Electronical financial statements in Poland

PHIG.pl » Consejos de expertos » Electronical financial statements in Poland
  • Publicación 28 junio 2019
  • Modificado 2019-06-28 13:36:38

 

2019 is the first year when new rules on how to prepare, sign and submit financial documents to Polish registry courts are applying. These changes turned out to be a great challenge for entrepreneurs - especially foreigners sitting in Management Boards who do not have a PESEL number and do not reside permanently in Poland.

 

Just to remember (the dates have not changed), statutory deadlines are as follows:

  • - in 3 months from the balance sheet day (by 31.03.*) the financial statement and report on company’s activities should be electronically signed (QES)
  • - in 6 months from the balance sheet day (by 30.06.*) the financial statement should be approved by the General Shareholders Meeting
  • - within 15 days from approving the documents (by 15.07.*) documents should be submitted to the National Court Register (KRS)

 

The direct responsibility for fulfilling the above obligations lies with the persons managing the company.

 

Major problems

 

From this year, most of financial statements prepared, need to have a special electronic format and logical structure. Preparing such file requires using special accounting software.

 

Another change is that the documents should be signed in electronic form:

a)         with signature confirmed with Trusted Profile ePUAP – the obtaining of which requires a PESEL number (personal identity number); or

b)         with qualified electronic signature (QES) compliant with eIDAS requirements and XAdES algorithm – for obtaining this type of signature PESEL number is not required; although such eIDAS-compliant QES can be obtained also in other than Poland EU countries, we have observed lots of problems with non-Polish QES – they are not correctly recognized by the Ministry of Justice submitting systems.

 

Persons obliged to use QES are: Company’s bookkeeper and all Management Board Members. Unfortunately there is no legal possibility to sign this documents the by a proxy or only by elected / certain members of the Management Board.

 

Submitting financial documents

 

Submitting the documents to KRS is also fully electronical now. Entrepreneurs can choose two ways (websites) for submitting (unfortunately, both have only Polish language version):

a)         Charge-free submission to the Financial Documents Depository (RDF) – possible only by a board member or commercial proxy holding a PESEL number.

b)         Paid submission of financial documents through the S24 portal – can be done by chosen proxy; method provided e.g. for companies which management board members do not have a PESEL number.

 

Olesiński & Wspólnicy (O&W) experience

 

O&W has extensive experience in the full spectrum of the above topics - from preparing financial statements, through their signing, to submitting them online without or with minimal involvement of the company or its management.

 

At the same time, O&W offers comprehensive support in the procedure of obtaining qualified signatures, also without the need for presence in Poland - the required authentication activities can be performed partly by a foreign notary, according to the guidelines provided by O&W.

 

If you haven’t signed your financial statement yet, you have difficulties with submitting financial documents to KRS, or if you’re facing any other problems / have any questions in this scope – please do not hesitate to contact us directly.

 

2019 is the first year when new rules on how to prepare, sign and submit financial documents to Polish registry courts are applying. These changes turned out to be a great challenge for entrepreneurs - especially foreigners sitting in Management Boards who do not have a PESEL number and do not reside permanently in Poland.

 

Just to remember (the dates have not changed), statutory deadlines are as follows:

  • in 3 months from the balance sheet day (by 31.03.*) the financial statement and report on company’s activities should be electronically signed (QES)
  • in 6 months from the balance sheet day (by 30.06.*) the financial statement should be approved by the General Shareholders Meeting
  • within 15 days from approving the documents (by 15.07.*) documents should be submitted to the National Court Register (KRS)

 

The direct responsibility for fulfilling the above obligations lies with the persons managing the company.

 

Major problems

 

From this year, most of financial statements prepared, need to have a special electronic format and logical structure. Preparing such file requires using special accounting software.

 

Another change is that the documents should be signed in electronic form:

a)         with signature confirmed with Trusted Profile ePUAP – the obtaining of which requires a PESEL number (personal identity number); or

b)         with qualified electronic signature (QES) compliant with eIDAS requirements and XAdES algorithm – for obtaining this type of signature PESEL number is not required; although such eIDAS-compliant QES can be obtained also in other than Poland EU countries, we have observed lots of problems with non-Polish QES – they are not correctly recognized by the Ministry of Justice submitting systems.

 

Persons obliged to use QES are: Company’s bookkeeper and all Management Board Members. Unfortunately there is no legal possibility to sign this documents the by a proxy or only by elected / certain members of the Management Board.

 

Submitting financial documents

 

Submitting the documents to KRS is also fully electronical now. Entrepreneurs can choose two ways (websites) for submitting (unfortunately, both have only Polish language version):

a)         Charge-free submission to the Financial Documents Depository (RDF) – possible only by a board member or commercial proxy holding a PESEL number.

b)         Paid submission of financial documents through the S24 portal – can be done by chosen proxy; method provided e.g. for companies which management board members do not have a PESEL number.

 

Olesiński & Wspólnicy (O&W) experience

 

O&W has extensive experience in the full spectrum of the above topics - from preparing financial statements, through their signing, to submitting them online without or with minimal involvement of the company or its management.

 

At the same time, O&W offers comprehensive support in the procedure of obtaining qualified signatures, also without the need for presence in Poland - the required authentication activities can be performed partly by a foreign notary, according to the guidelines provided by O&W.

 

If you haven’t signed your financial statement yet, you have difficulties with submitting financial documents to KRS, or if you’re facing any other problems / have any questions in this scope – please do not hesitate to contact us directly.

 

 

Contact persons:

Marcel Mańka

Consultant
Legal Department
T. +48 71 75 00 767

M. +48 880 349 882
marcel.manka@olesinski.com
www.olesinski.com

 

Filip Mroczkowski, LL.M.
Senior Manager
Attorney-at-law (radca prawny)

T. +48 71 75 00 711
M. +48 664 306 097

filip.mroczkowski@olesinski.com

www.olesinski.com

 


*assuming that the financial year coincides with the calendar year (which applies to most companies).