In the European Union countries the management of financial statements of individuals and entrepreneurs is under special control. Poland is not an exception, where all necessary taxes are carefully monitored.
Today we will tell you how and to whom you need to file tax returns and how to facilitate this process. Regardless of your status - whether you are a foreigner, student, worker, entrepreneur or a Polish citizen - tax returns are an important aspect of your life in the country. Enjoy the article!
What are the risks of not paying taxes in Poland in 2023?
Failure to pay taxes in Poland is a serious offence that carries significant consequences. The amount of the fine is calculated from 1 to 20 minimum wages. As of 1 July 2023, the minimum wage in Poland is PLN 3600 per month. Doing a simple mathematical calculation, you can understand that for non-payment of taxes you can get to an impressive fine, which is likely to be greater than the benefit of not paying taxes.
However, this is not all of the consequences. In case of large and scandalous non-payment of taxes, Polish lawmakers can apply more serious penalties. According to the law, for major tax offences, you can go to jail. It should be remembered that the Polish tax system is quite complex, and the PIT (Personal Income Tax) declaration is submitted to the tax office (urząd skarbowy), and if you fail to submit it in time, it will be considered as non-payment of taxes. At the time of writing, Poland has a personal income tax rate of 12%.
PIT-11
To understand what PIT-11 and PIT-37 mean, it is necessary to first understand how the personal taxation system works in Poland.
If you are an individual, officially employed in Poland, your employer is obliged to collect a part of your salary for taxes (medicine, social benefits and other). That is why you can receive free medical care in NFZ.
From the beginning of the calendar year until the end of February, your employer is obliged to send you a PIT-11 declaration. What is this? It's a spreadsheet that clearly shows your income and the tax deductions your employer has made from it. In essence, it shows your gross salary and taxes paid, and if you subtract the latter from the former, you get your net salary, which you receive in hand.
IMPORTANT: If you changed multiple jobs and employers during the year, you will receive a PIT-11 from each employer by February.
PIT-37
Once you have received a PIT-11 from your employer, you will need to file a PIT-37 return based on a full work year worth of data. Generally, this return must be filed with the IRS by 30 April, but there may be small exceptions. For example, this year 30 April fell on a Sunday, so the deadline has been extended to 2 May 2023. IMPORTANT: If you changed jobs and had multiple PIT-11s by the end of February, don't worry - you only have to file one copy of PIT-37.
Who is obliged to file a PIT-37 declaration in Poland?
The main two conditions for tax filing are:
However, there are nuances: persons under 26 years of age and with an annual income of less than 85,528 PLN are exempt from income tax.
How and where to file the PIT-37 declaration?
Well, we have already learned how the tax system for individuals in Poland works. Now let's look at the process of filing a PIT-37 declaration. As we have already written above, such a declaration must be submitted to the tax office by 30 April.
→ Manual filing of the PIT-37 declaration. Printing a special form PIT-37, filling this form with all the necessary data and sending it by post to urząd skarbowy.
→ Filing the PIT-37 declaration online. In order to file a declaration online, it is necessary to use the online portal Twoj e-Pit. This is where you should submit the declarations used for the Polish tax authorities. We recommend filing your PIT-37 declaration online, as it is much easier and faster. All you need to do is to authorise on the site, check the correctness of the data entered by the system, and in case of discrepancies - correct it and send it to the tax office. To fill in a declaration via Twoj e-Pit you need to have:
If any of the above is missing, you can use the platform through a trusted Zaufany profile (we talked about this in our article).
Today, there are many online services that can help you automatically calculate your taxes for the year. One such online portal is e-Pity. A site with an intuitive interface, with which everyone can understand. First you need to authorise, choose to file a return, transcribe the data from the PIT-11, reconcile the data and send the return.
Summarizing results
Now you have finally learned that tax returns are not as scary as people say. Let's summarise this article and highlight the most important points about PIT declarations that you will need when living in Poland:
The tax rate for individuals in Poland is 12%, and attempted non-payment of taxes is subject to a fine from 1 to 20 minimum wages.
The PIT-37 declaration must be submitted every calendar year by 30 April.
Today, the PIT-37 can be submitted to the tax office online or offline.
