In line with the previous announcements of the Ministry of Finance, the planned extension of the time limits for carrying out reporting and clearing obligations 2021 They slowly become a fact and gain official power.
Day 18 March 2022 in the Official Journal of Laws (Journal of Laws of 2022, item 639) A regulation of the Minister of Finance on the extension of deadlines for the performance of certain corporate tax obligations was published. As a result, taxpayers obtain 3 additional months to prepare tax returns and payment of tax.
On the basis of the Regulation, time limits have been extended from 31 March 2022 to 30 June 2022 for:
Submission of a statement of the amount of income earned (loss incurred) in the tax year which ended in the period from 1 December 2021 up to day 28 February 2022 (CIT-8, CIT-8AB)
Payment of tax due in the statement of income (loss) in the tax year which ended in the period from the date 1 December 2021 up to day 28 February 2022, or the difference between the tax due on the income shown in the statement and the sum of the advances due for the period from the beginning of the year
Submission of a statement of the amount of income earned and the lump sum due on the income of capital companies for the tax year which ended in the period from the date of 1 December 2021 up to day 28 February 2022 (CIT-8E)
demonstration of revenue, costs and conversion revenue in the statement by taxpayers of a lump sum on company income
The above conversions apply only to CIT taxable persons, there are no similar extensions for PIT taxable persons.
In addition, the deadlines for drawing up, approving and submitting financial statements, including consolidated accounts, shall be extended. The extension is intended to cover:
- private sector entities (excluding entities supervised by KNF - operating on the financial market) and non-governmental organisations — o 3 months;
- public finance sector entities – o 1 month;
- tax payers of natural persons keeping accounts (as regards the transfer of accounts to the Head of KAS) — o 3 months.
As a result of this change, many entities, including commercial companies whose tax year is equal to the calendar year, will be required to draw up accounts for 2021 to 30 June 2022 (instead of 31 March), its approval 30 September 2022 (instead of 30 June) and messages to 15 October 2022 (instead of 15 July).
This change is not left to this day (21 March 2022) confirmed by an existing legal act. The draft Regulation of the Minister of Finance amending the Regulation on the determination of other time limits for the fulfilment of the duties in the field of records and for the preparation, approval, availability and transmission to the relevant register, unit or body of reports or information has been 17 March 2022 addressed to the Minister’s signature.
In addition, as amended Article 52(2) Accounting Act, from 1 January 2022 The financial statements are no longer required to be signed by all persons on the Management Board. For entities with multi-stakeholder boards, the new provisions provide for an alternative:
- the financial statements may be signed by all members of the Management Board as before;
- the report may sign one the members of the Board and the other persons shall declare that the report complies with the requirements of the Accounting Act.
Therefore, action by all board members will still be necessary, but a new alternative way of making separate statements instead of submitting one the file to be signed may technically simplify the process of acceptance of the report, in particular in the case of board members in different countries.
The changes presented are therefore in principle beneficial to taxpayers, and are in line with the demands made by traders and accountants. It is expected that many taxpayers will benefit first of all from the possibility of subsequent tax payment, accounting offices that provide outsourcing services to different entities and are currently struggling with the implementation of many of the changes introduced "Polish Deal” they will also be happy to use additional time to settle the year 2021.
The extension of the above deadlines may also have slightly less favourable budgetary revenue effects and other statutory obligations requiring analytical data.
In the area of budgetary revenue, the case is a simple, longer time limit for payment of the tax, amounts due under CIT for 2021 in some part of the budget will later be allocated (CIT provides not only the state budget but also the budgets of local government units, which combined with a reduction in the share of JST in tax revenues introduced under "Polish Deal” may First, It is precisely the local budgets that are reflected).
In the area of analytical activities, particular attention should be paid to the obligation to draw up tax records from 2021, which in most cases should have a comparative analysis. Many of the analyses made for margin methods are based on data made available in taxpayers' accounts.
Making an analysis for the year 2021 It is very often advisable to refer to data for the same period. Of course, it is possible and acceptable to use data from earlier years, but in many cases due to significant changes in the markets, which have resulted, inter alia, in this regard.
COVID-19 The results to date need to be updated and, for this, data from reports 2021 are often necessary.
For the majority of taxpayers, the deadline for drawing up documentation and reporting for the year 2021 out 30 September 2022 Assuming that a significant proportion of taxpayers will benefit from an extended period of time to submit financial statements (and therefore the actual transfer to court) 15 October 2022 the necessary data in the system may appear even in the area of the expiry of the time limit for drawing up tax records.
It would seem appropriate to extend the time limits for documentation and reporting obligations, as in previous years, also by 3 months. However, such a change is not yet being made.
Author: Leszek Dutkiewicz, partner Russell Bedford Poland. Associated with the company from 2011. Director of RBP office in Katowice. In years 2008 – 2011 worked for leading consulting companies (Ernst&Young, KPMG, BDO) providing tax advisory services.
He specializes in tax and economic law, primarily in international tax law, tax proceedings, VAT and transaction prices. Author of a publication on tax, civil and international law issues. Lecturer in tax law training. He has legal education, in 2008 graduated from the Faculty of Law and Administration of the Jagiellonian University.