Financial statements for 2022 - deadlines

31 March 2023 - statutory reporting deadline

The deadlines to prepare financial statements are set out in the Accounting Act. For entities with the same financial year as the calendar year in 2023, these are as follows:

No postponement of reporting deadlines in 2023

At present, there is no information on the postponement of reporting deadlines, so the statutory deadlines under the Accounting Act apply. In recent years, the deadlines were extended due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Entities then gained an additional 3 months to comply with reporting obligations.

In 2023, it is likely that there will be a return to standard deadlines, so it is worth preparing the 2022 report already in March.

Explore the service: Financial statement preparation - outsourcing of accounting

Financial statements preparation - key information

According to Article 45 of the Accounting Act, the financial statements shall be prepared in electronic form and bear a qualified electronic signature, a trusted signature or a personal signature.

At present, a significant number of companies keeping accounts are required to prepare their reports in a structured form, i.e. as a file in XML format compliant with the rules set out in the relevant XSD structure.

The financial statements should consist of:

• balance sheet;
• profit and loss account;
• notes including introduction to the financial statements and explanatory notes.

Time to draw up the 2022 statements is counted up to the date on which the accounts are closed, no later than three months after the end of the financial year, that is, up to 31 March 2023 for entities ending their financial year on 31 December 2022. When drawn up, there is a deadline to sign the annual statements no later than on 31 March 2023.

The next step is to audit the annual financial statements (if the entity is obliged to do so) and approve the statements. Within 15 days from the date of approval, the financial statements, together with other required documents, are submitted to the competent register court (KRS) or, for PIT taxpayers, the annual financial statements shall be submitted to the Head of the National Tax Administration (KAS) by 2 May 2023 at the latest.

Signing the financial statements

The provision that only one member of the board of management (a multi-member body) may sign the financial statements has been introduced on 1 January 2022, with the condition that the other members of the management body make declarations confirming that the financial statements meet the statutory requirements. This is a simplified way of signing the statements for entities managed by a multi-member body.

Nevertheless, the simplified way of signing the statement requires a certain sequence of actions preceding the signature act itself. First of all, the statement should be signed by the person entrusted with keeping the accounts. Later, the members of the management board make the relevant declarations and only then one member of the management board provides an electronic signature.

There is no option for the declarations to be prepared after signing the statements, since the declarations, under Article 52(2b) of the Accounting Act, should be attached to the financial statements.