It is always more difficult to open a business in another country than in your home country. And even a weak knowledge of the Polish language and the absence of long-term social ties are not the biggest obstacle. The most difficult thing is to master the new national legislation and join the orderly ranks of serviceable taxpayers without delays in reporting and paying taxes. Some of the foreigners storm libraries and educational Internet resources, and some immediately decide that accounting in Poland is the part of the business that should be entrusted to an invited specialist.
Annual financial statements of Polish companies
Fundamental changes in the system of accounting for assets and liabilities took place in Poland on September 29, 1994, when the law "On accounting" was adopted. The reforms have touched on the way assets are valued and their liquidity, taking into account the realities of the market economy, but did not change the fact that registration is carried out in a double-entry system.
The transaction recording language is Polish and the currency is zloty.
The principle of consistent and continuous entry of entries into the accounting account registers is implemented in the form of specialized books (ledgers), on the basis of which the annual financial report (sprawozdania finansowego) is drawn up.
The reporting includes:
- balance for 12 months (bilans) - submitted by July 15 of the next year;
- information on profit and loss;
- appendices and explanations: auditor's opinion, protocol on the distribution of profits and payment of dividends, confirmation that the report was approved at the meeting of founders.
The package of documents is submitted to the National Court Register (KRS), from 2021 this can only be done electronically.
If the company is not subject to registration in the register, then the report is sent through the Central Register - Centralnej Ewidencji i Informacji o Działalności Gospodarczej until April 30 of the year following the reporting year.
It should be remembered that financial statements not approved by the founders are not accepted by the tax authorities.
List of main taxes
The Polish tax system includes more than a dozen direct and indirect taxes, not counting social security charges for employees administered by the Social Security Administration (Zakład Ubezpieczeń Społecznych - ZUS).
The list of the main and most common taxes for individuals and organizations consists of:
- income tax - CIT;
- personal income tax - PIT;
- value added tax, VAT - VAT;
- excise taxes.
In addition, real estate objects and vehicles that are in personal or commercial ownership are subject to taxation.
Separately, there are tax payments under simplified systems: forest and agricultural fees, tonnage tax.
For individuals, there are several more types of contributions:
- for individual transactions of a civil nature;
- inheritance and gift tax;
- tax on income from bank deposits.
Tax reporting
Recently, the Polish Fiscal Service has abandoned a large number of monthly reports in favor of making regular advance payments with subsequent adjustment of obligations in the annual accounts.
Following the trends in the information sphere, the Ministry of Finance of Poland has developed and successfully implemented an electronic reporting system using an enhanced electronic digital signature.
Since 2021, some reports (for example, VAT declaration) are generally accepted exclusively through KRS online services or on a paid basis through commercial organizations.
The most common types of reports and their forms:
- income tax declaration - CIT-6 and CIT-7;
- simplified form - CIT-TP;
- report on determination of personal income tax liability - PIT-36 and PIT-37;
- document on personal income tax withheld from the salary of an employee - PIT-11;
- monthly VAT declaration - VAT-7.
Annual reports are submitted by April 30: in paper form - before the end of the tax services, in electronic form - until 23:59 hours on the last reporting day.
The cost of accounting services
If a businessman refuses a full-time accountant, then he usually justifies his decision with several "iron" arguments:
- payment directly depends on the load in the current month or year;
- the outsourcing company itself takes care of the professional development of the personnel;
- updating the knowledge of legislation and reporting forms is also entrusted to an external accountant;
- you can save on organizing an office and an additional workplace for a permanent employee.
All of these benefits come at a price, which translates into a monthly subscription fee. The basic principles for the formation of its value:
- The cost depends on the number of transactions (entries in registers) per month. Moreover, the more records, the higher the total amount of payment, but the lower the price of each individual transaction. For example, for five transactions you need to pay 300 PLN, and for 200 - 1500-1600 PLN per month.
- The described amount does not include services for registration and dismissal of employees. For each fact of acceptance and calculation, the contractor must be paid 45 zlotys. A plus will be monthly personnel support - another 20 to 45 zlotys for each employed (payroll, filling out reports, paying taxes).
- If a taxpayer works with VAT, then you will have to pay extra for registering documents in a special register for recording VAT documentation. In this case, the final amount also depends on the number of securities processed (from PLN 20 for 5 transactions to PLN 200 per month for 200 transactions).
- It is difficult to predict the costs of private consultations; their cost is set individually.
For those who have suspended their activities, there is a price tag. The monthly fee for "zero" turnovers and reporting will be PLN 100. For a company that does not carry out work at all, maintenance will be even cheaper - only 200-250 zlotys per year.
It should be borne in mind that in order to increase the price attractiveness of their own services, the overwhelming number of accounting organizations indicate in the price list the cost excluding VAT. This means that the final amount will increase by another 23%.
Finding a good accountant in Poland
The choice of personnel is one of the most pressing problems in business, and it does not depend on the size of the business or its "registration". If the question of personnel recruitment concerns representative offices or branches abroad, then the owner needs to focus primarily on a person who speaks several languages of communication (at least English and Polish).
Otherwise, the requirements for a good accountant in Poland are standard:
- the presence of a license from the Polish Ministry of Finance to conduct settlement operations;
- knowledge of tax and financial legal framework;
- at least a superficial acquaintance with labor legislation;
- relevant education and work experience (preferably with foreign investors);
- skills in working with office applications and specialized software;
- Residence permit or Polish citizenship;
- punctuality, decency, stress resistance.
At the same time, you need to understand that an accountant will need to organize a workplace and pay a monthly salary in the amount of 2,000 to 4,000 thousand zlotys.
Advantage of an outsourced accountant
With the development of various ways of effective remote communication between people and organizations, enterprises are increasingly using external specialists. The advantages of freelance collaboration are attracting an increasing number of clients with small and not very high turnovers:
- almost complete absence of the "human factor" - illness, vacations and other personnel problems fall on the shoulders of the outsourcing company;
- saving on office costs - especially important for entrepreneurs without a stationary workplace who carry out orders on the road;
- proportional payment - only for the actual volume of transactions per month;
- saving on updating the employee's knowledge and improving his qualifications, as well as obtaining licenses and purchasing specialized software.
The customer only has to carefully read the text of the agreement on the provision of accounting services and stipulate in it the methods of compensation for damage in case of errors of the contractor.
The contract for the performance of work is a full-fledged insurance for the customer, therefore, it cannot be refused in any case.
Comparison of accounting principles in Russia and Poland
The basic principle of accounting for accounting transactions is accurate, complete, timely and consistent recording of events by using double entries on analytical and synthetic accounts. It remains unchanged in most countries of the world, and Poland is no exception.
Since neither Russia nor Poland has a strict requirement to use only international accounting standards (IFRS), both countries have adopted national rules (PBU).
If some issues are not settled in IFRS, then the consolidated statements are based on data compiled according to the principles of these provisions.
Polish legislators took care of adopting a standard chart of accounts for enterprises of all types of property, but left each of them with a choice: to use the existing one or to develop their own list of accounting registers. To exercise this right, it is enough to fix this norm in the order on the accounting policy of the enterprise.
The Polish standard chart of accounts differs from the Russian one not only in numbers, but also in the principle of construction:
- If in the Russian Federation the classes of accounts go sequentially, repeating sections of the balance sheet, then in Poland the IFRS principle was adopted and the most liquid assets were taken to the first places.
- Polish accountants are not required to use the bad debt reserve in order to adjust tax expenses by the amount of outstanding debts. To this end, they resort to a deferred tax instrument, taking into account not the amount of debt, but the fiscal liability paid under the unfinished transaction.
- To correct errors in the calculation and making changes in Poland, it is customary to use the "black side" or reverse posting method (increase in turnover on debit or credit).
- In Russia, they often resort to the “red storno” method (decrease in turnover). And in this respect, Polish accountants are in solidarity with IFRS, in which it is prohibited to use negative transactions.
Summarizing
Immigration to another country brings a lot of trouble and worries, so you should not add to them attempts to accelerate the study of someone else's legislation. In this situation, it is much more efficient to entrust accounting to an invited company. At least at first.
