Tax collection

What is the collection of personal income tax? Who is the payer and who is the taxpayer? How much is this tax levied? We encourage you to read the next part of the cycle on income tax, in which we will answer these and other questions related to its collection.

Principles of payment of personal income tax

The tax office is the institution that collects income tax. Importantly, personal income tax is settled in the office competent for the taxpayer's place of residence, unlike CIT (corporate income tax), for which the competent authority is the tax office assigned to the registered office of the capital company.

Personal tax is paid in the form of monthly or quarterly advances. This obligation should be fulfilled by the 20th day of the following month (or quarter, if the entrepreneur settles quarterly). This means that, for example, the advance on income tax for October should be paid by November 20. However, there is an exception to this rule, because in the case of taxation on the basis of a tax card, the settlement is made by the 7th day of the following month.

From 2007, the obligation to submit PIT5 / PIT5L declarations regarding advances for personal income tax has been abolished. Currently, it is sufficient to make payments on time. The advance for income tax can be paid in cash (at the cash desk of the tax office, bank, post office, etc.), however, the more and more frequently chosen form of payment is the non-cash form in the form of a transfer to the account of the tax office.

When choosing the last option, you should prepare the transfer properly, giving the title “tax advance - for a month… ..”. It is not correct to specify the PIT-5, PIT-5L symbol alone, because (as it was previously explained) such declarations do not work anymore.

Taxpayers who achieved income in a given year are required to submit an annual declaration appropriate to the form of taxation chosen by them within the statutory deadline.

When settling on general principles and with flat tax, the annual declaration must be submitted by April 30 of the following year. The correct print is PIT-36 at the scale, and for the flat tax - PIT-36L. The first one is used to account for income earned both from business activity and, for example, from employment or pensions. On the other hand, the PIT-36L declaration should contain information on the income generated only as part of the conducted business activity. As a rule, other income should be shown in the PIT-37 form. Taxation on general principles, as opposed to flat tax, gives taxpayers the opportunity to settle accounts together with their spouse, as well as to use various types of reliefs or deductions.

The declaration that includes the flat-rate taxation is PIT-28. Only lump-sum taxable income is shown on this form, while income from a different title, such as from an employment relationship, is shown in PIT-37. A flat-rate payer should submit an annual declaration on the PIT-28 form by January 31 of the following year (PIT-37 by April 30). On the other hand, the tax card is associated with the obligation to submit an annual declaration on the PIT-16A form. If the taxpayer also obtained income from another source, then it is also necessary to present it in a separate declaration - PIT-37. Here, too, the deadline for submitting the PIT-16A declaration is January 31 of the following year, and if it is necessary to settle income from another source - PIT-37, by April 30.

Taxpayers who are required to submit a tax return on the PIT-36 form should also pay the difference between the tax due on the income resulting from the tax return and the sum of advances due for a given year, including those collected by all payers (including e.g. principals). The income tax resulting from the declaration is a tax due for a given year, unless the tax office issues a decision specifying a different amount of tax.

If the tax return is not submitted, the tax office issues a declaratory decision specifying the amount of income tax liability. In relation to a taxpayer who does not file tax returns, it is possible to apply penal sanctions under the Fiscal Penal Code.

Personal income tax rates

Depending on which form of taxation covers the taxpayer's income, the rates of this fee will be different. And so, with the tax scale for income up to PLN 85,528, a tax of 18% is payable. minus the amount reducing the tax (PLN 556.02), and above this amount - PLN 14,839.02 plus 32 percent. surplus over PLN 85,528.

When taxed with a flat rate tax, the tax rate is fixed and amounts to 19%, no matter what income is earned. The lump sum on recorded revenues is associated with the payment of tax in the amount of:

• 20 percent,
• 17 percent,
• 8.5 percent
• 5.5 percent,
• 3 percent,

depending on the type of business. However, with a tax card, the tax rates are not assigned in advance to specific activities (as is the case with the registered lump sum). The decision on the amount of tax is issued by the head of the competent tax office. It may also issue a decision refusing to grant a tax card to a given taxpayer. The decision of the head may be appealed against to the director of the tax chamber within 14 days. The taxpayer also has the right to resign from the tax card if it is reported to the head of the office within 14 days from the delivery of the decision.

Taxpayer and income tax payer

When it comes to collecting income tax, it is also important to distinguish between two entities - the taxpayer and the payer. The first is the person who is directly subject to the tax obligation. The second is the person who is obliged to calculate the tax and collect it from the taxpayer. Payers are usually workplaces (including individual entrepreneurs), agricultural production cooperatives, pension authorities, banks paying foreign pensions, employment authorities (in terms of benefits paid by them), the Guaranteed Employee Benefits Fund, etc. These authorities are obliged to calculate and deduct taxpayers from the paid sums of advances for income tax and the transfer of these amounts to the account of the tax office. For example, in a situation where a given person is employed under an employment contract, their employer reduces the remuneration paid to them by the advance on income tax.

There is also a group of taxpayers who are required to independently calculate income tax advances and pay them on time. This obligation applies, inter alia, to persons running their own business, persons receiving remuneration for rent or lease, persons running special departments of agricultural production, persons who receive remuneration from abroad and persons who receive pensions or pensions from abroad without the intermediation of payers. This means that, for example, a person who runs his own business and settles tax on general principles (runs the KPiR) is obliged to independently calculate and pay an advance income tax for a given accounting period (month or quarter).