PIT-WZ. The Tax Office Will Now Fill Out The PIT-37 Form For You

Before you start reading this text make sure to read the main article about personal income tax that I’ve written.

 

The tax office will now fill out the PIT-37 form for you

This year the Polish tax office introduced a new kind of service – they’re now filling out the PIT-37 forms for taxpayers. I got really excited by the idea, especially since according to the government it should now take the taxpayer only a few minutes to apply for the assistance and then to accept the version prepared by the tax office.

Well, it turns out that it’s not so great after all. The office still expects that you provide them with ready numbers for most parts of the form. You’ll notice later in this article that you’re still expected to be aware of many things. But it’s nice that you can feel a little bit more secure: if the tax administration finds that you shouldn’t choose the PIT-37 form, or that you’re not entitled to settle tax jointly with your spouse, they’ll refuse to fill out the form. It’s also way easier for non-Polish speakers to take advantage of the child relief with that method.

 

Support for taxpayers

This article paraphrases the official instructions published by the Ministry of Finance. Some pictures also come from that PDF file.

Besides the easiest situation, in which you’re a single person working for only one Polish company, the PIT-WZ makes it possible to include other scenarios:

• joint tax settlement with a spouse,
• child relief,
• relief for rehabilitation,
• and multiple employment relationships.

I will show you how to use those options in practice, but I won’t be able to explain the rules for all of them, as each topic listed above deserves a separate article. So I will show you how to use them, but I won’t be able to tell you if you’re entitled to use them. You may try to find more information (unfortunately, only in Polish) either in the instructions or by calling the tax helpline: 22 330 03 30. If neither of those work, let me know and I’ll find an accountant for you.

The other thing is that if you keep telling your friends about this blog and we grow big, next year we’ll be able to have tax advisers and officials here to explain all of that for you. We could also be influential enough to have some impact on offices for foreigners – just saying.

 

What is the PIT-WZ?

The PIT-WZ is the application paper used to request that the tax office fills out the tax return form for a taxpayer. Tax office won’t prepare the tax return form for everyone though. This service is available only for people who can use the PIT-37 form.

Who can use the PIT-37 form? Check the main article.

 

How does it all work?

• By the end of February all the companies, institutions and people who paid PIT advances for you (let’s call all of them remitters) were obliged to send information on these advances to the tax office using one of the following forms: PIT-11, PIT-R, PIT-8C, PIT-40A/11A. So now the office has almost all the data needed to calculate your taxes.
• You use an online form in order to prepare the PIT-WZ application where you ask the office to prepare your tax return, and you give them some extra details:
  • Chosen manner of taxation: individually, jointly with a spouse, as a single parent
  • Cost of earning revenue
  • Two possible tax deductions (they ignored the rest of deductions that the taxpayer could use on his own):
    • child relief
    • expenses for rehabilitation purposes incurred by a taxpayer who is a disabled person
  • Which public benefit organization you’ve chosen for 1% of the tax due
  • Your email address
• If everything goes right your application gets the status “200”.
• The office prepares your tax return within 5 working days.
• When it’s ready, they send you a message via email.
• From now on your PIT-37 is available for review on Portal Podatkowy (Tax Portal).
• Until the 2nd of May you may either accept or reject the proposal. If you don’t reject it by then, it’s automatically accepted.
• Then you download the Urzędowe Poświadczenie Odbioru UPO – the official certificate that states that your documents have been received by the office. It’ll be used in the future to prove that you’ve gone through the process, so make sure to save it in a secure place. Only this certificate can be used as proof of submitting the papers and receiving them by the tax administration.

 

Deadlines:

The programme started on the 15th March and you can use it until the 18th of April.
Learn more here about general deadlines from the main article.

 

1

Go to this page, scroll down, and click on Składam wniosek PIT-WZ – I’m applying with the PIT-WZ

 

2

Choose Wybieram formę kreatora, który poprowadzi mnie krok po kroku przez proces wypełniania dokumentu – I choose the wizard form that will lead me step-by-step through the process of filling out the document (it’s a questionnaire).

Dalej – Go on

 

3

Wybór sposobu opodatkowania means The choice of the taxation manner:

1. Indywidualnie – individual
2. Wspólnie z małżonkiem…art. 6 ust. 2 – together with a spouse… (in case you’ve been married for the whole previous tax year and you have communal property)
3. Wspólnie z małżonkiem… art. 6a ust. 1… – together with a spouse… (who died during the previous tax year or in the current tax year before the submission of the tax return form)
4. W sposób przewidziany dla osób samotnie wychowujących dzieci – In a way provided for single parents

Dalej – Go on

 

4

Miejsce składania wniosku – Place of the application’s submission

Start typing in the first letters of the name of your city, then choose your tax office from the list.

Not sure which is your tax office? Check out how to find it in the main article on tax return.

Dalej

 

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Identyfikator podatkowy – Tax identifier

Should use a NIP or a PESEL? Go to the main article

Dane identyfikacyjne podatnika – The taxpayer’s identification data

Nazwisko – Surname

Pierwsze imię – First name

Data urodzenia – Birth date (dd-mm-yyyy)

Aktualny adres zamieszkania podatnika – The taxpayer’s current address of residence

Kraj – Country

Województwo – Voivodeship/region

Powiat – Poviat/county

Gmina – Community/Municipality

Ulica – Street

Nr domu – Building number

Nr lokalu – Flat number

Miejscowość – Locality/town/city/village

Kod pocztowy – Postal code

Poczta – Post office

Brak szukanej ulicy. Chcę wprowadzić ulicę samodzielnie – Searched street not found in the database. I want to type in the street’s name manually.

Dalej

 

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Informacje dodatkowe – Extra data

WAŻNE! Niezaznaczenie przysługujących kosztów uzyskania przychodów, spowoduje ich nieuwzględnienie w zeznaniu PIT-37 – Attention! Failure to provide tenable cost of earning revenue will result in its absence in the PIT-37 form. If you don’t inform the office about some cost of earning revenue, they’ll fill out the form without it – so you’ll pay more in taxes.

That one must be better explained. Let’s start with the translations:

 

Korzystam z podstawowych kosztów uzyskania przychodów dla pracownika: I use basic costs of earning revenue:

z jednego stosunku pracy (stosunków pokrewnych) from one employment relationship (similar relationship)

 

Korzystam z podwyższonych kosztów uzyskania przychodów dla pracownika w związku z zamieszkiwaniem poza miejscowością, w której znajduje się zakład pracy: I use increased costs of earning revenue due to residing outside the locality where the work place was located

z jednego stosunku pracy (stosunków pokrewnych) from one employment relationship (similar relationship)

 

How should you to fill it out?

I present you only the general rules. Call the tax helpline in order to ask about your particular situation.

A taxpayer working in Poland on the basis of the employment contract can calculate lump-sum costs of earning revenue. It’s 111,25 zł per month if you lived in the city where you worked – 1.335 zł per year. If you resided outside the locality (city or village) where you worked, you may be entitled to increased costs. That amount is deducted from your revenue to calculate the income that will be used to calculate the tax.

If you had a contract for specific work or a contract of mandate, skip this part of the form. It’s only for people employed on the basis of some specific kinds of employment relationship (similar relationships). The employment contract is one of them, so if you were working on the basis of umowa o pracę (the employment contract), you should fill it out.

If you lived in the city where you were working, ignore the second row (for increased costs), and fill out only the first row (for basic costs).

Choose z jednego stosunku pracy (stosunków pokrewnych) from one employment relationship (similar relationship) and count how many months you worked (up to 12).

If you had more employment contracts one after another, you still choose z jednego stosunku pracy (stosunków pokrewnych). Even if you changed companies.

If you had more employment relationships at the same time, choose z więcej niż jednego stosunku pracy (stosunków pokrewnych) from more than one employment relationship (similar relationship) and sum up the numbers. For example if you had two jobs at once for the whole year, write “24” in the “Months” field.

 

Korzystam z ulgi rehabilitacyjnej – I take advantage of the expenses for rehabilitation purposes incurred by a taxpayer who is a disabled person. I leave it empty.

Dalej

 

8

Then if you’ve chosen to settle taxes jointly with a spouse, you’re asked to provide their personal data and their cost of earning revenue.

Even if you don’t want to settle tax jointly with your spouse, you must fill in their data if you wish to receive a child relief.

 

8b

Do the same thing with costs of earning revenue for your spouse

 

9

Składki na ubezpieczenia społeczne i zdrowotne – Contributions for social and health insurace

If you’re not interested in the child relief (for example you don’t have children), leave that part empty.

If you want to receive the child relief, sum up both social and health insurance contributions from all your PIT-11 forms, fields 70 and 72.

Download the English translation of the PIT-11 form here

 

 

10

Informacje o dzieciach – Information about children

Liczba dzieci – The number of children

Dane identyfikacyjne dziecka – The identification data of each child

Here you put either a PESEL, or name+birth date (when the child doesn’t have a PESEL).

Taxpayer is on the left, the spouse is on the right – you can choose either cały rok (the whole year), or particular months.

 

As I wrote, the child relief deserves to be described in a separate article, and even in the PIT-WZ form you’re still required to know the general rules of it. You may ask a Polish speaker to call the tax helpline and ask about your particular situation: whether you can receive the relief for one child with your income, and how to choose parameters when one of your children was born last year.

The PIT-WZ program helps a lot when you want to receive the child relief for the whole year, because it will automatically calculate the amounts of the relief for every child. If you cannot choose the “the whole year” option (because for example your child was born in December last year), you will have to calculate the amount on your own.

 

11

Wniosek o przekazanie 1% podatku należnego na rzecz organizacji pożytku publicznego (OPP) – the place where you can indicate a public benefit organization that you would like to support with 1% of your taxes.

Numer KRS – KRS number

Cel szczegółowy 1% – Sometimes an NGO leads many fundraising actions, so it asks you to put the detailed purpose of the fundraising on the form, so that they can know which internal account (which action in particular) you want to support. To do this, you copy the text provided by them and paste in this field.

The NGO will be informed about your name, address and the amount of money you’ve given to them if you check Wyrażam zgodę (I agree). If you don’t check it, your support will be anonymous.

Dalej

 

11

Adres poczty elektronicznej – E-mail address

Na wskazany adres urząd skarbowy prześle informację o sporządzeniu zeznania podatkowego – The tax office will send the confirmation that the tax return form has been prepared to that email address

Potwierdź adres elektroniczny – Confirm the email address

Dalej

 

12

Now you should see this summary on your screen.

 

Check the data and click on Dalej (Go on)

If you find any typos or mistakes click on Wróć (Come back)

 

13

If you settle taxes jointly with your spouse you’ll be shown an extra screen with the message:

Oświadczenie podatnika/małżonka/pełnomocnika

Declaration of a taxpayer/a spouse/a proxy

W przypadku zaznaczenia w części “Sposób opodatkowania” pozycji nr 2, 3 albo 4, poz. 7 lub poz. 8, oświadczam, iż spełnione są warunki do opodatkowania dochodów w wybrany sposób. W przypadku zastosowania art. 6 ust. 2a ustawy, oświadczam pod rygorem odpowiedzialności karnej za fałszywe zeznania, że spełniony jest warunek przewidziany w tym przepisie.

In choosing in the part “Taxation manner” positions number 2, 3, or 4, position 7 or position 8, I declare that the conditions of income taxation in the chosen manner have been met. In case of applicability of the Article 6 para 2a of the Act I declare under penalty of perjury that the condition prescribed there has been met.

 

Positions 2, 3, 4 – Taxation: together with a spouse, a spouse who passed away, as a single parent.

Positions 7 or 8 – In our scenario you may simply ignore it. The tax helpline admitted that this statement has been copied automatically from the original, full PIT-37 form although those options have been cut off from the PIT-WZ programme, so you couldn’t choose them. Options 7 and 8 are for the people who are not Polish tax residents.

Article 6 para 2a is about the shared and equal responsibility of both spouses for the PIT-37 that they submit together.

 

14

Wybierz rodzaj podpisu – Choose the type of the signature

We choose Dane autoryzujące… – Authorizing data

What you need to put here for authorization is Kwota przychodu za rok 2015 – The revenue for 2015.

• If you didn’t work in Poland in 2015, type “0”
• If you submitted a PIT-37 for 2015 on your own, copy the amount from field number 64 of the PIT-37 form for 2015.
• If you were recognized as a spouse on your husband’s or wife’s tax returns, copy the amount from field number 95 of his/her PIT-37 form. If you used another PIT form (28, 36, 37, 38, 40, 40A) try to figure it out on your own, or ask a Polish speaker for help.

Wyślij – Send

Source: Official Instructions

 

15

On the next screen you’re supposed to give them your email address twice to enable them to send you the code that you’ll be using to find your PIT-WZ application form in the database.

 

16

On the next screen you should see the information that your PIT-WZ has been successfully sent. The authorization code will be also sent to your email address.

Source: Official Instructions

 

According to the instructions, after the submission you should receive the following email message:

Dokument dla podmiotu: IMIĘ NAZWISKO

Document for the subject: YOUR NAME

Status przetwarzania złożonego przez Ciebie dokumentu PIT-WZ został zmieniony. Odszukaj swój dokument przy użyciu adresu e-mail oraz kodu autoryzującego otrzymanych po złożeniu dokumentu.

Processing status of the PIT-WZ document submitted by you has been changed. Find your document with your e-mail address and the authorization code that you received after submission.

Jeśli dokument uzyskał status „200” pobierz UPO (Urzędowe Poświadczenie Odbioru), które jest dowodem złożenia dokumentu.

If the document received the status “200”, download the UPO (Official Confirmation of Receipt), which is the proof of having submitted the document.

Uwaga! Jeśli złożony przez Ciebie wniosek PIT-WZ jest prawidłowy (uzyskał status „200”), to w ciągu 5 dni roboczych na adres poczty elektronicznej wskazany we wniosku, wysłana zostanie informacja o sporządzeniu przez administrację skarbową zeznania podatkowego PIT-37 za rok 2016.

Attention! If the PIT-WZ that you’ve submitted is correct (it has the status “200”), notification regarding completion of your PIT-37 tax return for 2016 by the tax administration will be sent to the e-mail indicated in the application within 5 working days

Po otrzymaniu informacji o sporządzeniu zeznania podatkowego PIT-37 za rok 2016, możesz w całości je zaakceptować albo odrzucić. Akceptacja w całości oznacza jego złożenie. Natomiast brak odrzucenia udostępnionego zeznania PIT-37 za rok 2016 w terminie do 2 maja 2017 r. będzie oznaczać jego akceptację w całości i będzie równoznaczne z jego złożeniem.

After receiving the notification about your PIT-37 tax return for 2016 being prepared you can either accept it in its entirety, or reject it. Accepting it as a whole equals its submission. If you don’t reject it by the 2nd of May, 2017, it will be accepted as whole which equals submitting it.

W celu odnalezienia dokumentu i pobrania UPO dla PIT-WZ możesz skorzystać z poniższego linku:   . Kliknij tutaj, aby przejść do swojego dokumentu.

In order to find the document and download the UPO for PIT-WZ, you may use this link:   . Click here in order to go to your document.

Wiadomość wygenerowana automatycznie po zmianie statusu przetwarzania deklaracji podatkowej, prosimy na nią nie odpowiadać.

The message has been generated automatically after your tax declaration’s status has been changed, please do not respond to this message.

W przypadku pytań i wątpliwości prosimy o kontakt z Infolinią i Pomocą dla Portalu Podatkowego: – tel. 801 055 055 z telefonów stacjonarnych, 22 330 03 30 z telefonów komórkowych – e-mail [email protected].

For questions and concerns please contact the Helpline, or the Tax Portal Help Center: – tel. 801 055 055 for wire phones, 22 330 03 30 for mobiles
– email:[email protected].

 

So basically what we need to do now is download the first UPO to have confirmation that our submission has been successful up to this moment. Click on the link from them and look for a small “UPO PDF” button. The print screens from below show how to print out both the form and UPO.

Source: Official Instructions

17

Within 5 days you should receive this message from the tax office:

 

Na podstawie złożonego wniosku PIT-WZ oraz poprawnych informacji złożonych przez płatników i organy rentowe, administracja skarbowa udostępniła na Portalu Podatkowym Twoje zeznanie podatkowe PIT-37 za rok 2016.

On the basis of the submitted PIT-WZ application and correct  information submitted by the remitters (people who paid tax advances for your PIT) and pension authorities the tax administration has disclosed your PIT-37 tax return for 2016 on the Tax Portal.
Uwaga! Udostępnione zeznanie podatkowe PIT-37 za rok 2016 możesz zaakceptować albo odrzucić.

Attention! You can either accept or reject the disclosed PIT-37 tax return for 2016.
Akceptacja w całości oznacza jego złożenie. Natomiast brak odrzucenia udostępnionego zeznania PIT-37 za rok 2016 w terminie do 2 maja 2017 r. będzie oznaczać jego akceptację w całości i będzie równoznaczne z jego złożeniem, a na wskazany adres e-mail zostanie wysłana informacja o złożeniuzeznania i możliwości pobrania UPO (Urzędowego Poświadczenia Odbioru).

Again you’re reminded that if you don’t reject their proposition by the 2nd of May, its automatically accepted and submitted.
W celu akceptacji albo odrzucenia udostępnionego zeznania podatkowego, proszę skorzystać z
poniższego odnośnika wpisując kod autoryzujący: XXXXX oraz adres e-mail:  [email protected]:
Kliknij tutaj, aby przejść do swojego dokumentu.

In order to accept or reject the disclosed tax return please write the authorization code: XXXXX and your the email address: [email protected] after you click on that link:  

Click here in order to go to you document.
Jeśli powyższy odnośnik nie działa lub wygasł, nadal możesz wyszukać swój dokument w systemie korzystając z funkcjonalności Wyszukaj wniosek/deklarację. W pola na formularzu wpisz wygenerowany dla Ciebie kod autoryzujący: XXXXX oraz adres e-mail:
[email protected]

If the above link doesn’t work properly or is outdated, you can still find your document in the system. Use the Wyszukaj wniosek/deklarację (Find the application/declaration) function. Fill out the form with the authorization code generated for you: XXXXX, and the email address: [email protected]

 

18

Click on the given link and follow the instructions from the email message in order to display their proposition for your PIT-37 form.

 

19

Click on:

Akceptuj – Accept

Odrzuć – Reject

Source: Official Instructions

 

Let’s say that you want to accept the form and finally submit it.

After you click on Akceptuj the program will show you a new screen with the data of remitters (people who paid your tax advances). Click on Dalej (Go on).

Again, you’re asked to choose the type of the electronic authorization. Choose Dane autoryzujące…. (authorizing data). Then click on Wyślij (Send).

 

You should see a confirmation message on your screen. You can print it (Podgląd/Drukuj), or you can display the document once again (Wyświetl dokument), or you can simply click on OK.

 

They’ll also send an email message to you:

Dokument dla podmiotu: ANNA TESTOWA
Pomyślnie złożono dokument Deklaracja PIT-37. Przedłożenie dokumentu nie jest równoznaczne z przyjęciem dokumentu przez administrację skarbową.

Document for subject: ANNA TESTOWA

The document PIT-37 Declaration has been successfully submitted. The submission doesn’t mean that the document has been accepted by the tax administration.

Potwierdzeniem przyjęcia (złożenia) dokumentu przez administrację skarbową jest wygenerowanie UPO (Urzędowego Poświadczenia Odbioru), po uzyskaniu przez ten dokument statusu „200”.

The confirmation of receipt (submission) of the document by the tax administration is the UPO (Offical Receipt Confirmation), which will be generated after the document receives the status “200”.

W celu sprawdzenia statusu przetwarzania dokumentu oraz pobrania wygenerowanego UPO (po poprawnej weryfikacji dokumentu) proszę skorzystać z poniższego odnośnika:
Kliknij tutaj, aby przejść do swojego dokumentu.

In order to check the processing status of the document and download the generated UPO (after the successful verification of the document) use this link:

Click here in order to go to your document.
Jeśli powyższy odnośnik nie działa lub wygasł, nadal możesz wyszukać swój dokument w systemie korzystając z funkcjonalności Wyszukaj wniosek/deklarację. W pola na formularzu wpisz wygenerowany dla Ciebie kod autoryzujący: XXXXX oraz adres e-mail: [email protected]

In case the above link doesn’t work or is outdated, you can still look up your document in the system with the Wyszukaj wniosek/deklarację (Find the application/declaration) function. Fill out the form with the authorization code: XXXXX and the email address: [email protected]

Click on the indicated link, log in with the code and the e-mail address, and then print the submitted form out, and download the UPO, as you need to keep both for the future in your private documentation.

Source: Official Instructions

 

After you print out the PIT-37 and the UPO for the PIT-37 you can eventually relax. If you have a few spare minutes please make sure to leave me a comment or share my content on social media. I love to get feedback from you and always read your comments and messages. Most importantly, I want to make sure that my topics are relevant and my writing style is clear and understandable. Let me know what you think.