Who submits PIT-36L to the office and by when?

By the end of April, taxpayers are required to settle income earned in the previous tax year with the tax office. This applies to all natural persons who have achieved any income (even if they have earned PLN 100). Who should settle accounts on the PIT-36L form and by when should it be delivered to the office?

PIT-36L - who is it for?

Taxpayers who have chosen a linear form of income taxation, i.e. flat tax.

As a rule, income is taxed ex officio according to general rules (tax scale). Which means that the use of the flat tax is possible only after the taxpayer declares (after choosing) this form of taxation.

If the economic activity is established for the first time during the tax year, the entrepreneur may choose this form of taxation already in the CEIDG-1 registration application (if he will not provide services to the former employer). In other cases, it is not possible to change the form of taxation during the tax year, and the time limit for the change is strictly defined by the regulations. Taxpayers may report a change in the form of taxation from general rules to flat tax by the 20th day of the month following the month in which they obtained their first income in a given year, by submitting an application for a change in the form of taxation to the competent tax office.

The flat tax is characterized by a uniform tax rate of 19%, regardless of the amount of income. Thus, the 19% tax rate applies to income in the amount of PLN 100, PLN 100,000 and more. So who is it beneficial for? First of all, for taxpayers who achieve high income (but only from business activity).

However, taxation at a flat 19% tax rate prevents you from taking advantage of most reliefs, joint settlement with your spouse, and some tax deductions. Importantly, the amount reducing the tax is not taken into account, as in the case of the tax scale.

When choosing a flat tax as a form of income taxation, taxpayers may not combine other sources of income on the annual tax return, which means that if the taxpayer obtains income from the business and employment contract, he should settle them on two separate forms, i.e. business activity on the PIT-36L annual tax return, and the income from the employment relationship on the PIT-37 annual tax return. The flat tax may not be chosen by taxpayers who, as part of their own business activity or the right to participate in the profit of a company without legal personality, have earned revenues from the provision of services to the former or current employer (if the services provided as part of the business correspond to activities that the taxpayer or the partner performed or performs under an employment contract.)
In the event of such a situation, the taxpayer loses the right to pay flat tax and is obliged to make advance payments according to the general rules.

What deductions are eligible for PIT-36L?

In the PIT-36L declaration, the income may be reduced by the costs of obtaining it. In addition, in the prepared tax return, paid social security contributions can be deducted from the income, and health insurance contributions paid from the tax or a tax relief for people earning income abroad, i.e. from the so-called abolition relief. Additionally, by choosing a flat tax as a form of income taxation, the entrepreneur has the opportunity to take advantage of reliefs such as:

• tax relief for research and development activities,
• thermomodernization relief,
• IP BOX relief,
• payments to IKZE,
• donations for vocational education.

The entrepreneur may also donate 1% of the tax to a selected public benefit organization. An entrepreneur taxed on a linear basis cannot settle accounts jointly with his spouse or as a single parent.

PIT-36L and revenues from other sources

In PIT-36L, only income from economic activity and special agricultural production sectors is taxed on a straight-line basis. It is not possible to combine income from other sources (e.g. from an employment relationship), so taxpayers must settle all income from other sources on an additional, appropriate form. A detailed discussion of the issues related to the appropriate annual tax return form in the case of income from various sources can be found in the article: Are you running a business and working full-time? Check which PIT to fill in!

When and where to submit PIT-36L?

The annual tax return PIT-36L should be submitted to the competent tax office by April 30 of the year following the tax year for which the declaration is submitted.

If this period falls on public holidays, PIT-36L is submitted by the first business day. Additionally, pursuant to Art. 45 sec. 1 of the PIT Act, the submission of the PIT-36L annual tax return before February 15 of the following year for the previous year results in the tax return being considered as filed on February 15. Therefore, the possibility of not paying advance income tax for the fourth quarter or December of a given tax year has been abolished, assuming that the annual declaration will be submitted and any tax paid by January 20 of the following year.

Example 1.

Mr. Łukasz runs a business activity subject to flat tax. After the end of the tax year, he submitted the annual tax return on January 15th. Will Mr. Łukasz fulfill the reporting obligation by submitting the annual tax return for 2020 by such a deadline?

As a rule, an annual tax return submitted before February 15 is considered as filed only on February 15. Thus, submitting the declaration before this date is correct and Mr. Łukasz will fulfill the reporting obligation, however, the submitted annual declaration will be considered accepted only on February 15, 2020. Therefore, it is obliged to pay the advance payment for December 2020 by January 20, 2021.

In 2021, taxpayers will still not be able to use the Your e-PIT service for their business. However, this service will include the PIT-37 taxpayer, which can be transferred to the tax office.

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How to generate and send PIT-36L from the wfirma.pl system?

The wFirma.pl system allows you to generate and send the PIT-36L annual tax return directly to the tax office. The declaration is generated on the basis of data in the system, so the fields regarding revenues, costs, income or paid ZUS contributions and income tax advances will be automatically completed. There is no need to refill them manually.

The taxpayer who indicated taxation with flat tax in the tab: SETTINGS »TAXES» INCOME TAX will be able to generate the annual tax return PIT-36L in the wfirma.pl system using the tab: START »TAXES» ANNUAL DECLARATIONS »ADD DECLARATION and then select" Annual linear declaration income tax (PIT 36L) ".

After generating the annual tax return, it is possible to send it directly from the system using the following scheme: START »TAXES» ANNUAL DECLARATIONS, where, after selecting the PIT-36L declaration on the list, select the SEND TO THE OFFICE option from the top menu.