Submitting financial statement in Poland. A step-by-step overview of the procedure

The financial report reflects a company’s financial position in a given financial year. It allows for assessing the profitability of the business and contributes to security of economic transactions. Who must submit it? What does the procedure to submit a financial report to the National Court Register (KRS) look like? When to submit the report? Find answers to these questions in the article below.

Table of Contents

• Submitting financial statement in Poland. Entities obliged to prepare a financial report
• When should the financial report be submitted?
• How to submit a financial statement?
• Submitting financial statement in Poland. Preparing the documents
• The process of submitting a financial statement
• The final step in submitting a financial statement
• Submitting financial statement in Poland. Summary

Submitting financial statement in Poland. Entities obliged to prepare a financial report

The Accounting Act obliges entities registered in the KRS to submit an annual financial report.

This requirement does not apply to general partnerships of natural persons or partnerships whose net revenues from the sale of goods, products and financial operations for the previous financial year amounted to less than 2 million EUR and which do not keep accounting records.

They submit a statement to the registry court stating that they are not obligated to prepare an annual financial report. They must submit the statement within 6 months from the end of the financial year.

When should the financial report be submitted?

The Accounting Act determines the time frame for submitting a financial report.

1. The first step involves preparing the financial report. It must be done no later than 3 months from the balance sheet date. The manager of the entity is responsible for submitting the report. Moreover, he needs to present it for approval to the competent authorities. The document must have a date on it. Moreover, the manager of the entity and an accountant must sign it. The absence of a signature requires a written justification.
2. The second step is the approval of the annual financial report by the authorized body. It must happen no later than 6 months from the balance sheet date. If this deadline is not met, the financial report must still be submitted within the next 15 days. Yet, it must provide information that it has not been approved. If the approval of the report takes place later, it must be also submitted within the next 15 days.
3. The final step for the entity’s manager is to submit a financial report to the National Court Register. It must be filed within 15 days from the annual report’s approval date.

How to submit a financial statement?

You can submit the financial report only electronically through the dedicated eKRS system. Therefore, it is necessary to have an individual account. If your entity isn’t registered on the platform yet, you can create the account using a qualified signature or a trusted profile.

The basic method to submit the financial report is by using the Financial Documents Repository (RDF). It is a free platform available to entrepreneurs registered in the National Court Register. However, access to it is only possible if the PESEL number of the reporting person has been disclosed in the KRS.

If the reporting person is authorized to represent the entity, is a commercial proxy, an official receiver, an administrator in restructuring proceedings, or a liquidator, but his PESEL number has not been disclosed in the KRS, or if he/she is a proxy whose PESEL number has not been disclosed in the KRS, the financial report is submitted through the S24 platform. This method is available also for foreigners who do not have a PESEL number.

Submitting the financial report through the S24 system is an alternative method. This involves filing an application for entry in the entrepreneurs register, indicating the submission of financial documents (KRS-Z30 form). One must also pay a fee in the amount of 140 PLN.

Submitting financial statement in Poland. Preparing the documents

The financial statement is submitted in electronic form. It is a single file in XML format. One must sign it electronically. The file contains all the components of the report. Namely, the balance sheet, profit and loss account, and additional information.

The documents enclosed to the report must be in electronic form. At the same time, the legislator has not provided any special requirements for them. It is enough to prepare them in a readable file, e.g. text, or graphic file.

Among the documents that must be enclosed, there are:

• Report on the company’s operations
• Report on payments to the public administration,
• Auditor’s opinion/ report on the audit of the annual financial statements,
• Report on the activities of the capital group,
• Report on the activities of the parent company,
• Consolidated report on payments to public administration

You can submit resolutions or decisions approving the annual financial report or consolidated annual financial report in the form of scans. It is important to note that all submitted documents must be digitally signed. This concerns both the financial report and the enclosed additional documents.

The process of submitting a financial statement

When entering data into the dedicated system, you should first specify:

• The reporting period for which the financial report is being submitted.
• The type of report.
• The date of preparing the document.
• The language in which the document is prepared.

The choice of enclosed documents depends on the organizational form of the reporting entity. It is determined by the Accounting Act. It is important to attach the documents in separate files and click the “add documents” button.

Next, you need to submit a declaration stating that the attached documents of the financial report, and payments to the public administration are signed by authorized persons. Namely, by the head of the entity (or a person authorized to represent it) and the person keeping the accounting records. If there is no signature, this fact should be noted in the system along with the reason.

Before submitting the documents, you should verify the accuracy of the data.

The final step in submitting a financial statement

After submitting the documents, the system will verify data correctness and completeness. Upon successful verification, the system will generate notifications regarding:

• Registration of the report’s submission.
• Notification in the National Court Register.
• Uploading the documents into the Financial Documents Repository.

A financial report submitted through the RDF platform will appear in the repository as soon as possible. The maximum time for it is 24 hours. You can track the status of the submission under the “notifications” tab.

Financial documents that have passed the process are available for viewing. One can do it through the financial document’s browser.

The financial report submitted through the S24 system will appear in the RDF after processing the KRS-Z30 application. Information about the completion of the process will be visible under the “messages” tab. Moreover, a submitter receives notification to the email address related to the account.

Submitting financial statement in Poland. Summary

The financial report is a very important document from the perspective of business transactions. The procedure for submitting it must follow specific legal requirements. Failure to comply with them has certain consequences.

If the above article caught your attention and you want to know more about the topic, we invite you to contact us. Specialists from our law firm in Łódź and Warsaw are at your disposal. Contact us today and let us help you.