The personal income tax for 2022 must be settled with the tax office by May 2, 2023.
For several years, the Ministry of Finance has been offering the "Your e-PIT" service, which allows you to file your tax return electronically. Furthermore, if you file your tax return using the PIT-37 or PIT-38 form and fail to submit your tax return, the tax office will consider the automatically generated return to be validly filed. This solution protects individuals who earn income from employment contracts and capital gains from the consequences of failing to file their returns on time. However, the tax office will not include tax reliefs that can be claimed in the prepared returns. These include:
Internet Relief
The tax base can be reduced by expenses incurred for using the internet. However, the deduction cannot exceed PLN 760 in the tax year. To be eligible for this relief, the taxpayer must have invoices issued for internet use. If the invoice covers both internet use and other services (phone calls, text messages), the relief can also be applied if the invoice separately identifies the amount due for internet use.
The relief is time-limited. It can only be used for two consecutive years. The taxpayer decides when to start using the relief. The relief cannot be used in multiple years. If you choose to use the relief in one year, you must also use it in the following year; otherwise, you will no longer be eligible.
Rehabilitation relief
Rehabilitation expenses can also be deducted from the tax base. This relief is contingent upon the person to whom the expenses relate having a disability certificate, a decision granting a disability pension (full or partial), a training pension, a social pension, or a disability certificate for a person under 16 years of age. This relief is available to: spouse, children, parents, spouse's parents, siblings, stepfather, stepmother, sons-in-law, and sons of the person to whom the expenses relate, if they are supported by them. The condition for these caregivers to benefit from the rehabilitation relief is that the person to whom the expenses relate does not earn income exceeding twelve times the social pension applicable in December of the tax year – in 2022, this was PLN 16,061.28. The expenses eligible for deduction include, among others: adaptation of a flat to the needs of a disabled person, stay at a rehabilitation camp, paid transport of a disabled person, use of a passenger car owned (co-owned) by a disabled person or a taxpayer supporting a disabled person (expenditure up to PLN 2,280 per year).
Thermal modernization relief
This relief applies to owners and co-owners of single-family homes, including terraced or semi-detached houses. Expenses incurred during the tax year for construction materials, equipment, and services related to the thermal modernization project in this building, which will be completed within the next three years, are deductible from the tax base. Expenses for replacing doors, windows, and garage doors, building insulation, connecting to the district heating network, installing a photovoltaic system, or installing a heat pump, among other things, can be deducted under this relief. The deduction limit is PLN 53,000. Invoices documenting the cost must be present to apply. This relief applies to the taxpayer, so if the taxpayer has thermal modernization of multiple buildings, the maximum deduction is still PLN 53,000. However, if the thermal modernization was performed in a building with multiple co-owners, each co-owner can deduct a maximum of PLN 53,000 from their income.
Family relief
It is primarily aimed at parents, legal guardians, and foster families of minor children. Importantly, the person benefiting from the relief must actually exercise parental authority, not merely possess it. A parent who has lived abroad for the entire tax year cannot take advantage of this relief. In the case of two people eligible for the relief, they can use it in proportions they determine. In the case of joint custody, each parent can take advantage of a 50% relief. Legislators have also introduced an income limit, exceeding which prevents the use of the family relief for one child. This limit is PLN 112,000 for the combined income of both parents if they were married for the entire tax year, and PLN 56,000 for an unmarried taxpayer, including part of the year. However, the higher limit applies to single parents. Income limits will not apply to relief for two or more children. This relief amounts to PLN 96.67 for each month of exercising parental authority over one child, in the case of two children this amount applies to each of them, in the case of three or more minor children: PLN 96.67 for the first and second, PLN 166.67 for the third, PLN 225 for the fourth and each subsequent child.
The relief can also be used for adult children who received care allowance and children under 25 years of age who are studying at school, if these children did not earn any income in the tax year, except for income exempt from income tax, survivor's pension and income in an amount that does not give rise to the obligation to pay tax.
This article is for informational purposes only and does not constitute legal advice.
Legal status as of March 17, 2023
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