Tax remittance – who is responsible for it?
As we mentioned in the introduction, the tax obligation applies to entrepreneurs and employees alike. While in the first case the matter is clear – a self-employed person is obliged to pay taxes for himself and his employees – in the context of full-time work there are some differences.
Employees are usually accustomed to the fact that it is the employer who pays taxes on behalf of those employed. In reality, however, the responsibility for proper tax returns still rests on the shoulders of the taxpayer, or employee. What the employer pays to the tax office each month is only an advance payment of income tax. At the end of the year, each employee must file a tax return (usually coded PIT-37), based on which the tax is calculated in full, resulting in a tax refund or the need to pay the missing amount.
I failed to pay my tax on time – what consequences await me?
A taxpayer who has not paid the required amount by the due date is first charged interest for late payment – the first level of penalty for non-payment of taxes. It is worth mentioning at this point that keeping an eye on deadlines is the taxpayer’s responsibility – the tax office will not send a letter summons for payment or inform in any way that the amount due was not received on time – it will simply start charging interest.
So before we return to what else threatens a taxpayer who evades taxes, let’s answer an important question:
By when should taxes be paid? To make sure we get everything done on time, we need to know the due dates for each tax. Here they are:
- Social security (ZUS) contribution – up to 10. day of the month for the previous month;
- Advance payment of income tax (PIT) – up to 20. day of the month for the previous month (if you account for lump sum, tax scale or flat tax). By 7. the day of the month if you settle using a tax card;
- Value added tax (VAT) – up to 25. day of the month following the month or quarter to which the settlement relates.
Ending the topic of interest – if reading this article you just realized with horror that you forgot to pay your tax last month, you basically have nothing to fear. Of course, pay the tax as soon as possible, and to be sure of the amount of interest due, use the official calculator from the Ministry of Finance website. In many cases, the interest won’t even manage to accrue, because in order to make it profitable to collect it, the amount of interest must exceed three times the fee charged for registered mail. The amount currently stands at PLN 8.70.
However, if the delay is neither short nor a one-time event, it is possible that our act will be classified as a so-called persistent failure to pay taxes. In such a situation, we are already at risk of being held liable for fiscal penalties, or more specifically, a fine.
What is “persistence” in not paying taxes? In the Fiscal Penal Code, one can search in vain for a specific provision that specifies this term (only Article 57 is available, proclaiming that “A taxpayer who persistently fails to pay tax on time is subject to a fine for a fiscal offense”).
However, a decision of the Supreme Court (ref. I KZP 2/03), which says that “persistence in non-payment of tax means the creation of a state of unlawfulness that lasts for a certain period of time, may lead to the right track. In turn, this indicates that we are dealing with an act of a permanent nature.”
Thus, if a delay in paying taxes is interpreted as persistent, we can expect a fine, the amount of which can vary greatly – in 2021 the lowest fine that can be adjudicated is PLN 280, while the highest is as much as PLN 56,000!
What to do when we have no way to pay the tax?
In everyone’s life, there are more difficult periods or moments when running a business doesn’t pan out financially. If the situation is so troublesome that, despite our sincerest intentions, we are unable to pay the tax on time, we can start by applying to the tax office for deferment of payment or payment in installments.
Even if interest has already accrued, all is not lost! In this case, submit a request for deferral or installment of payment of tax arrears plus interest. In an emergency situation, you can also try to apply for remission of tax arrears.
Keep in mind, however, that each of the reliefs listed above is discretionary, meaning that the office can simply refuse to grant it without giving a reason.
Refusal of a fiscal decision and what next?
Fortunately, there is another option: tax financing. All you have to do is indicate in the form the tax you want to finance, enter your company’s basic data, and then choose how long you want to spread the payment over. The entire process is done online, and you confirm the terms of the agreement via SMS code.
