16 July 2026

Tax refund – when does the tax authority refund tax?

Tax refund. March and April are the income tax settlement periods. For CIT taxpayers, the deadline expired at the end of March, while for PIT taxpayers, it is the end of April. As a result of settling the annual tax return, some taxpayers may have a tax overpayment, which can be refunded to the taxpayer.

Tax Overpayment and Tax Arrears

First, it is important to clarify what a tax overpayment is. According to the Tax Ordinance, a tax overpayment is considered a situation where:

• tax has been overpaid, or an undue amount has been paid to the tax office;
• tax has been collected by the taxpayer in an excessive amount or has been collected unduly.

The concept of tax arrears exists in parallel. Tax arrears refers to tax (or tax advances) that have not been paid by the due date. For example, in income tax matters, the deadline for paying tax advances is the 20th day of the month following the end of the previous month. Therefore, if the required advance payment is not paid within this timeframe, a tax arrears will arise.

Overpayment

A tax overpayment can arise as a result of a taxpayer paying too much or an undue amount of tax. A tax overpayment arises on the date of filing a tax return or declaration. In the case of income tax, it arises on the date of filing the annual tax return; in the case of excise tax, on the date of filing the excise tax return; and in the case of value-added tax, on the date of filing the JPK_V7M/K declaration. If an entity (taxpayer, payer, or collector) disputes the validity of the tax collected, they may submit an application for a declaration of overpayment, along with an amendment to their tax return/annual return, so that the tax authority can refund the overpaid tax. It should also be noted that, in addition to a tax refund, the overpaid tax can, and in some situations must, be offset against other tax liabilities. If the taxpayer has any tax arrears, the overpaid tax is automatically offset against these arrears. At the same time, the taxpayer can voluntarily offset their overpayment against other tax liabilities. It’s worth noting that a tax overpayment will not occur if the tax liability has expired. For example, because the deadline for amending the 2019 annual CIT-8 return expired on December 31, 2025 (in accordance with the 5-year statute of limitations for tax liabilities), it is no longer possible to accrue an income tax overpayment for the indicated year.

Tax Refund Deadline

The Tax Ordinance introduces general deadlines for refunding overpaid tax. Exceptions to these deadlines are also provided for, i.e., when the provisions of a separate act provide for different tax refund deadlines (for example, the deadline for VAT refunds or the deadline for withholding tax refunds under the pay-and-refund procedure). The Tax Ordinance provides several different tax refund deadlines: 30 days, 45 days, 2 months, 3 months, and 6 months, respectively. Pursuant to Article 77 of the Tax Ordinance, the deadline for refunding overpaid tax is:

• 30 days – if the overpayment resulted from the issuance of a decision establishing an overpayment or determining the amount of the overpayment;
• 30 days from the date of issuance of a new decision, if the overpayment resulted from the annulment or declaration of invalidity of a decision;
• 30 days from the date of issuance of a decision amending, annulling, or declaring invalid a decision, if the annulment or declaration of invalidity of the decision does not result in the obligation to issue a new decision;
• 30 days from the date of filing a refund application for an overpayment resulting from the case law of the Constitutional Tribunal or the European Court of Justice.

In addition, the deadline for refunding overpaid tax is:

• 45 days – for personal income tax (PIT), if the annual tax return is filed electronically (i.e., via e-tax office); 2 months – if the overpayment resulting from a correction to a tax return involves the submission of an application to establish an overpayment (but not earlier than 3 months from the date of filing the original tax return);
• 3 months – if the overpayment results from the submission of a tax return or annual return (e.g., CIT-8);
• 6 months – if the overpayment is related to tax avoidance proceedings.

For VAT, separate deadlines have been introduced in the VAT Act. VAT refunds resulting from the return are provided within the following deadlines:

• 40 days – the basic deadline, effective from 2026 due to the implementation of the National Tax and Finance Act;
• 15 days and 25 days – these are shortened deadlines, provided the relevant conditions for these deadlines are met;
• 180 days – the extended deadline – this applies when the taxpayer did not perform taxable activities in Poland during a given settlement period.

If the validity of the refund requires additional actions to be taken by the tax authority (e.g., as part of verification activities), it may, of course, extend the deadline for the tax refund.