The return the tax office prepares for you
From 15 February 2026, the tax office prepares a PIT-38 for you in the Twój e-PIT service, in the e-Urząd Skarbowy portal. If you do nothing, on 30 April 2026 it is accepted automatically and counts as filed.
It sounds convenient. The problem is what the return is built from. According to the Ministry of Finance brochure, the pre-filled return includes only the data from PIT-8C forms sent to the tax office. Anything that didn't come in on a PIT-8C simply isn't there.
What a PIT-8C is
A PIT-8C is an information slip that a Polish broker, bank or fund manager sends to you and to the tax office after the end of the year. It shows your revenue (PIT-8C field 35) and costs (PIT-8C field 36) from selling securities through that institution.
The key point: only institutions that are required to file one do. That gives you a quick test:
| Where you invest | PIT-8C? | In the pre-filled return? |
|---|---|---|
| A Polish brokerage account | Yes | Yes |
| A foreign broker or investment app | Usually no | No |
| A crypto exchange | No | No |
| Dividends and interest paid from abroad | No | No |
If everything you did in 2025 is in the first row, the pre-filled return may be complete. If anything is in the other rows, it isn't.
Four things you can do with it
The brochure lists four options:
- Do nothing — it's accepted automatically on 30 April 2026.
- Accept and send it unchanged.
- Edit it, then accept and send it. The return is fully editable: you can add income, costs and foreign tax, and change your 1.5% donation.
- Reject it and file your own PIT-38 another way (e-Deklaracje, a tax program, or on paper).
Options 3 and 4 get you to the same place. Most people find option 3 the simplest: open the prepared return, add what's missing, send it.
The auto-acceptance trap
The brochure is very precise here:
Automatic acceptance applies when the taxpayer had only the revenue and costs shown in the PIT-8C forms sent to the tax office. If the taxpayer had other revenue or other costs than those shown in the prepared return, they must file a PIT-38 themselves.
Which means:
- Auto-acceptance doesn't satisfy your obligation if you had income from a foreign broker, crypto, foreign dividends or foreign interest. You still have to file a complete return.
- The tax on an auto-accepted return is yours to pay. If it shows "tax to pay", you owe it, by 30 April.
- Rejecting the return without filing your own — when you were required to file — exposes you to liability under the Fiscal Penal Code.
Auto-acceptance can also hurt you the other way. If the PIT-8C is missing costs you can deduct (see below), the pre-filled return overstates your tax, and accepting it means you overpay.
How PIT-8C and your own data fit together: Part C
Part C of the form has two rows for this, and that's where the pre-filled return gets combined with everything else.
Row 1 — from PIT-8C:
- Field 20: the amount from field 35 of the PIT-8C (revenue).
- Field 21: the amount from field 36 of the PIT-8C (costs), plus any other costs linked to that revenue that the broker didn't include — on the basis of your own documents.
Row 2 — everything else:
- Field 22: revenue with no PIT-8C — including revenue earned abroad.
- Field 23: the costs of that revenue, from your own documents.
If you have several PIT-8C forms, add them up in row 1. Foreign brokers all go into row 2, converted into złoty at the NBP rate from the business day before each transaction — see What can you deduct in PIT-38?.
Crypto never goes in Part C. It has its own Part E — see Crypto gains in PIT-38.
A worked example, step by step
In 2025 you had two accounts:
- a Polish broker, which sent a PIT-8C: revenue 12,000 PLN, costs 10,000 PLN,
- a foreign investment app, with no PIT-8C: revenue 8,000 PLN, costs 9,500 PLN (already converted into złoty).
You also paid 50 PLN in account fees to the Polish broker, which the PIT-8C didn't include.
What the pre-filled return shows
| Field | What it is | Amount |
|---|---|---|
| 20 | Revenue from PIT-8C | 12,000 |
| 21 | Costs from PIT-8C | 10,000 |
| 28 | Income | 2,000 |
| 35 | Tax due: 2,000 × 19% | 380 |
What your return should show
| Field | What it is | Amount |
|---|---|---|
| 20 | Revenue from PIT-8C | 12,000 |
| 21 | Costs from PIT-8C + 50 PLN of fees | 10,050 |
| 22 | Revenue from the foreign app | 8,000 |
| 23 | Costs from the foreign app | 9,500 |
| 26 | Total revenue: 20 + 22 | 20,000 |
| 27 | Total costs: 21 + 23 | 19,550 |
| 28 | Income | 450 |
| 35 | Tax due: 450 × 19% = 85.50, rounded | 86 |
If you had let the return be auto-accepted, you'd have paid 294 PLN too much — and still broken the rules, because you had income that wasn't on any PIT-8C.
Had the foreign account made a profit instead, auto-acceptance would have meant paying too little — which is the more expensive kind of mistake.
Deadlines and proof of filing
| What | When / how |
|---|---|
| Filing window | 15 February – 30 April 2026 |
| Filed before 15 February | Counts as filed on 15 February |
| Paper return sent by Poczta Polska | The postmark date counts |
| Proof of an electronic filing | The UPO (official confirmation of receipt) |
| Where to find it in Twój e-PIT | The "Złożone dokumenty" (filed documents) tab |
| Tax to pay | Due by 30 April 2026 |
Made a mistake after sending? You can file a correction — also through Twój e-PIT.
Common mistakes
- Treating auto-acceptance as "done" when you also invest through a foreign app.
- Rejecting the prepared return and then forgetting to file your own.
- Copying PIT-8C field 36 without adding missing costs — account fees, transfer fees, interest on a loan used to buy the securities.
- Putting foreign broker figures in row 1. Row 1 is only for amounts from a PIT-8C.
- Putting crypto in Part C. It belongs in Part E.
- Assuming no PIT-8C means no tax. A foreign broker not reporting to Polish authorities doesn't change what you owe.
Before you file
- Do you have a PIT-8C from every Polish institution you invested through?
- Did you invest anywhere that doesn't issue a PIT-8C — a foreign broker, an app, a crypto exchange?
- Are any costs missing from the PIT-8C that you can document?
- Is foreign revenue in row 2 (fields 22–23), converted at the NBP rate?
- Have you sent the return, not just looked at it — and saved the UPO?
This article is educational and is based on the Ministry of Finance information brochure for the PIT-38 return for 2025. It is not tax advice.