PIT-11 - how and where to submit this declaration for an employee?

PIT-11 is a form that contains information on income, income, costs and on personal income tax advances taken. This applies both to employees employed under employment contracts, contractors and, for example, contractors of works. The key to the annual settlement with the Tax Office is the proper completion of the forms and their timely delivery to the above-mentioned institutions.

What is PIT?

PIT, from the English "Personal Income Tax", is a personal income tax. It is a type of direct tax. This means that the subject of taxation is a specific natural person receiving income from, for example, an employment contract, mandate, specific task or a management contract.

PIT-11

In full nomenclature - information on income and advances taken for income tax. It is a document that should be issued by the employer / client / ordering the work and then submitted to:

• Tax Office,
• employee / contractor / contractor.

PIT-11, as a document, also contains information about the tax-deductible costs achieved by a natural person in a given accounting year. It also contains data on settled social security contributions.

In the annual tax declaration, as a rule, income taxed according to the appropriate tax scale is shown:

• 1st tax threshold (limit of PLN 85,528) - 17% of tax,
• 2nd tax threshold (annual income exceeding the above-mentioned limit) - 32% of tax.

PIT-11 - what sources of income does it include?

The annual tax declaration contains data on income obtained from various sources, incl. With:

• job contract,
• mandate contracts,
• activation agreement,
• specific work contracts,
• copyright,
• work during pre-trial detention,
• activities performed independently and socially,
• membership in an agricultural production cooperative,
• benefits from FP and FGŚP.

Exemption from the obligation to submit PIT-11

An employer who, during a given accounting year, employs persons on the basis of mandate contracts or specific-task contracts, whose total remuneration does not exceed PLN 200 gross, is exempt from the obligation to submit the annual PIT-11 tax declaration.

For contractors and contractors who meet the above-mentioned conditions, the employer is obliged to submit the PIT-8A form. This is due to the fact that such persons should be paid a flat-rate income tax of 17% of income. When settling contracts covered by the flat-rate income tax, the tax deductible costs are not taken into account.

An entrepreneur employing non-resident foreigners on the basis of civil law contracts is also exempt from the obligation to submit PIT-11. For such persons, the employer is obliged to issue IFT-1 / IFT-1R.

PIT-11 for 2020 - significant changes

Due to the numerous legal changes that took place in 2020, when accounting for employees for this year, it is necessary to take into account, inter alia,

• income tax reduction from 18% to 17%,
• an increase in tax deductible costs,
• changing the amount reducing the tax,
• introducing a tax relief without PIT for young people up to 26 years of age.

These changes have a significant impact on the rules of accounting for annual tax returns. Most of them may result in overpayments or underpayments in the field of paid income tax advances.

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Relief without PIT for young people

Relief without PIT for young people exempts people up to 26 years of age from the obligation to pay advances for income tax. This privilege is granted to young people with income up to the level of PLN 85,528. Above this limit, your income is taxed 17% or 32%, depending on how much you earn.

In this case, special attention should be paid to what is defined as income and what is defined as income. The amount of the limit when exempt from PIT relates to income, and when this limit is exceeded, the tax is calculated based on the amount of income.

In PIT-11, for a person up to the age of 26, both tax-exempt income and income from which advance payments were collected should be included.

Transfer of PIT-11 to the Tax Office

When issuing PIT-11, the employer is obliged to prepare it in an electronic version. PIT-11 prepared and delivered in paper form to the seat of the Tax Office will not be accepted and processed by it.

A payer who is a natural person does not have to use a secure qualified signature when sending the annual PIT-11 tax declaration. The basis for accepting an e-document in the Tax Office is a set of appropriate authorization data.

Other payers, in order to correctly submit the e-PIT, should obtain a secure qualified signature.

Art. 45ba of the Personal Income Tax Act
The form of submitting annual tax calculations, information and declarations The annual tax calculation, information and declarations referred to in Art. 34 collection of advances by the pension authorities, para. 7 and 8, art. 35 entities obliged to collect advances sec. 10, art. 38 deadlines for the transfer of advances by payers para. 1a and 1b, art. 39 the provision of personal information to the tax office sec. 1-4, art. 42 the deadline for the transfer of contributions by economic operators and their information obligations, para. 1a-4, art. 42a, information about the amount of revenues, paragraph. 1 and art. 42e, the payment of benefits by the bailiff of para. 5 and 6, shall be submitted to the tax office by means of electronic communication, in accordance with the provisions of the tax code.

Payers are required to send annual tax declarations by the last day of January in a given year, for the previous year, at the latest.

Handing over PIT-11 to employees

Handing over PIT-11 to employees may take place:

• in person (in paper form),
• by letter (in paper form),
• electronically.

In the case of sending this document in an electronic version, it is enough for the employer to submit PIT-11, bearing a qualified signature, by sending an e-mail.

Until when to send PIT-11 for 2020 to employees?

The employer is obliged to submit annual settlement declarations to his employees by the end of February of the year following the tax year at the latest.

The annual tax declaration, which is PIT-11, is a very important document. Its issuance and timely delivery to the Tax Office and employees is one of the basic obligations of every employer. Failure to comply with this obligation is subject to a fine, which is ordered by a court or an authorized tax officer in the ticket proceedings.