NEWSLETTER
No. 29, April 2023
Malinowski & Associates. Legal Advisors. Partnership
Table of contents
The deadlines for preparing and submitting financial reports have not been extended.
Deadline for 2022 financial statements.
What are the reporting deadlines for 2023?
The report can be signed by a single board member.
Penalties for failure to comply with reporting obligations.
Extension of deadlines for filing tax returns.
CIT settlement by June 30 this year.
Who is affected by the extension?
The end of the epidemic emergency in Poland.
Deadlines for preparing and submitting financial reports have not been extended
Deadline for 2022 financial statements.
Closing the books of account and preparing financial statements are among the basic duties of entrepreneurs. The timing of the financial statements is governed by the Accounting Law. Reporting obligations apply to all entities that apply the Accounting Act:
- private sector entities
- non-profit organizations
- public finance sector units.
Due to the Covid-19 pandemic last year, the Finance Minister’s decree extended the deadlines for fulfilling record-keeping and reporting obligations. This gave entrepreneurs more time to prepare and approve their 2021 financial statements.
What are the reporting deadlines for 2023?
For entities whose fiscal year is the same as the calendar year in 2023, the deadline for closing the books and preparing annual financial statements was March 31 of the current year. Entrepreneurs until June 30, 2023. have time to research the annual report (if required) and also have it approved by the authorized body.
By July 15 of this year at the latest, the report, along with other required documents, can be submitted to the relevant court registry of the National Court Register, as the standard deadline for submitting a report is 15 days from the date of its approval.
The report may be signed by a single board member
January 1, 2022. A provision has been introduced so that entities with a multi-member governing body will be able to take advantage of a simplified way of signing financial statements. According to the new regulation, only one member of the board of directors (a multi-member body) will be able to sign the report, provided that the other members of the body make declarations confirming that the report meets the statutory requirements. Initially, such financial statements are signed by the person entrusted with keeping the company’s books. Later, the board members make the relevant declarations, and only then does one board member sign electronically.
Penalties for failure to comply with reporting obligations
According to Art. 77 item 2 of the Accounting Law, for failure to prepare financial statements, reports on operations by the obliged entity, or preparing them contrary to the provisions of the Law, or including unreliable data in these reports, is punishable by a fine or imprisonment for up to 2 years, or both together.
In addition, according to Art. 79 of the Accounting Law who, in violation of the provisions of that Law, fails to perform reporting obligations concerning, among other things. to have the financial statements audited by a certified public accountant, to make the financial statements and other documents available, or to file the financial statements with the appropriate register is subject to a fine or restriction of liberty.
However, the most severe sanction that can befall a company that has not filed its financial statements for 2 consecutive fiscal years despite a court summons is deletion from the KRS register. The registry court, ex officio, in such a situation, initiates proceedings to dissolve the company without conducting liquidation proceedings. The regulation is aimed at removing the so-called “so-called” “National Register” from the KRS register. “dead entities” that do not actually do business.
Extension of deadlines for filing tax returns
CIT settlement by June 30 this year
The regulation on extending the deadlines for certain corporate income tax obligations was published in the Official Gazette on March 21, 2023.
According to this regulation, the extension is until June 30, 2023. is subject to the statutory deadline for:
- filing a return on the amount of income earned or loss incurred in the tax year that ended between December 1, 2022 and February 28, 2023. (CIT-8, CIT-8AB);
- payment of the tax due shown in the return or the difference between the tax due on the income and the sum of the advance payments paid for the period from the beginning of the year.
At the same time, it was extended from March 31 to June 30, 2023:
- Deadline for filing income returns for CIT taxpayers,
- Deadline to pay tax on income from the conversion and to include this income in the tax return – concerning. Taxpayers who began using the lump sum as of January 1, 2023. By March 1, 2023.
- Deadline for submission of information on the list of branches (establishments).
Who is affected by the extension?
The extension of the deadlines for fulfilling income tax obligations applies to CIT taxpayers, taxed on a general basis. According to the aforementioned. A regulation for CIT taxpayers:
– whose fiscal year equals the calendar year,
– whose fiscal year did not equal the calendar year, but ended in the period from December 1, 2022. Through February 28, 2023.
The extension of the deadline also applies to taxpayers who have opted for flat-rate income taxation (the so-called Estonian CIT).
End of epidemic emergency in Poland
A state of epidemic emergency has been introduced in Poland as of May 16, 2022. Previously, an epidemic state was in effect.
The Chief Sanitary Inspector has requested the cancellation of the epidemic emergency due to the current decrease in the number of deaths and hospitalizations diagnosed as SARS-CoV-2 infections.
On May 2 of this year, a draft regulation of the Minister of Health on the cancellation of an epidemic emergency on the territory of the Republic of Poland was published on the pages of the Government Legislation Center. According to it, the epidemic emergency is set to end on July 1, 2023.
As the explanatory note to the draft reads: “The cancellation of the state of epidemic emergency will result in the abolition of specific solutions related to this state in the territory of the Republic of Poland, which will also have a positive impact on the economic sector, including the activities of micro, small and medium-sized enterprises.”
The state of epidemic emergency affects m. in. on the validity of the repeatedly amended so-called “new” legislation. covid law, which refers to dozens of other laws. Numerous changes were made under this law, including. in the judiciary (in particular, remote hearings have been made possible) and the deadline for filing bankruptcy petitions has been suspended.
It is worth noting especially the latter element, i.e. the suspension of the deadline for filing a bankruptcy petition. Among other things, this had an impact on the number of business bankruptcies – in 2019, as many as 586 announcements on this subject were published in the Court and Economic Monitor, in 2020 – 586, in 2021 – 412, while in 2022 there were 360 such announcements. Thus, a downward trend is noticeable, but it is predictable that we will again see an increase in the number of bankruptcy notices once the epidemic emergency is lifted.
What is important is that withholding the time limit may affect the liability of the limited liability company’s management for its obligations – since the timely filing of the application exempts these persons from liability. That is to say, even if the company became insolvent in the second half of 2020, by filing a bankruptcy petition after July 1, 2023, the board of directors can defend itself against an action by a creditor of the company by stating that the petition was filed on time.
The official lifting of the epidemic emergency should be viewed positively – as formally sealing the end of the pandemic.
