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Financial statements and other financial documents - new rules for their submission.

The obligation to submit annual financial reports and other financial documents to the National Court Register (hereinafter referred to as: KRS) is a statutory obligation of all entities registered there pursuant to art. 69 of the Accounting Act (hereinafter referred to as: UOR).

Since 15 March 2018, based on the amended provisions of the Act from 26 January 2018 on the National Court Register (hereinafter referred to as: UOKRS), the procedures for the publication of these documents have changed. What is more, it should be emphasized that changes in this matter have significant meaning. Until now, the obligation to submit annual financial statements to the National Court Register has been executed using the application form  KRS-Z30 and KRS-ZN in paper form, which was manually signed by Management Board members (proxies, attorneys, liquidators or receivers) and sent to the National Court Register.

Based on the amended provisions of UOKRS, the requirement to submit reports in electronic form via the IT system provided by the Minister of Justice was introduced. Reporting via this system is free of charge. In order to submit documents by means of the ICT system, it is necessary to submit a statement that the documents attached to the application meet the requirements specified in the uor. A novelty is the requirement to prepare an electronic report in a structured, electronic form i.e., XML file. In accordance with Art. 45 sec. 1f of the amended UKORS, the report should be prepared in an electronic form in a logical structure and in a format made available by the Minister. The report prepared in this way must be signed with the use of a qualified signature or a trusted ePUAP profile, by at least one person to whose PESEL no. has been disclosed in the Register of Entrepreneurs of the National Court Register and who is at the same time authorised to represent the entity. This mode of submitting financial statements cancels the obligation to send financial statements to tax offices, as it will be done automatically by the National Court Register. In this way, the data included in the financial statements will also be disclosed in the Central Register of Tax Data.

Even a brief analysis of the amended regulations allows practical problems to be identified. The requirement to disclose the PESEL number in the register of entrepreneurs makes it impossible, inter alia, to submit annual reports by entities whose sole members of the management board are foreigners who do not have PESEL number (after 1 January 2018, the PESEL number may be assigned to any foreigner residing on the territory of Poland). It is not possible to appoint a proxy for electronic submission of financial documents, as, according to the explanation of project providers, this activity is of a technical nature and not a procedural activity.

In a situation where an entrepreneur who is obliged to submit annual financial statements cannot do so free of charge, pursuant to the provision of Art. 19e sec. 7 sentence 2 of the UOKRS should do so using the paid system S24, which enables the submission of an application for registration of a change in the submission of financial documents. In this mode, the documents submitted, unlike those submitted electronically, are verified by the court, which is entitled to call for the submission of an appropriate power of attorney. 

On 1 October 2018, the provisions amending the Act entered into force, which introduced the requirement to prepare financial statements in electronic form and bearing a qualified electronic signature or a signature confirmed by a trusted profile of the ePUAP.   

Author: Agnieszka Wróblewska - Tumiel