HELP - Polish Tax on undeclared money from family

Hey

Please help.

My wife's grandmother gave her a bunch of money 4 years ago, The money was all in cash as her grandmother did not have a bank account.

They did not declare the money as a present as they did not know that such money needs to be decleared.

My wife and her grandmother are both Polish citizens.

As far as I know the money has to be declared within 6 months.

I would like to know if we would have to pay tax on this money, and how much it would be?
My wife's father said that the tax on such money is 70% if it is not declared within 6 months. - I don't know if this is accurate at all.

Please let me know if anyone knows anything regarding this.
_______
Regards,
Andrew

You have a problem with a suitcase of cash how ? => Safety deposit box, problem solved,

Where does your wife live? Is Granny still alive?

Qwerty, we are going through the exact same issue at the moment.

My fiancee's aunt gave her around 20,000zł to help pay our mortgage and it wasn't declared. We were told about it very close to the cut-off point and actually delivered it 1 working-day late (due-date was a Friday). We went back and forth from the tax office, filling out papers and sending them to here there and everywhere. We are still waiting for the 'punishment' that we have to pay - but no, it's certainly not 70%. Your wife's father is very misinformed. It's around 10% maximum. We are expecting to pay around 700zł on it. Lesson learned: in future, make sure you declare it within the six month time frame or you'll get the old beaurocrats whipping you (and believe me, there are very few people who can match the emotional detachment of a Polish beaurocrat - especially those in tax or immigration offices.)

Good luck, hope you don't get stung too much.

Nightglade thanx for the reply.

I was wondering if there is a cut-off date for paying tax on the money, i.e. If you are not cought in 5 years you don't need to pay.

The granny is still alive.
The money was put into shares 4 years ago and recently transferred to my wife's bank account.

The tax office does not know about the money, but we have applied for a mortgage and the bank is asking questions.

Thanx for all the info...

If Granny is still alive, then just ask her to "give it again" with current date... Then there will be no delay. I don't think there is any tax to be paid if "darowizna" because that's what it's called comes from close family member. I gave my mum some money recently to help her with out with buying a flat and it was all tax free. The declaration is only to make the money "legal".

I am not sure if we can just withdraw the money in cash and give it to the granny to give back to us, bare in mind that the money is allready in our bank account.

and what if if is > 50 000 would it not be a problem?

For the record I am not saying it is > "50k"

Sa11y than just seems too easy, but it is a great idea.

Does anyone know the excact persentage of tax that needs to be paid on such money or 'punishment/penalty' that needs to be paid?

Why can't you just give the money back to granny? Just draw up an agreement where she asks her dearly beloved grand-daughter to invest her life savings for her in the stock market, bung in a clause about how the money is returned to her when she asks for it, date the thing to just before she handed over the cash. She then writes to your wife and says she'd like her money back now, your wife gives her the proceeds of the sale of the shares and you're golden. Although your granny should probably write to the tax office and ask how much capital gain tax she needs to pay on the return on her investment. After that's done just check how much granny can give you tax free per year and she gives you that much. And this time remember to declare it.

By "recently transferred" do you mean less than six months? If so, no problem - just declare it as current from when it was transferred. If you declare it, there is nothing to pay. If you miss the deadline for declaration then you pay 10% 'legally', but as with most things here, it seems to be a bit negotiable as we got ours down from paying 2k to probably around 600-800 min/max.

The bank has no right to ask about that, and the tax office cannot look at your bank details without a legal notice (and, if as you say, they don't know about it, then they won't be looking).

That said, I don't know why the punishment is so high. Isn't the fine for missing the deadline of your normal tax declaration only about 50-100zł?

Nightglade - the money was put into shares on my wife's name 4 years ago and she resently (>1 monthago) closed the sharres and transferred the money to her official bank account.

Ok so the bank is not really allowed to ask too many questions...
but we are trying to get a motgage with the bank so they said that they would give us the mortgage if we can tell them where the money came from and prove that it is legal...

Nightglade... if you would prefer to discuss this on $kype I am online and if you are helpfull you will be conpensated for your time.

aubrey.van.der.westhuizen

Thanx...

Wrong! Bank can ask where the money came from as they sometimes suspect it can be from illegal resources,before they finance you something.

I'll be on from 12:00 today if you still need me. It'll probably be better than writing on here.


Perhaps, but you're not legally obliged to answer them any more than I am legally obliged to say what colour my underwear is if you were to ask (black, if you're curious). They just have the ability to refuse you credit if you don't comply with their wishes.

You're not quite up to date with the latest anti money laundering laws it seems.

If you cannot answer or do not want to answer the bank's questions about the origin of the money, then there is a high risk that they will make a declaration to the Polish anti money laundering office (GIIF) who will or will not choose to investigate further

I think the share agreement as Harry suggested is best option.
As to the value... I gave my mum around 50 000 (bit less), so unless you got from gran significantly more, I think it still falls in the same progression bracket.

As for the value, now it is 9637 zl. during 5 years period - it is cumulative. Anything more then that must be declared.
In close family it may be tax free - but you need to declare it during 6 month after geting the money, or you will have to pay tax. Ignore it on your own risk, if found out, it will be treated as any tax evasion.

Also you must get the money transfered onto your bank accout - you need the paper from the bank of the doner, where he orders money transfer, I don't know how such piece of paper is called in English. (dowod nadania)

Sadly, money given to you in cash, from hand to hand, is never tax free, even if declared. They need to know who, whom, and how much exactly.

^ Unless it's income from prostitution, that is tax free.

*contemplates a future career as a gigolo* :>

One more thing. 10%, it was a couple of years back. Now it is 20%, regardless of the group, for the "I have forgoten to declare/didnt knew I have to" gift. Or 75% tax, for the money from the unknown source. They can slap "unknown source" on you, if you claim that you have bought your house with the cash that your now dead gradnfather gave to you several years ago.