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Certificate of no financial arrears

A certificate of no arrears is commonly issued to entrepreneurs who run a business. Sometimes there are situations in which these entities apply for such a document during the appeal procedure. In such a case, obtaining a certificate may be difficult, because the authority may have doubts as to the legitimacy of issuing such an act, if the tax decision is not final.

What is a certificate?

There is no legal definition of certificates in the tax regulations. On the other hand, the jurisprudence emphasizes the obligation to distinguish them from administrative acts and refer to the view that they should be treated as evidence of the existence (or not) of certain legal relationships and facts relevant to the law.

Note that the certificate only confirms circumstances, not states them. It is only binding until it becomes obsolete.

Judgment of the Provincial Administrative Court in Białystok dated December 15, 2009, file ref. no. II SA / Bk 493/2009The certificate is an act of the authority's knowledge of specific facts or the legal status, and not a statement shaping these facts or the legal status.

What certificates does the tax office issue?

Certificate of no tax arrears or a certificate of arrears (ZAS-W)
Certificate of the testator's liabilities (ZAS-S)
Certificate of the amount of tax arrears of the seller (ZAS-Z)
Certificate of the amount of tax arrears of the taxpayer (ZAS-P)
Certificate of the turnover in VAT and excise duty, as well as the taxpayer's income in the personal income tax (ZAS-DF)
Certificate of the amount of turnover in VAT and excise duty, as well as the taxpayer's income in the corporate income tax (ZAS-DP)
Certificate of Residence or Residence of the Taxpayer for Tax Purposes - Certificate of Residence (CFR-1)
Certificate of residence for tax purposes in the Republic of Poland of a natural person who earns income (income) from savings (CFR-2).

Certificate of no arrears - the tax office confirms the facts

The issuance of the certificate depends on the legal interest of the applicant or the legal requirements. The tax office issues certificates on the basis of the collected documentation and information received from other tax authorities.

Before this document is issued, the tax office checks whether the applicant is subject to any proceedings aimed at establishing or determining tax liabilities. Appropriate information is included in the certificate.

The tax authority may not refuse to issue a certificate in a situation where it is not possible to complete the proceedings before the deadline for issuing such a certificate expires - within seven days from the date of submitting the application in this regard.

Certificate and non-final decision

If the taxpayer's situation is clear, he can easily obtain a certificate of no arrears. Problems may arise from proceedings in which the tax decision is not final, i.e. one against which the taxpayer has appealed.

We can also find discrepancies in this respect in the jurisprudence of administrative courts. Some judgments are favorable to taxpayers and support the issuing of certificates. Others, however, deny the taxpayer such a right.

An example is the judgment of the Provincial Administrative Court in Warsaw of February 15, 2011, file ref. no. III SA / Wa 1308/10. According to its wording, the termination of tax proceedings should be understood as the state in which the issue of the tax liability will be finally resolved.

It should be remembered that the second-instance bodies issue final decisions.

In turn, in the judgment of the Provincial Administrative Court in Gdańsk of May 7, 2009, file ref. No. I SA / Gd 131/09, the court ruled that if the taxpayer is in arrears with tax arrears resulting from a non-final decision at the time of issuing the certificate, there are no grounds for issuing a certificate of no tax arrears.

In addition, "if the payment of the tax arrears indicated in the certificate of arrears were deferred or divided into installments, then the tax authority would be required to issue a certificate of no tax arrears." (judgment of the Provincial Administrative Court in Poznań of September 25, 2008, file ref. I SA / Po 782/2008).