First of all, you have until April 30 (Thursday) to submit your PIT for 2025. However, it is worth submitting your return earlier to avoid unnecessary stress. You should also remember that if you are obliged to submit PIT-37 or PIT-38 and you do not do anything with them, after April 30 they will be automatically accepted in the version prepared by the National Tax Administration (KAS).
However, this does not apply to entrepreneurs' PIT returns. PIT-28, PIT-36 and PIT-36L returns will not be automatically accepted.
Remember that if you do not submit your PIT by April 30 and it is not accepted automatically by the National Tax Administration, you may be subject to criminal and fiscal penalties for failing to submit your tax return. Therefore, it is better to submit even an empty form than not to submit it at all.
Read also: Up to 27 thousand PLN tax savings. Here are the conditions that must be met
2. What tax form
Choose the right tax form. You can choose from:
—PIT-37 – submitted by full-time employees, contractors and retirees,
— PIT-38 – submitted by, among others: people who achieved income/losses from the stock exchange, investment funds, cryptocurrencies in 2025,
— PIT-39 – submitted by, among others: people who achieved income/losses from the sale of real estate in 2025, as well as people who want to take advantage of the housing tax relief,
— PIT-36 – submitted by, among others: entrepreneurs taxed at the PIT scale,
— PIT-36L – submitted by entrepreneurs taxed with a straight-line PIT,
– PIT-28 – submitted by entrepreneurs taxed at a lump sum on recorded income and persons settling income from private rental.
Some taxpayers must file more than one return. For example, if you received income from work (e.g. a full-time job) in 2025, sold shares and an apartment, you must submit three returns: PIT-37 (income from work), PIT-38 (settlement of shares) and PIT-39 (settlement of the apartment).
3. How to file a tax return
You can submit your tax return in traditional or electronic form. In practice, the form you can take it to the tax office, send it by post or send it electronically via your e-PIT or using a commercial PIT submission program.
So you don't have to use your e-PITalthough it is one of the most popular forms. Last year, the vast majority of taxpayers filed their PIT electronically, of which over 10 million people used your e-PIT. It is so popular because after logging in to your e-PIT, you have pre-filled returns prepared by the tax administration. The tax office prepared PIT returns based on, among others, PIT-11 submitted by employers.
– Service Your e-PIT is a great convenience, but remember that the system operates only on information sent by employers and other payers. He does not have knowledge of the taxpayer's full personal situationwhich entitles you to numerous deductions, therefore it is necessary to personally supervise the final form of the declaration. You should independently verify the correctness of the data – from formal issues, such as the address, to substantive values: the amount of income, the costs of obtaining it or the amount of social contributions. Only such an inspection ensures that we have fully taken advantage of the opportunity to reduce tax and maximize the refund – points out Monika Piątkowska, e-pity tax advisor.
— However, an automatically prepared return should be treated as a starting point, not a final settlement — adds Jacek Dziuba, tax advisor and finance expert.
— It must be remembered that the taxpayer is always responsible for the correctness of the data, even if the form was generated by the Ministry of Finance system – warns Jacek Dziuba.
4. Don't forget about tax preferences
If you meet the requirements, you can settle your account together with a spouse or as a single parent. These are two tax preferences in PIT.
If you are entitled to preferences and you calculate that it is worth it, you will pay less tax. The maximum profit from a joint settlement with your wife/husband or as a single parent may be up to PLN 27,000. PLN 600.
However, if the spouses' income is lower than the tax scale threshold (PLN 120,000), joint settlement will not provide any profit. — Joint settlement of spouses may be particularly beneficial when one of them earns much higher income and the other has low or no income – confirms Jacek Dziuba. The expert reminds that the condition is to remain married and in community property throughout the entire tax year. However, joint settlement is not possible in the case of income taxed with a flat tax or lump sum tax.
5. What reliefs and deductions you can benefit from
If you want to pay lower tax for 2025, it is worth taking advantage of reliefs and deductions. Of course, they can be used by people who meet the conditions.
You can choose from:
— zero PIT tax relief:
- for parents/legal guardians of at least four children (discount for families 4+),
- for working seniors,
- for people who moved to Poland (return relief – however, it does not apply only to returning Poles, foreigners can also benefit from the relief), and
- for young people (up to 26 years of age, so-called youth relief);
— relief for children (pro-family),
— tax relief for monuments,
— thermal modernization relief,
– IKZE relief,
— rehabilitation relief,
— online relief.
Entrepreneurs on the PIT and linear PIT scales can benefit from even more tax relief. Please note that from January 1, 2025, employers who employ Territorial Defense soldiers (TD soldiers) or Active Reserve soldiers may benefit from a tax relief in PIT.
The returns available in the Your e-PIT service include:
- relief for children,
- relief for people up to 26 years of age,
- relief for working seniors, if it is indicated in the information from the payer based on the submitted declaration,
- return relief, if indicated in the information from the payer based on the submitted declaration,
- relief for families 4+, if it is indicated in the information from the payer based on the submitted declaration.
You must indicate the remaining allowances and deductions you are entitled to when settling in the Your e-PIT system.
6. Verify data and documents
— If we use reliefs, such as relief for young people, for working seniors, for return or for families 4+, it is necessary to verify the amounts covered by these exemptions — even if they were included in the advance payments collected by the employer. There is a risk that this data entered the system with errors. You should also remember about deductions that the payer is unaware of and which actually reduce the tax base. This includes, among others: about donations for public benefit purposes, voluntary blood donation or expenses for thermal modernization of the building. Additionally, it is worth checking the correctness of the KRS number of the organization to which we want to donate 1.5%. our tax – advises Monika Piątkowska.
Any relief or preference must also be documented. For example, if you incurred expenses for the thermal modernization of your house and you want to deduct them as part of the thermal modernization relief, you must have invoices from the taxpayer with the NIP number.
In the case of child relief, it is enough to provide the PESEL number or the date of birth of the child/children.
– In the case of most tax reliefs, documentation is crucial – emphasizes Jacek Dziuba. The lack of an invoice or certificate may result in questioning the deduction even after several years.
— Documents confirming the right to reliefs should be kept for at least five years, counting from the end of the year in which the tax payment deadline expired. This applies in particular to invoices, transfer confirmations and certificates and declarations required by law – reminds Jacek Dziuba.
7. Name the organization that will receive 1.5 percent. tax
You can donate 1.5 percent your tax for any selected Public Benefit Organization that is on the list of organizations entitled to receive 1.5%. personal income tax for 2025 in 2026.
If you donated 1.5% in the previous year. tax of an organization using the Your e-PIT service, the tax office entered the same organization (KRS number) in this year's tax return. If you use your e-PIT this year, you can change the public benefit organization (OPP).
8. There is time until April 30 to pay the tax
Even if you submit your PIT in February, you have until April 30, 2026 to pay the tax resulting from the annual return.
The tax must be paid to your individual tax microaccount. Currently, tax can be paid, among others: in the form of a transfer and directly at the e-Tax Office.
9. When will the office refund the tax?
If the return shows an overpayment, then the tax office has to return:
- 45 days if the taxpayer submitted PIT electronically or
- 90 days if the taxpayer submitted PIT in paper form.
In practice, if you send your PIT in February, you can get the refund even within a few hours or days.
10. Sign the declaration and download the employment form
If you complete the declaration, remember to sign it. And if you submit them electronically, download the official confirmation of receipt.
Author: Łukasz Zalewski, journalist of the Law section of Business Insider Polska
