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New principles for filing financial statements – PESEL number is necessary

2018-03-27

On 15 March 2018 the amendment of the Act on the National Court Register came into force and may be of special importance for the companies in which foreigners sit on the Management Board. It turns out that in order to be able to file the financial statements, they must have a PESEL number.

The amending Act imposes an obligation on entities to file financial statements by electronic way, reporting through the ICT system specially designed for that purpose.

However, the obligation to prepare financial statements in electronic form, stipulated by Article 19e paragraph 1 of the Act on the National Court Register, will be effective as of 1 October 2018. In the transitional period, i.e. from 15 March to 30 September, financial statements prepared in hard copy version will be scanned and sent through the ICT system.

In both cases they have to be affixed with a qualified electronic signature or a signature confirmed by ePUAP trusted profile of at least one individual whose PESEL number has been disclosed in the National Court Register, entered as a member of the body authorised to representation, a partner authorised to represent a partnership, a receiver or liquidator.

It is evident from the above that an individual who does not have PESEL number (disclosed in the National Court Register) will not be able to file financial statements. This problem concerns mainly companies with foreign participation because foreigners are members of Management Boards above all in such companies.   

If a foreigner has permanent residence in Poland, according to information provided by the Ministry of Digitalisation, he/she must apply for PESEL number to the municipal office competent for his/her place of residence. And if he/she does not have permanent residence, which based on our practical experience happens most often, such application is to be submitted in the office competent for the registered office of the employer. If the applicant does not work or his/her employer has registered office outside the Republic of Poland, the Office of the Śródmieście Borough in the City of Warsaw is competent.

After PESEL number has been assigned, this fact must be notified to the National Court Register.

Because the entire process takes a long time, especially as regards waiting time for disclosure of PESEL number in the National Court Register, and the applicant must appear in person in the appropriate office, we recommend not to leave necessary formal arrangements to the last moment.

At the same time please note that the Ministry of Justice has launched on the website https://ekrs.ms.gov.pl/ a free-of-charge service “Repository of Financial Documents”. It is possible not only to file financial statements and other documents without any payment but also to search for and download free-of-charge a financial document of an entity which is entered to the Register of Business Entities of the National Court Register.

 

Barbara Otrzonsek, Tax Consultant, ATA Tax Sp. z o.o.