Storage of the KPiR after the liquidation of the enterprise

Entities keeping accounting on the basis of the tax book of revenues and expenses are required to store it. This issue is regulated in § 9 sec. 2 of the regulation on maintaining the KPiR, which indicates that both the book and the evidence on the basis of which entries are made must be permanently located in the place of business or a place indicated by the taxpayer as his seat. If the bookkeeping is commissioned to an accounting office, the KPiR is stored in the place indicated by the taxpayer.

Storage of KPiR by the accounting office

If this accounting office keeps the company's accounting, in accordance with § 8 para. 1 point 1 of the Regulation on the KPiR, the taxpayer must notify the head of the tax office, to whom the notification of bookkeeping was submitted, within seven days from the date of conclusion of the contract. The notification shall indicate the name and address of the office, place (address) of keeping and storing the book and evidence related to its keeping. Applications are submitted in the CEIDG-1 form.

Storage of the KPiR after the liquidation of the business

Regulations regarding the storage of the KPiR clearly refer to the period in which the activity is conducted. Should the documents also be kept after the closure of the business? Yes, yes. This is indicated by Art. 86 § 1 of the tax ordinance, which requires entrepreneurs to keep the book and related documents until the expiry of the limitation period for the tax liability.

So when is the limitation period? According to Art. 70 § 1 of the ordinance, the tax liability expires after 5 years, counting from the end of the calendar year in which the tax payment deadline expired.

Example 1.

Mr. Krzysztof ended his business activity on December 10, 2016. He ran the accounting on the basis of the revenue and expense ledger. The last annual tax return, and thus the tax payment deadline, falls in 2017. Therefore, it will be necessary to store the KPiR until the end of 2022.

Importantly, in addition to the KPiR, the entrepreneur is also required to store source documentation (including issued and received invoices, bills, internal evidence).

After the liquidation of a business, the entrepreneur cannot simply throw away the KPiR and other documents. It is necessary to keep the book until the tax liability expires.