PIT-4R correction - situational events

Many companies in Poland employ at least one employee. Having employees is associated with the fulfillment of many obligations towards them. In addition, there are obligations towards ZUS and the tax office. Among all the obligations and formalities related to employment, there are sometimes errors in the settlement of the employee's remuneration. At other times, it is the employee who does not submit to the employer all the necessary documents for the correct calculation of remuneration. The following study presents several situations in which, as a result of various circumstances, the entrepreneur had to - or not - correct the payroll tax (PIT-4R correction).

PIT-4R - what is it?

The PIT-4R form is a document that constitutes a collective summary of the grounds and amounts of tax and tax advances collected and transferred to the Tax Office by the payer in a given accounting year. PIT-4R is a form that the payer is obliged to submit to the Tax Office. Contrary to PIT-11, the employer is not obliged by law to provide PIT-4R also to the employee who is the subject of this declaration. PIT-4R contains information on the amounts of the collected income tax advances. This declaration should be submitted directly to the Tax Office by the last day of January of a given year for the previous year.

PIT-4R delivered to the Tax Office by a payer who is a natural person in an electronic form does not have to be signed with an electronic signature. When sending the declaration, only the payer's authorization data should be provided

Submitting the PIT-4R declaration to the Tax Office containing incorrect data will result in the obligation to correct it. The PIT-4R correction is most often required when errors were included in the original declaration. The most common errors are:

• short-circuit in PIT-4R of incorrect numerical data - resulting from incorrectly performed calculations,
• providing incorrect personal data of the tax payer in the declaration, or
• entering data in the wrong print places.

Change of qualifications from contracts for specific work on a mandate contract in the course of an inspection by the Social Insurance Institution

(...) It should also be noted that information and tax declarations, including PIT-11 and PIT-4R, are used to reproduce the actual state of affairs during the tax year, and not to create it. Therefore, in the PIT-11 information and the PIT-4R declaration submitted for a given tax year, the payer should indicate, inter alia, such amounts of the advance payment (received advance payments) that reflect his activities as a payer, i.e. the actual amounts collected in this tax year.

Bearing in mind the above, it should be stated that on the basis of the presented facts and future events, the Applicant is not obliged to correct the PIT-4R declaration and PIT-11 information issued for the years 2012-2014, because the issued documents were drawn up correctly, as they reflected the amount charged by the payer - the Applicant - advance payments, resulting from the qualification of concluded contracts made by the Applicant. Therefore, there are no legal grounds to reduce the income tax advances paid for the period from January 1, 2012 to December 31, 2014 by health insurance contributions paid by the Applicant in the following years and to correct the information and declarations issued.

Position of the Director of the Tax Chamber in Bydgoszcz in the individual interpretation of February 16, 2017, ref. No. 0461-ITPB2.4511.936.2016.2.ENB.

Incorrect tax deductible costs and overstating the advance payment and the PIT-4R adjustment

(...) Art. 81 of the Tax Ordinance, therefore, the correction of the declaration (information) is aimed at correcting an error that was made during its previous preparation and may apply to any of its items - unless separate regulations provide otherwise. So it may concern, inter alia, accounting errors, obvious mistakes, and also when it was filled in contrary to the requirements or there are doubts as to the correctness of the data contained therein. It could have been incorrectly defined, inter alia, the amount of the tax liability, the amount of overpayment or tax refund, as well as other data contained in the content of the declaration. Therefore, the correction of the declaration consists in correct filling in the form with the indication that in this case we are dealing with the correction of the previously submitted declaration.

Taking into account the above legal regulations and the content of the application, it should be stated that the situation - described in the application - does not oblige the Applicant to correct the PIT-11 information and PIT-4R declaration, because the issued PIT-11 information and PIT-4R declarations were made correctly, reflected the actual state of affairs at that time, i.e. the amount of deductions in the above-mentioned period by the payer - the Applicant - tax deductible costs, therefore there is no legal basis for their correction.

Thus, due to the reduction of tax deductible costs, and thus overstatement of the advance tax, the PIT-11 information and the PIT-4R declaration for the years already settled (2014 and 2015) should not be corrected.

Position of the Director of the Tax Chamber in Poznań in the individual ruling of 2 December 2016, ref. No. 3063-ILPB1-1.4511.254.2016.1.AMN.

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PIT-4R correction due to unduly paid tax by the employer?

Tax overpayment in the case of the payer applies only to those cases in which his property is damaged as a result of the payment of the due benefit in a greater amount than the one in which it was collected. If the defectiveness of the payer's conduct leads to a reduction in the taxpayer's property, the overpayment arises with the taxpayer, who in this case is the only entity entitled to receive its refund.

In the facts presented in the application, the Applicant's assets were diminished in connection with the advance payment for November 2013 in connection with the determination of the employee's income from the free benefit, and the paid tax (advance payment) was not collected from the employee, because the payer did not have the actual possibility of its collection due to the employee's long-term sick leave and the lack of income in the form of money. Thus, it should be considered that there is an overpayment on the part of the payer - the Applicant -.

In connection with the above - pursuant to art. 75 § 2 point 2 lit. a of the Tax Ordinance - the applicant has the right to apply to the head of the competent tax office for overpayment. Whereby - in accordance with Art. 75 § 3 of the Tax Ordinance - along with the submission of an application for overpayment, the Applicant is obliged to submit a correction of the PIT-4R declaration for 2013, because in the submitted PIT-4R declaration, the Applicant - as a payer - has shown and paid tax in an amount greater than the amount collected tax.

Position of the Director of the Tax Chamber in Poznań in the individual ruling of February 8, 2017, ref. No. 3063-ILPB1-1.4511.369.2016.1.KF.

Purchase of a medical package and an insurance policy for employees without showing in the employee's income - understatement of PIT-4R

Regarding the correction of the PIT-4R declaration for 2010, it should be noted that when correcting the PIT-4R declaration, it was necessary to show the advance payment due, which should have been collected by the payer (Applicant) in connection with the payer's obligations imposed on him by the provisions of the Personal Income Tax Act. physical. The PIT-4R declaration should include due advances, i.e. those that should be collected in accordance with applicable regulations.

In this respect (PIT-4R correction), the position of the Applicant should be considered correct.

If the Applicant (payer) in 2010 collected advances for income tax in an amount lower than they were due and the tax authority received an advance in the lower amount, then the difference between the advances collected and paid and due is the tax arrears on which they are due. late payment interest ... "

Position of the Director of the Tax Chamber in Katowice in the individual interpretation of August 28, 2013, ref. No. IBPBII / 1 / 415-575 / 13 / MK.