From 1 January 2023, changes have been made to how the Financial Ombudsman and its office are financed. The Ombudsman Act (2015/1348) was revised by the Act of 2022/2640, which also abolished prior regulations.
The new rules don’t specify advance payments, and both filing and payment are annual. The annual fee is based on the premiums collected two years prior to the due date, which is 31 March. Accordingly, using the premium amounts collected in 2021 as a basis, the new ombudsman fee is required for the first time by 31 March 2023.
For domestic insurance companies, the rate is 0.02875%, while for foreign insurance companies writing business in Poland under a freedom of services basis, the rate is 0.03125%.
The Financial Ombudsman website should be used to submit the online declaration. By 1 February 2023, the declaration template will be available. Regarding the declaration content, the following information is contained in the Financial Minister`s decree, which was published on 28 December 2022:
- Information about the insurance company (type of business, name, taxID, address)
- Year of declaration
- The fee in PLN and the calculation basis
- Reference to the declaration type (whether it’s a corrective filing)
- The authorised person’s name
According to the Ombudsman Act, the first fee is due two years after insurance companies start activities in Poland.
We are in regular communication with the Ombudsman Office for clarity regarding transitional rules, registration rules, payment details etc.
Read more about Insurance Premium Tax in our IPT guide.
