an unconditional preference at all, because it does not apply, among other things, when we are dealing with passenger cars. This is where we encounter a serious problem, because this is how the tax office classifies... motorcycles.

Businesses use a variety of modes of transport. As a rule, they should be classified as fixed assets at the time they are used by the company. This has consequences, as long as the expenses allocated to their acquisition or production can be regarded as tax deductible costs only over time, since we are talking about depreciable assets. However, some taxpayers may benefit from a privilege to speed up the process, which expenditure on the construction or acquisition of fixed assets is included as an expense. This is how the one-off depreciation write-off works. Applying certain simplifications it may be assumed that the relevant provisions of the Personal Income Tax Act allow for the possibility that taxpayers who started their business activity in a given tax year and small taxpayers have a chance to make one-off depreciation write-offs from the initial value of fixed assets. It is worth stressing here that it concerns fixed assets included in groups 3 to 8. Here we encounter the first difficulties.

Group 7 of the classification of fixed assets pays particular attention to itself, as it includes means of transport. The legislator stipulated that the solution in question does not cover passenger cars. It may seem that the preference still applies to motorcycles and lorries, but the specific rules say otherwise. This is evidenced, inter alia, by the individual interpretation, which on 25 March 2016 was received by a taxpayer applying to the Director of the Tax Chamber in Bydgoszcz (ITPB1/4511-1/16/PSZ). The taxpayer himself pointed out that a motorcycle is a motor vehicle in accordance with the provisions of the Act on Road Traffic, but since it is included in the Classification of Fixed Assets in a separate position from that for passenger cars, it should not be identified with this group of vehicles. In practice, this means that he should be entitled to a one-off depreciation. However, the authority responsible for issuing the interpretation omitted the Classification of Fixed Assets, focusing on this definition of a car, which is presented both in the road traffic law and in the tax act itself.

In that case, the title shall apply to any motor vehicle the mass of which does not exceed 3,5 tonnes and which is designed constructively to carry no more than nine persons. Of course, there are exceptions to this definition, but they do apply to vehicles: (a) an open load compartment, (b) having only one row of seats separated by a wall or partition of a durable nature from the load compartment, (c) classified as multi-purpose vans or vehicles, (d) fitted with a single row driver's cabin and body that is designed to carry loads and constitutes a structurally separate component of the vehicle, (e) certain special vehicles. The last exception is for other motor vehicles, which are seen as 'non-personal' for VAT purposes, such as funeral cars, for example.

The definition of a motor vehicle, which can be found in the Act on Road Traffic, was of key importance for this interpretation. In this case, a motor vehicle with a design enabling it to be driven at a speed exceeding 25 kilometres per hour was considered to be a motor vehicle. This definition implies a certain derogation, but only concerns an agricultural tractor. At this point it is necessary to provide the definition used in the Road Traffic Act, which refers to the motorcycle. A motorcycle is defined here as a motor vehicle with a combustion engine whose cylinder capacity exceeds 50 cubic centimetres, either two-wheeled or fitted with a sidecar (including a three-wheeled vehicle provided that the wheels are symmetrically spaced). The Interpretation provides that any vehicle fitted with an engine is a motor vehicle and, if the single speed can exceed 25 kilometres per hour, it cannot be defined otherwise than as a motor vehicle. There is no denying that the possibilities offered by a motorcycle allow its owner to ride at a speed exceeding the above mentioned speed. It is neither a moped nor an agricultural tractor, so according to the Road Traffic Law Act we are dealing with a motor vehicle in its case and it is this definition that applies for the purposes of income tax. Consequently, one-off depreciation does not apply to it no matter how irrational it may seem to us.