Taxes - Have not paid taxes yet for 2008

Hi there,

I am in big s***, cos I have not paid yet my taxes for fiscal year 2008. I know it was last April 30th BUT:

I no longer live in Poland, I stopped working for my ex company at the end of 2008. I was sick and hospitalized, then I had rehabilitation therapy (for my legs), and that ladies and gentleman absorbed all my time. So paying 146 zl back to tax office was not on the top of my priorities, but getting well.

I am not planning to go back to Poland any time soon. But I am not EU citizen (American) and I just dont wanna have trouble next time i visit the region, cos I guess everything is connected in EU and I dont wanna have a bad record just cos of 146 zl.

Besides, is it that bad to forget about this? not suggesting any wrongdoing but I do want to reimbourse this and I would just like that the freaking Tax Office would remark that I am no longer in the country...

Last time I tried to update my records twice before leaving and they are still having my NIP with my very first address, even tho I changed it several times during my stay.

Thanks a lot for giving away any details about how to make this work.

And if I have to pay, then what is the fine? guess some percentage over the total amount of what I have to reimbourse?

Thanks a lot
Frank

For the sake of 146pln is it not worth just calling them and paying them over the phone by card? Its not exactly a lot of money and it will avoid any future problems.

No you aren't in trouble. Just make a transfer now and write a letter in which you explain why you didn't pay, apologise for not paying and express your active regret for not paying.


I would be very surprised if you had to pay any fine at all. The general rule with the Polish tax office is that if you go to them and confess your sins, they go easy on you; but if you try to screw them over and they catch you, they will nail you to the wall as a warning to others.

HI. dont get me started on the Tax office. I purposely went into the tax office to ask if my Tax for 2008 was in order. The woman had my file and said that everything was in order and that they owed me about 700pln... A few weeks later my accountant got an URGENT letter from the tax office saying that i owed the about 50% of the taxes due for 2008. I was able to provide proof and it is all sorted now.

To your question, I would pay up if you can. You are probably not at the top of their most wanted list but it it really better to get things sorted. I have heard, and i dont know how true it is, that if a non-national does not pay a fine e.g. jay walking, parking etc, and they have your passport number, that they put a flag on your passport so that next time you try to get in to the coutnry, they nab you. As i said, i am not sure if this is true or just an urban legend.

A Polish guy in the US didn't pay his fine for a ticket 8 years ago and went back to Poland. Now he is back in the US again and got pulled over. They found all his information on the computer and had to pay his fine from years ago. Stuff stays on your record untill it's paid off. Thanks to computers ;)

Hello everybody,

Thank you for your replies, much appreciated.

I have got a friend in Warsaw working for PwC and he was kind enough to indicate me that I should send a letter informing how regretful I am for this mess and I should make the transfer inmediately. Also I have got to get in touch with the Tax Office of the town I was living in to get further info. He is being fantastic in coordinating the efforts to get this clear. Besides he informed me that it is indeed much better and pretty much compulsory/responsible to get your record clean since after Poland joined the EU everything is being shared, so it's not only a matter of airports but just to keep your profile on the bright side.

Thanks for the urban legend as well, nobody said they are not there for a reason! Once I get the format about how to fill in the letter (it is in Polish, a language I do not master) I will be happy to share the procedures with you, you never know how useful it may be for any expat.

Regards
Frank