Claiming Income Taxes in Poland

Hi!

I've come to Poland from another EU country to work for just under 3 months and from what I've been paid so far, I seem to be taxed more than what I should be(for example, I'm pretty sure first 3000zl or so aren't taxed, but mine were). I was wondering what the situation was with tax returns in this country? Do you have to file for them, or are they automatically returned at the end of tax year(I saw something about 30th of April)? If you have to file for them, how do you do so? Is it possible to get pension contribution back as I'm a resident of a different country and will never claim the pension here? There is so little information on this, especially in English..

Maybe someone has been in a similar situation? I'd be forever grateful if somebody could help :)

To claim taxes in Poland you have to live here for more than 6 months in a tax year. You cannot get back pension contribution, only have your pension payed from Poland after reaching required retirement year, provided you had worked for more than 1 year in given EU country.

By "claiming" surely you mean "paying"?

@Monitor, when all the Poles went to the UK and got legal jobs and paid tax on their UK employment, did they pay that tax to the UK tax office or the Poland tax office for the first 6 months of the tax year of their stay in the UK?

Thousands of Poles would surely have still been tax resident in Poland for many months when they arrived in the UK and started working, right? So did you hear of Poles paying their tax to the Poland tax office during that time until they became UK tax resident? Serious question - I've often wondered what happened with that.

And when those Poles return again from the UK to Poland to live, if they find work back home in Poland, do they then have to send the tax to the UK tax office for 6 months? If they left money in a UK bank earning interest, do they have to pay tax on that and send it to the Poland tax office for 6 months or however long they're still considered tax resident in the UK after returning back to Poland?

By claiming I meant getting taxes back, for example if somebody worked only for 2 months per year and payed less than 3000 PLN taxes.

Actually I was probably wrong and such claiming money back should be possible. Opinion of somebody working professionally with taxes would be useful.

When you say paid less than 3000PLN in taxes, do you not mean earned less than 3000PLN (ie income, wages) ? Because I think that's the approximate annual limit before a person gets taxed in PL (in the UK it's GBP10 tys. approx.).

I'd be interested if anyone can answer this point I made above:
when all the Poles went to the UK and got legal jobs and paid tax on their UK employment, did they pay that tax to the UK tax office or the Poland tax office for the first 6 months of the tax year of their stay in the UK?

Thousands of Poles would surely have still been tax resident in Poland for many months when they arrived in the UK and started working, right? So did you hear of Poles paying their tax to the Poland tax office during that time until they became UK tax resident? Serious question - I've often wondered what happened with that.

And when those Poles return again from the UK to Poland to live, if they find work back home in Poland, do they then have to send the tax to the UK tax office for 6 months? If they left money in a UK bank earning interest, do they have to pay tax on that and send it to the Poland tax office for 6 months or however long they're still considered tax resident in the UK after returning back to Poland?

Of course you're right. That's tax free income limit, not tax amount as I said.


Here it says that people who live in UK and come working for short term to Poland are obliged to pay taxes in Poland only from work performed in Poland. So they don't have to pay for example taxes from interests in Poland, but UK. It must be symmetrical for Poles coming for short term to UK.


pit.pl/osrodek_interesow_zyciowych_w_swietle_nowelizacji_ustawy_o_pit_k_2633.php

Actually I would like somebody who knows to answer how can I get back tax from my investments (lokata) in Polish banks if I am tax resident in Germany? Tax is commissioned automatically in Poland, but according to the above law I should pay it in Germany, not Poland.

And about the poster question, weather money can be claimed back. I think that I've heard that I can claim money back in Germany only if I am already tax resident here. But probably somebody told me wrong.

Thanks Monitor.

It's also quite hard to find an accountant who understands this stuff, and many contradict each other. I have been reliably informed that's because some accountants here are basically not accountants but bookkeepers or clerks.

But just for anyone else who views this thread, they should be made aware that the amount that can be earned tax-free in Poland is much, much, much lower than in the UK

In UK currency, it's about 600 quid or so (varies by exchange rate, obviously). The good news is that more is tax deductible than in the UK, but even so it's a shock.

10k in the UK compared to 600 quid in Poland !..I can see why the UK is destination of choice for many Pole's.

And if you want to start a business as an individual (not limited company), it's usually as simple as a short form or letter to the UK tax office and then either paying the UK's version of ZUS or getting exemption if earnings are low (a form needs to be completed to gain a certificate of exemption before being allowed exemption but it's no big deal).

Actually what matters for normal workers is how much NET they get and not how much taxes they pay, but if you want to compare some meaningful numbers then you should compare total taxation and not just one parameter of many taxes.

And to compare total taxation very convenient is Tax Freedom Day: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tax_Freedom_Day

For Poland it's: 47.4% and for UK 40.5%, so yes, Poland has higher taxes than UK, but lower that German 51.7%.

OMG 50%....in the UK the more you earn the less you pay, its called tax avoidance and is one of the leading polices of the Tory party.

In Poland it's effectively opposite.