The new rules for the preparation and submission of financial statements

Poland - 05 / 08 / 2018

Corporate Poland Commentary 2 - 2018

Since 15 March 2018, financial statements can only be submitted to registry courts in electronic form. During the transitional period from 15 March to 30 September 2018, it will still be possible to submit scans of the paper versions of the abovementioned documents, however they must be signed using a qualified electronic signature, or with the signature of a trusted ePUAP profile. The submission of financial documents by electronic means also requires an account in the S24 system.

The real revolution will take place after 1 October 2018. From that time on all financial statements for the year 2018 will need to be submitted in the standard audit file format (SAF-T / JPK). Entities entered in the National Court Register will not need to send financial statements separately to differing tax offices since the documents will automatically be transferred by the National Court Register to the Central Tax Register.

The following rules apply as of 15 march 2018:

financial statements in Poland can be prepared traditionally (on paper with handwritten signatures) until 1st October 2018;
such financial statements are duly submitted to KRS if they are sent as a scan (.pdf) with the use of the qualified electronic signature or a signature confirmed by a trusted ePUAP profile by at least one individual authorized to represent the company (e.g. at least one of the members of the Management Board) whose PESEL number is indicated in the KRS;
there is no possibility of submitting the financial statements and other documents by a proxy as it has been done before.

Certified electronic signature – to obtain the signature one-time personal presence of the person is required in one of the authorization centers in Poland. The upkeep cost of the license to use the signature amounts to ca. PLN 200 (EUR 50) annually with initial cost of PLN 250 (EUR) for the first year.

Qualified electronic signature can be obtained in other country than Poland (but only within the EU). Therefore, it is possible to use in Poland electronic signature certified by e.g. Spanish service provider.

Trusted ePUAP profile – trusted ePUAP profile can be set up over the internet. The final step of verification needs to be done in front of Polish state or local government authority. Such service is also provided by Polish embassies and consulates. Personal presence in Poland is not required. There are no initial or upkeep costs associated.

To sum up the above, in order to submit the financial statements we have to:

obtain PESEL (identification number) for one of the members of the representation body of the company;

and at the same time:

obtain ePUAP profile (it seems to be the easiest and low costs solution) provided that the electronic signature has not been obtained;
submit financial statements within the electronical portal supervise by the government;

Additionally, please be informed that starting from 1st October 2018, the financial statements will be prepared only in electronic versions (template of the form will be provided by the government) and then provided to the register court via the portal. Another significant change is the fact that, from 1st October 2018, there will be no need to separately file the documentation to the Tax Office – the IT system will automatically send the documents to the competent authorities.