What is a financial statement?
A financial statement is a document that presents and describes the financial position of an economic entity. This is a numerical statement that must, above all, be reliable, understandable to the audience and complete. If you submit annual financial statements to the National Court Register, they include:
- Balance sheet – the state of assets and liabilities,
- Profit and loss account – profits, losses, income and expenses of the company,
- Additional information – such as a description of the company’s accounting policies,
- cash flow statement and statement of changes in equity – if the report was audited by a certified auditor.
Who must file financial statements with the National Court Register?
Financial statements are submitted to the KRS, or National Court Register, by those entities that are just listed in the register (and belong to the Register of Entrepreneurs). Thus, they are mainly commercial companies: joint stock companies, sp. Ltd., general, limited, limited partnership or limited joint-stock partnership.
Remember! It’s about those entities that do business. Foundations, for example, are also listed in the KRS – if they are not operating at the same time, they are not required to send reports to the KRS. An exception is independent public health care institutions (SPZOZ), which are not listed as entrepreneurs, but nevertheless file financial statements with the KRS.
Are there any other exceptions to these rules? Yes! Annual financial statements shall not be submitted to the National Court Register by partners of partnerships or general partnerships of natural persons if:
- the company in question does not keep books of account,
- The company’s net revenue was less than €2 million.
In this case, however, you need to make a special declaration, which you will read about next.
What is the deadline for submitting a financed report to the NCR?
By default, the filing of financial statements with the KRS should take place within 15 days of approval. For approval, in turn, there are 6 months from the balance sheet date (which ends the fiscal year).
What does this mean in practice? In most cases, the fiscal year coincides with the calendar year, so the balance sheet date is December 31. 6 months from this date falls on June 30 (the report must be approved by this date). In this case, documents must be submitted to the KRS by July 15.
Important!
Deadline for filing financial statements with the KRS in 2022. (that is, for 2021) is extended by 3 months. They must be approved by September 30.
What to do in a situation where the report could not be approved on time? Also, the deadline of July 15 (or extended in 2022) applies. Simply put, after approval (15 days after that), you have to send the report to the KRS once again, this time attaching documents confirming that everything is already approved.
How to make electronic financial statements?
Currently, the submission of financial statements to the KRS is only possible online. This means that the file must be prepared electronically. It is not possible to transfer paper documents. What to keep in mind when creating a report?
The entire report – i.e. balance sheet, income statement, notes – must be saved in a specific format (XML). Otherwise, the system will not accept it. What is an XML file? In short, it is simply a text file where the data is organized and tagged.
You can find the exact format and structure of the XML file at https://www.podatki.gov.pl/e-sprawozdania-finansowe/aplikacja/ for generating just such files. It’s a free tool that allows you to create a correct document that is sure to be accepted by the KRS system. The online annual financial statement is the only option, so it must be done correctly.
Who must sign electronic financial statements?
In order for an online KRS financial statement to be valid, it must be signed. How? The file is signed with a qualified signature or trusted profile.
Who needs to do it? Financial statements (and other documents) are signed:
- the person entrusted with keeping the books of account,
- the head of the entity, and in the case of multi-member management – all members of this body or one of the members of the board of directors (if the rest make statements that the report meets the requirements of the law).
What must the documentation submitted to the KRS contain?
In fact, not only financial statements – that is, a document with a balance sheet, income statement, etc. – are submitted to the KRS. Before attaching documents, check the exact list that applies to your specific case. The unit’s annual report is additionally accompanied by:
- Report on activities and payments to the government,
- Resolution on approval of the financial statements to the KRS and on distribution of profit or coverage of loss,
- auditor’s opinion on the financial statements.
Each of the financial documents should be a separate file in the appropriate format – according to the guidelines.
You already know that the main document – that is, the financial statements – should be in XML format. Almost all others must also be electronic, but in their case there is no imposed format.
An electronic document is defined as one that can be read by a computer program: files can be graphic, text or mixed. In addition, it is essential that they are also signed in an appropriate manner. The exception is resolutions, which can be attached as a scan.
Is there a fee for filing financial statements with the NCR?
As a general rule, the submission of financial statements to the KRS is free – when they are submitted to the Repository of Financial Documents and when a specific person does it. Which one? You pay nothing if the report is submitted by a person whose PESEL number is disclosed in the KRS.
If a person’s PESEL number is not there – for example, because he or she is an attorney, trustee, or a person without a PESEL – the fee is PLN 140. Then you submit the report in the S24 system.
How to send the financial statements to the KRS?
Filing is easy – the system will guide you step by step. How to submit financial statements to the National Court Register?
- Create an account in the eKRS portal – whether your submission will be free (to the Financial Document Repository) or paid (to S24). Even at this stage, either a trusted profile or a qualified electronic signature is required.
- Search for an entity by KRS number – the system will indicate whether there are persons with disclosed PESEL number who can file documents free of charge.
- Attach documents – indicate for which period the report is submitted (usually annual) and add all the documents necessary in your case (each in a separate file). The maximum size of one file is 5 MB, and all together – 35 MB.
- Make a statement – in which you confirm that specific documents are signed by the right people (or indicate why they are not).
- Verify and sign the application – check that everything is filled out correctly, and then sign with either a trusted profile or a qualified electronic signature. You can also give it to another person to sign. Then just click on the “Submit a request to the repository” button.
When and how to file a statement of no obligation to prepare and file annual financial statements?
If you belong to that group that does not have to send a financial statement – you are also bound by a specific statement.
The deadline for submitting a statement that no annual financial statements are required is 6 months from the date that ended the fiscal year. If it coincides with the calendar – the last date is June 30.
How to make such a statement? Go to the eKRS website, create an account and log in, then follow the system prompts. Select the option: “Information about not having to prepare annual financial statements”. In this case, there is no need to attach documents. Then all you have to do is sign with a qualified signature or through a trusted profile.
How to download KRS financial statements? Online browsing
Once the report is submitted online, the documents are automatically verified. It is checked that everything is complete and in the correct format. If the verification is successful, you will receive a notification that:
- application has been registered,
- documents have been placed in the Repository of Financial Documents,
- A note to that effect appeared in the National Court Register.
If a financial statement has been uploaded to the KRS, insight is available in a special online database: https://ekrs.ms.gov.pl/rdf/pd/search_df. All you have to do is enter your KRS number to review the documents you submit.
If you fail to file the report on time, you face penalties – including deletion of the company from the National Court Register, fines and even imprisonment. Thanks to the online system, filing with the KRS is relatively easy. So it’s worth doing it as soon as possible instead of waiting until the last minute!
