Official certificate of receipt – what is it?
A UPO, also known as an official receipt, is an automatically generated number that confirms the correct filing of a tax return. You will receive it only if you meet the following conditions:
- send your PIT return electronically – UPO does not apply to traditional tax returns,
- you will not make any formal errors– a UPO will be assigned to your declaration only if you fill in all fields in the form correctly.
Two aspects are particularly important in filing PIT returns online: submitting the document and receiving a UPO. What does it look like one step at a time?
Filing a tax return electronically – step by step
- First, you fill out your tax return through an electronic form.
- Then you send the declaration – at this point the document is only sent, not filed.
- You will automatically receive a reference number after sending your declaration online – this will be a string of 32 characters that will allow you to check the status of your declaration in real time. The reference number mentioned is not yet a UPO!
- At this point, various scenarios are possible – the status of your declaration may appear as, for example:
- 301 – this means that the document is still being processed
- 400 – errors have been found in the document that make it impossible to submit. Such a declaration will not go to the relevant tax office. It is necessary to make corrections and resend the declaration.
- 200 – the declaration has been positively verified and then forwarded to the appropriate tax office – only by obtaining a status of 200 the document is considered filed.
- Once your declaration is properly filed, you will be able to download an official receipt (UPO).
Important!
The UPO is the only confirmation of the submission of a tax return when submitted electronically. It is the receipt of an official acknowledgment of receipt that means that the document has been filled out correctly and in the correct form (that is, in a form that allows the return to be processed by the office staff) has reached the appropriate unit of the tax office.
List of e-declaration statuses
The above-mentioned statuses that may appear after sending an e-tax return are only examples. It’s worth reading the full list of codes so that if they occur, you don’t have to look elsewhere for a solution, but rather take action right away.
- 100 – the declaration was not sent – if the system returns code 100, it may mean that the sent declaration contains an attachment larger than allowed (5 MB) or saved in an invalid format – the .zip format is required.
- 101 – resend declaration – code 101 means that your declaration did not reach the server. The cause may have been a broken Internet connection or maintenance work.
- 200 – document processed correctly – this means that the declaration was submitted correctly, you can download the UPO from now on. Only status 200 allows you to download the UPO.
- 300 – no document – no document has been registered in the e-declaration system for the given reference number. Send the declaration again.
- 301 – document processing in progress.
- 302 – preprocessed declaration. This means that the document has passed the formal verification and is being checked for the validity of the certificate.
- 303 – the document has been verified formally and for the validity of the certificate – awaiting verification of the electronic signature.
- 304 – document checked for the existence of duplicates.
- 400 – erroneous verification of the declaration. Check the declaration for errors, correct and resend.
- 401 – verification rejected. The 401 status applies to declarations with formal errors. The error should be reported.
- 402 – the person who submitted the electronic signature does not have a power of attorney or authorization to sign documents relating to the taxpayer in question, or the authorization has expired.
- 412 – information data does not match – code 412 means that there is an error in the data provided, such as an incorrect TIN, PESEL, name or date of birth.
- 413 – the certificate used to send the declaration does not contain information about the TIN or PESEL number of the certificate owner.
- 414 – identification error.
All error codes starting with the number 3 indicate a verification process in progress, the status starting with the number 4 indicates an error, while the status 200 indicates that the declaration has been correctly processed and the UPO can be downloaded.
How to download the UPO online?
You can download the UPO at podatki.gov.pl, where you also file your tax return. If your declaration has received a status of 200, the UPO will be available for download.
But what should you do if you don’t have a UPO, but you want to make sure your return was filed correctly and reached the appropriate tax authority? Take advantage of the reference number that will be granted to your declaration as soon as it is sent – just click on this link and enter the reference number into the search engine.
If you do not also have access to the reference number, it remains to contact the e-declaration service or make direct contact with the tax office.
- In the former option, all you need to do is send an email to info.e-deklaracje@mf.gov.pl – in the body of the email you should include the taxpayer’s VAT/PESEL number, the date the return was sent, and the type of return.
- If you prefer direct contact with the U.S., visit the relevant tax office and provide the same set of information – based on this, the official will find the UPO number assigned to your return and provide it to you.
What’s next for the UPO?
Receiving an official receipt is not the end of the story. The UPO number should be kept by the taxpayer for at least 5 years from the end of the period to which the filed tax return relates.
