Filing taxes in Poland is easy with a service developed by the Ministry of Finance and Microsoft Consulting Services

Poland’s Ministry of Finance sought to simplify the process of filing tax returns and wanted to do it in time for the following tax season. To find an existing solution that could be used as a foundation for its own tool, the Ministry surveyed European countries on how they had delivered a tax portal. The Ministry’s team learned about the Microsoft Government Gateway framework, which could be adapted to meet the Ministry’s requirements and deployed in time to meet the legal deadline of February 15, 2019. Poland’s tool went live in time for the 2019 tax season. 

The speed of delivery was made possible by combining a proven solution with strong collaboration between two teams—the Ministry of Finance and Microsoft Consulting Services. “This was not a typical provider-customer relationship,” says Przemyslaw Koch, Ministry Representative for IT Affairs. “We worked as one team with Microsoft Consulting Services to achieve a common goal. I have never seen such an engaged team on any of the projects I have delivered in my career. Each member knew that they were working on something revolutionary, not just for Poland, but for Europe.” 

The Ministry relied on Microsoft to establish best practices for developing a solution of this scale. “We needed a partner that really understood the business requirements and could be flexible to adjust when requirements changed,” says Koch.  

Security was top of mind  

The team built a hybrid solution with production data kept on premises, and testing, development, and training environments running in Microsoft Azure. Data that isn’t sensitive is cached in the cloud, which enables scaling the solution and handling workload spikes from millions of people using the solution. “We knew we’d have to pass a security and efficiency audit at the end of the process,” says Hubert Gniadowicz, IT Deputy Director for Project Management for the Ministry of Finance. “We wanted a reliable partner like Microsoft that could ensure everything was secure.” The Government Gateway has multiple security features, including single sign-on and integration with local identity providers.

The team worked in sprints onsite to deliver a high-quality service on time. To meet the deadline, the team had one final challenge to overcome. “Two months before going live, we learned one element was causing performance issues. To fix it, we had to design a totally new component from scratch. Once it was done, we had just a few days to test and confirm that the problem was solved. That was a critical moment,” says Koch.

Tax filing in five minutes 

For anyone familiar with the difficulty of collecting and entering tax data, and making calculations to figure out tax obligations, e-PIT is astonishingly easy to use. The service guides taxpayers through the tax forms on a simple, easy-to-read webpage. Instead of having to fill out hundreds of fields, data on salaries and deductions—sourced from employers based on tax returns from previous years—is prepopulated. Taxpayers are asked to review the data for accuracy and make modifications if needed. If the existing information is accurate, they can simply approve the return. There’s very little need for data entry at any time in the process, which reduces the potential for errors.  

Taxpayers receive a finished tax return and are given the opportunity to earmark 1 percent of their tax payment to be transferred to their choice of 9,000 public-benefit or nonprofit organizations. “This represents 1 billion Polish zlotys a year in contributions,” says Koch. 

Before Twój e-PIT, for many Polish citizens filing taxes was stressful, unpleasant, and complicated, which meant that some people didn’t file taxes on time. Now taxpayers don’t even have to think about it. “People used to be fined if they didn’t complete their taxes on time,” says Koch. “Now, if you don’t declare your taxes, the Tax Administration does it for you. In 2019, the first-year e-PIT was used, 2.2 million Polish citizens didn’t look at their taxes at all. We filed for them.” 

Measures of success 

In 2019, 6.9 million tax returns were submitted with e-PIT. “Now filing taxes is as simple as child’s play,” says Koch. “You can do it from anyplace in the world with any device connected to the internet. We’re seeing people file taxes using their smart TVs. It’s so simple you can do it during a commercial break while watching television. Or you can use your gaming console—you can file your taxes in between playing FIFA soccer video games.” 

Rolling out e-PIT has provided environmental benefits as well. “In 2019, we had 18 percent fewer paper returns, or 5 million submissions. That’s 50 million sheets of paper that are no longer needed: 100,000 reams of paper, 40 tons, or 700 trees.” 

Reducing paper returns also saves the tax department a lot of time. “Those 5 million fewer paper tax returns no longer have to be processed manually to enter data in our system, which reduces the chance for errors,” says Koch. 

Tax refunds are processed faster, too. People who have overpaid get a refund in 17 days on average instead of in three months or longer.  

A welcome, fundamental shift 

Feedback has been overwhelmingly positive, from citizens, media, politicians, and agencies. In 2019, the Polish Ministry of Finance received the European Public Sector Award for e-PIT. “It’s a recognition that the Tax Administration in Poland is modern and digital,” says Koch.  

Perhaps the clearest indication that citizens are thrilled about e-PIT is that the solution has shifted taxpayer behavior. Taxpayers used to postpone filing their taxes until the very end, which made the last days of the filing period challenging for them—and for the Tax Administration too. “People have spread the word this is a very simple, secure, and effective way to file. Because you can do it in five minutes, people don’t wait until the last moment to file,” says Piotr Patroński, IT Department Director for the Ministry of Finance. 

The Ministry has been pleased with its collaboration with Microsoft Consulting Services. “If you work with Microsoft Consulting Services, nothing is impossible. They have the expertise to deliver any result or goal,” Koch says. 

In light of the project’s success, the Ministry is looking to expand the solution into an end-to-end tax office program. “This is just a first step,” says Koch. “We want to continue developing other digital solutions and further digitize Tax Administration processes. With a partner we can rely on, we know we can do it.”