These individuals receive PIT-11 forms from their payers (for example, employers), which they should receive by the end of February following the given tax year. Although their payers (for example, employers) perform most of the duties for these taxpayers, the legislature has still provided for the obligation to personally settle and submit an individual PIT form. With the progress brought by digitalisation, it offers the possibility of modern solutions, one of the newest being the so-called “Your e-PIT”. Information appears in many places suggesting that this service makes it possible not to settle PIT. Has the obligation to file a tax return really been abolished?
Your e-PIT—what is it and how does it work?
The new “Your e-PIT” service was prepared by the Ministry of Finance for taxpayers who are unfamiliar with financial and tax matters. It is an electronic programme in which the National Revenue Administration system makes a completed tax return available to the taxpayer. The completed document will be made available from 15 February 2019. For now, two tax returns will be prepared through the “Your e-PIT” service: PIT-37 and PIT-38. In subsequent years, the catalogue of tax returns available for use is planned to be expanded. The taxpayer may take no action—if “Your e-PIT” has been prepared for them, they may “do nothing”. In this situation, on 30 April the tax office will automatically settle the taxpayer’s taxes on the basis of the prepared e-PIT. It should be remembered that if they do nothing, they accept the prepared document in its entirety and confirm that the data it contains is up to date.
Potential limitations of the Your e-PIT system
Importantly, it should be noted that, like any system, “Your e-PIT” has certain limitations, especially at the beginning of its implementation. First, it applies only to two basic returns: PIT-37 and PIT-38. Second, the return prepared by the system is based exclusively on data previously provided by employers, ZUS, etc. If it turns out, however, that an employer has not submitted the relevant data to the tax authorities, the “Your e-PIT” system will not be able to generate a correct and complete PIT-37. What is more, some of the data in the service is to be locked—only preparing an individual PIT-37 tax return will give taxpayers full control over the entire document. The prepared document will contain information from the employer, information from previously submitted (last year’s) returns, the relevant bank account number, the child tax relief and data concerning a public benefit organisation.
Summary and recommendations
“Your e-PIT” is a new service that is only just being launched. Before using it, taxpayers are therefore advised to familiarise themselves with all its rules. Generally, they should first verify whether they can definitely use it, particularly if they would like to take advantage of the “I do nothing” option. It may turn out that, in a specific factual situation, despite the return appearing in the system, it should be rejected and the taxpayer’s own tax return prepared—for example: PIT-37.