Skip to content
analfabeta.pl

Wezwanie z urzędu skarbowego (tax office summons): what it means and what to do

By when7 days from delivery

Updated:

In short

A wezwanie z urzędu skarbowego is a summons from the Polish tax office asking you to do one concrete thing: come in, send documents, explain something in writing or correct your tax return. You usually have 7 days from delivery, sometimes 14, and the exact date is always in the letter; the day of delivery does not count, and a last day that falls on a weekend or public holiday moves to the next working day. Read what the office wants, call the clerk named in the letter and reply in Polish before the deadline; analfabeta.pl explains a letter like this in plain language and counts the deadline for you.

What this letter is

A wezwanie z urzędu skarbowego is a summons from the Polish tax office. It tells you to do one specific thing: come to the office in person, bring or send documents, explain something in writing, or correct a tax return you filed. The legal basis is art. 155 of the Ordynacja podatkowa (the Tax Ordinance). Most summonses are part of czynności sprawdzające, a routine check: the office compares what you filed (or did not file) with what it already knows from employers, banks and other offices, and it wants the difference explained.

Look for three things in the letter: what exactly the office wants, by when, and in what form (in person, by post, through the e-Urząd Skarbowy portal). There is usually a case number and the phone number of the clerk handling it. That matters, because many of these cases end with one phone call and one short letter.

A different letter is the upomnienie, a payment reminder. You get it when the office believes you owe tax. It gives you 7 days from delivery to pay. After that, enforcement can start without further warning.

Why people get it

Typical reasons, especially for foreigners:

  • no annual PIT return, or a return that does not match the data your employer or client sent to the office,
  • a car bought from a private person without paying PCC tax (2 percent of the value, declared on form PCC-3 within 14 days of the contract),
  • income the office knows about from a bank or a foreign tax administration that is missing from your return,
  • a tax relief or a refund the office wants to verify before paying out,
  • a plain mistake: a typo in your PESEL number, the wrong form, a missing signature.

A summons does not mean you did something wrong. Often the office simply does not understand something and asks.

Typical deadlines

  • Summons to appear or to send documents: usually 7 days from delivery, sometimes 14. The deadline is always written in the letter.
  • Upomnienie: 7 days from delivery to pay the arrears.
  • Correcting a return (korekta): the office sets the deadline in the letter, most often 7 days.

How to count: the day of delivery does not count, you start from the next day. If the last day falls on a Saturday, Sunday or public holiday, the deadline moves to the next working day (Ordynacja podatkowa art. 12). A registered letter you did not collect counts as delivered after the second awizo (collection notice), which is 14 days after the first delivery attempt. The deadline then runs even if you never saw the letter. If you have an account in e-Urząd Skarbowy and agreed to electronic delivery, the letter may arrive only there.

What happens if you ignore it

  • A kara porządkowa, a fine for not showing up without an excuse, not sending documents or refusing to explain. The maximum is indexed every year and is above 3,000 zł (as of 2026-08).
  • Enforcement. If the letter is about arrears, after the upomnienie the office can take the money from your bank account or salary, adding interest and enforcement costs.
  • An audit. Persistent silence raises the chance that the office opens a kontrola podatkowa (tax audit) instead of a simple check. That is longer and far more unpleasant.
  • The office decides without you. If it gets no explanation, it can open tax proceedings and set the tax in a decision based on the data it has, without your side of the story.

What to do now

  1. Read the whole letter and write down the deadline. Count from the day after delivery.
  2. Call the clerk named in the letter. Ask what exactly the case is about and whether you can send documents instead of coming in. A call does not replace a written reply, but it saves time.
  3. Collect documents: PIT-11 from your employer, contracts, bank transfer confirmations, the car purchase contract. The office may ask for a Polish translation of documents in a foreign language, sometimes a sworn one (tłumaczenie przysięgłe).
  4. If you cannot make the deadline, write to the office before it passes and ask for a new date, with a short reason (travel, illness, waiting for documents). Offices often agree if you ask in advance.
  5. If the problem is a mistake in your return, file a correction yourself before the office does it for you. A voluntary korekta usually closes the case.
  6. If the letter is about arrears and you really owe the money, pay within the 7 days from the upomnienie or apply to pay in instalments. Put the case number in the transfer title.
  7. Every reply to the office must be in Polish. You can bring a Polish-speaking friend or appoint a representative (pełnomocnik), but written submissions are in Polish.
  8. Keep a copy of everything you send, plus the proof of posting.

How analfabeta.pl helps

Paste the text of the summons or take a photo of it. Within moments you get, in your language, what the office wants, whether you have to act, and the exact deadline counted from the day you received the letter. If you need to reply in writing, you can order a ready formal letter in Polish with a mirror translation in your language and a PDF to print or send.

Frequently asked questions

What is a wezwanie from the urząd skarbowy and does it mean I am in trouble?

Not necessarily. A wezwanie (summons, art. 155 of the Ordynacja podatkowa, the Tax Ordinance) is usually part of czynności sprawdzające, a routine check: the tax office compares what you filed with data from your employer, bank or another office and wants the difference explained. Typical triggers are a missing annual PIT return, unpaid PCC tax on a car bought from a private person, income the office learned about from a bank, or a simple typo in your return. Many cases end with one phone call and one short letter.

How many days do I have to respond to a tax office summons in Poland and from when?

Usually 7 days from delivery, sometimes 14; the deadline is always written in the letter. The day of delivery does not count, you start counting from the next day, and if the last day falls on a Saturday, Sunday or public holiday the deadline moves to the next working day. An upomnienie (payment reminder for tax arrears) gives 7 days from delivery to pay, after which enforcement can start without further warning.

What happens if I ignore a letter from the Polish tax office?

For not showing up without an excuse, not sending documents or refusing to explain, the office can impose a kara porządkowa, a fine whose maximum is above 3,000 zł (as of 2026-08). If the letter is about arrears, after the upomnienie the office can take the money from your bank account or salary, with interest and enforcement costs added. Silence also raises the chance of a kontrola podatkowa (tax audit), and without your explanation the office can set the tax in a decision based only on the data it already has.

I did not collect the registered letter from the urząd skarbowy, does the deadline still run?

Yes. A registered letter you did not pick up counts as delivered after the second awizo (collection notice), which is 14 days after the first delivery attempt, and the deadline runs from then even if you never saw the letter. If you have an e-Urząd Skarbowy account and agreed to electronic delivery, the letter may arrive only there, with no paper copy. Call the office, ask what the letter says and for the case number, and act as if you had received it.

Can I reply to the Polish tax office in English or does it have to be in Polish?

Every written reply to the urząd skarbowy must be in Polish. You can bring a Polish-speaking friend to the office or appoint a representative (pełnomocnik), but written submissions go in Polish, and documents in a foreign language may have to be translated, sometimes by a sworn translator (tłumacz przysięgły). Call the clerk named in the letter first: you can ask whether sending the documents by post or through e-Urząd Skarbowy is enough instead of coming in person.

Will a tax office summons affect my karta pobytu or residence permit application?

The summons itself is a routine check and is not reported to the immigration office. Tax matters do come up later, though: when you apply for a karta pobytu, permanent residence or citizenship, the urząd wojewódzki often asks for your PIT returns as proof of stable income and may ask for a certificate of no tax arrears (zaświadczenie o niezaleganiu w podatkach). So sort the summons out now: file the missing return or correction, and if you owe tax, pay within the 7 days from the upomnienie or apply to pay in instalments.