Trade date vs settlement date: when does PIT-38 income arise?
Current kloPIT behavior: trade date
kloPIT currently targets foreign brokers such as Interactive Brokers and IBI Capital. For imported stock trades, the execution date from the broker statement is the controlling date. Settlement date is not currently used for tax-year assignment, and the IBKR Activity Statement CSV examples in this repository do not include a trade-level settlement-date column.
Dates used today
| Area | Date used | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Tax year | Trade/execution date | The imported foreign-broker statement is normally organized around execution date, and some supported brokers do not provide settlement date. Using execution date keeps the generated PIT-38 aligned with the source document. 16 “Activity Statement ... includes information about your account activity by trade date.” |
| FIFO matching | Trade/execution date | Purchases and sales are ordered by the documented transaction date. This keeps the disposal sequence, buy-leg cost basis and sale proceeds on one convention. |
| NBP rate lookup | Previous Polish business day before the trade date | kloPIT converts both sale proceeds and acquisition costs using the date convention chosen for the transaction, so PLN values do not mix trade-date and settlement-date logic. |
| Future settlement-date mode | Not enabled today | A future setting should switch all affected calculations together: tax year, FIFO dates and NBP lookup dates. For IBKR this would require a settlement-date statement/export or a trade-level settlement field if the user provides one; the current Activity Statement examples only provide Date/Time for Trades. 16 “Activity Statement ... includes information about your account activity by trade date.” |
Reasons:
- Several supported broker statements do not provide a settlement date at all. Synthesizing T+2 by adding business days would be a guess, because actual settlement can vary by venue, instrument and calendar.
- Foreign brokers are not part of the Polish KDPW settlement chain governed by art. 7 of the Polish trading-instruments act, so the domestic “account entry after KDPW settlement” trigger does not map cleanly to IBKR or IBI. 2 „przeniesienie następuje z chwilą dokonania odpowiedniego zapisu”
- In Interactive Brokers, sale cash is available immediately after execution for trading purposes, so the economic disposal effectively happens at trade time.
- The trade-date approach is supported by the PIT-8C brochure published by e-pity, which states that brokerage-account income is shown on the transaction date, not the day funds are credited. 11 „przychód wykazać należy w dniu transakcji”
- It is consistent with the “amounts due” doctrine: at execution the price is fixed, the contract is binding and the seller has an enforceable claim. 7 „są nim przychody należne, a nie otrzymane”
Consistency note: whichever date convention you choose, apply it consistently to sale proceeds, buy-leg cost basis, FIFO matches and NBP rates. Mixing conventions can produce wrong PLN results and shift gains between tax years.
Future direction
The desirable long-term behavior is a per-session setting that lets the user choose between trade-date and settlement-date semantics, with that choice applied uniformly across all FIFO matches and rate lookups.
This becomes important once kloPIT supports Polish domestic brokers such as XTB, mBank or DM BOS, where:
- The PIT-8C issued by the broker usually follows settlement date. 6 „momentem powstania przychodu ... jest chwila przeniesienia własności”10 „Dlaczego dane w PIT-8C różnią się od platformy”
- Reconciliation against PIT-8C values is the user’s primary need, so kloPIT should be able to match the broker’s convention.
- Settlement date is the cleaner statutory reading of art. 17 ust. 1ab pkt 1 updof together with art. 7 ust. 2 of the trading-instruments act for domestic dematerialized shares. 1 „przychód powstaje w momencie przeniesienia na nabywcę własności”2 „przeniesienie następuje z chwilą dokonania odpowiedniego zapisu”
Statutory framework
- Art. 17 ust. 1ab pkt 1 updof: capital-gains income arises “w momencie przeniesienia na nabywcę własności udziałów (akcji) oraz papierów wartościowych”. This is an accrual rule, not a cash rule. 1 „przychód powstaje w momencie przeniesienia na nabywcę własności”
- Art. 17 ust. 1 pkt 6 lit. a updof and art. 30b updof: 19% flat tax on capital gains, settled annually in PIT-38. 1 „przychód powstaje w momencie przeniesienia na nabywcę własności”
- Art. 11 ust. 1 updof: the general cash-basis rule is displaced for capital gains by art. 17 ust. 1ab, but still matters for dividends and contingent amounts that are not yet due. 1 „przychód powstaje w momencie przeniesienia na nabywcę własności”
- Art. 7 ust. 1 of the trading-instruments act: rights from dematerialized securities arise from the first entry on a securities account. 2 „przeniesienie następuje z chwilą dokonania odpowiedniego zapisu”
- Art. 7 ust. 2 of the same act: an agreement to transfer dematerialized securities transfers them when the relevant securities-account entry is made. 2 „przeniesienie następuje z chwilą dokonania odpowiedniego zapisu”
- KDPW settlement is the operational cycle that creates that account entry, historically T+2 and moving toward T+1 in EU markets. 4 „rozliczenie transakcji giełdowej następuje w dniu T+2”8 „skraca się czas rozliczania transakcji giełdowych”
Year-end trades: 30/31 December
The boundary between December and January is the clearest place where the two conventions diverge. Under settlement-date treatment, a sale executed in the last trading days of December can belong to the next tax year if the securities-account entry settles in January. 5 „dochód z powyższej transakcji winien Pan rozliczyć ... za rok 2024”
- A 2024 KIS interpretation addressed this exact pattern for GPW shares: sale on 29 December 2023, settlement on 3 January 2024, no PIT-8C for 2023. The authority held that the income belonged to 2024 because art. 17 ust. 1ab points to ownership transfer and art. 7 ust. 2 ties that transfer to the account entry. 5 „dochód z powyższej transakcji winien Pan rozliczyć ... za rok 2024”1 „przychód powstaje w momencie przeniesienia na nabywcę własności”2 „przeniesienie następuje z chwilą dokonania odpowiedniego zapisu”
- Older pre-2016 interpretations were not uniform. The 2009 Katowice interpretation accepted trade-date reporting under the “amounts due” wording, but that line should be treated as historical for domestic listed shares after the 2016 ownership-transfer rule. 7 „są nim przychody należne, a nie otrzymane”9 „moment powstania przychodów ... nowelizacja ustawy PIT”
- For Polish domestic brokers, reconciliation normally follows the PIT-8C. If the broker places a late-December sale in the next year because settlement occurred in January, kloPIT should not try to override that broker convention. 6 „momentem powstania przychodu ... jest chwila przeniesienia własności”10 „Dlaczego dane w PIT-8C różnią się od platformy”
Illustrative T+2 calendar for a year where 27 December is Friday and 1 January is a holiday; the exact dates shift with weekends and market holidays. 4 „rozliczenie transakcji giełdowej następuje w dniu T+2”
| Trade date | Settlement date | Tax year by settlement date | Tax year by trade date |
|---|---|---|---|
| 27 Dec (Fri) | 31 Dec (Tue) | Year N | Year N |
| 30 Dec (Mon) | 2 Jan, Year N+1 | Year N+1 | Year N |
| 31 Dec (Tue) | 3 Jan, Year N+1 | Year N+1 | Year N |
IBKR statement boundary
If an IBKR annual Activity Statement includes a 31 December trade in that year, it helps as a documentary and reconciliation point, but it is not binding Polish tax authority. It supports a good-faith trade-date workflow because IBKR activity statements are trade-date based and sale cash is usable at execution. The repo examples match that: their Trades rows use Date/Time and do not include SettleDate or Settle Date. IBKR documents separate settlement-date statement types, so a future settlement-date mode should import that kind of export instead of guessing T+2 where the source file has no trade-level settlement date. 16 “Activity Statement ... includes information about your account activity by trade date.”
Year-end loss harvesting is sensitive. kloPIT currently keeps foreign-broker trades in the trade year by default; a conservative settlement-date treatment can move 30/31 December sales into the next tax year.
Position A: settlement date (T+2)
Arguments for
- The literal chain is clean: PIT keys to ownership transfer, the trading-instruments act defines transfer as the account entry, and the account entry happens at settlement. 1 „przychód powstaje w momencie przeniesienia na nabywcę własności”2 „przeniesienie następuje z chwilą dokonania odpowiedniego zapisu”
- The 2016 codification was meant to replace older “amounts due” reasoning with an ownership-transfer test. 9 „moment powstania przychodów ... nowelizacja ustawy PIT”
- Polish domestic brokers issue PIT-8C using settlement date, and investor guidance commonly treats late-December sales as next-year tax events when settlement falls in January. 5 „dochód z powyższej transakcji winien Pan rozliczyć ... za rok 2024”4 „rozliczenie transakcji giełdowej następuje w dniu T+2”
- Ministry of Finance guidance emphasizes ownership transfer rather than payment, which supports settlement-date reasoning for domestic dematerialized shares. 3 „przychód ... powstaje w momencie przeniesienia ich własności”
Arguments against
- The year-end user experience is awkward: a sale executed in December can belong to the following tax year. 5 „dochód z powyższej transakcji winien Pan rozliczyć ... za rok 2024”
- Foreign broker imports often do not expose a settlement date, and the KDPW account-entry concept does not transfer cleanly outside the Polish domestic chain.
Position B: trade date (T)
Arguments for
- At execution the contract is binding, the price is fixed and the seller’s claim is enforceable, which is the classic “amounts due” argument. 7 „są nim przychody należne, a nie otrzymane”
- The e-pity PIT-8C brochure explicitly supports reporting brokerage-account income on the transaction date rather than the cash-credit date. 11 „przychód wykazać należy w dniu transakcji”
- A 2025 KIS CIT ruling confirms that the date of legal disposal, not payment timing, is the relevant trigger where ownership passes at contract signing. 13 „przychód powstanie w dacie przeniesienia własności”
- For IBKR and similar foreign brokers, trade date is the only reliably parseable anchor and matches when the user economically disposes of the position. 16 “Activity Statement ... includes information about your account activity by trade date.”
Arguments against
- It partially revives pre-2016 “amounts due” reasoning even though art. 17 ust. 1ab introduced an ownership-transfer test. 9 „moment powstania przychodów ... nowelizacja ustawy PIT”1 „przychód powstaje w momencie przeniesienia na nabywcę własności”
- It can conflate price fixation with ownership transfer, which are different moments for domestic dematerialized shares. 2 „przeniesienie następuje z chwilą dokonania odpowiedniego zapisu”
- It will not reconcile with PIT-8C values from Polish domestic brokers that use settlement date. 6 „momentem powstania przychodu ... jest chwila przeniesienia własności”10 „Dlaczego dane w PIT-8C różnią się od platformy”
- NSA II FSK 1648/17 and a 2025 PIT earn-out ruling show that contract date is not a universal income date when payment is conditional or not yet due. 15 „przychód należny to przychód wymagalny”14 „kwota musi być należna, a nie jedynie warunkowa”
CIT analogy and its limits
KIS 0111-KDIB1-1.4010.85.2025.1.KM is a CIT ruling about unlisted sp. z o.o. shares sold for voluntary redemption. The contract had dispositive effect, so ownership passed at signing. 13 „przychód powstanie w dacie przeniesienia własności”
- Helpful: it confirms that payment timing is not what triggers income when legal disposal has already occurred. 13 „przychód powstanie w dacie przeniesienia własności”
- Limit: for listed dematerialized shares, legal disposal may be defined by the securities-account entry rather than the contract, so the analogy cannot skip art. 7 ust. 2. 2 „przeniesienie następuje z chwilą dokonania odpowiedniego zapisu”
Current KIS practice directly supports settlement date for domestic year-end GPW trades. For foreign brokers outside the KDPW chain, settlement date is still the conservative reading, while trade date has stronger documentation and reconciliation arguments. 5 „dochód z powyższej transakcji winien Pan rozliczyć ... za rok 2024”
Decision matrix
| Scenario | Recommended date | Why |
|---|---|---|
| IBKR, IBI Capital or another foreign broker with no Polish PIT-8C | Trade date | Settlement date is often missing, no Polish PIT-8C needs reconciliation, and this is the current kloPIT default. |
| Polish domestic broker issuing PIT-8C | Settlement date | Matches the broker’s PIT-8C and the cleaner domestic statutory chain. 6 „momentem powstania przychodu ... jest chwila przeniesienia własności”10 „Dlaczego dane w PIT-8C różnią się od platformy” |
| Unlisted sp. z o.o. share sale | Contract date, if ownership passes at signing | Consistent with the 2025 KIS CIT analogy, subject to the contract terms. 13 „przychód powstanie w dacie przeniesienia własności” |
| Earn-out or contingent payment | Year when the amount becomes due | Conditional amounts are not necessarily taxable on the original contract date. 15 „przychód należny to przychód wymagalny”14 „kwota musi być należna, a nie jedynie warunkowa” |
| Foreign dividend | Pay date | Dividends follow the cash-basis rule rather than the share-disposal rule. |
Bottom line for kloPIT users
- kloPIT currently applies trade date consistently across foreign-broker imports: sale proceeds, buy-leg cost basis, FIFO matching and NBP rate lookup.
- If you also have a Polish broker PIT-8C, prefer that broker’s numbers for the covered trades to avoid reconciliation noise.
- For an audit-defense file on foreign-broker trades, keep the broker statement and cite the e-pity brochure, the “amounts due” doctrine and the practical absence of the domestic KDPW chain; also note that domestic KIS year-end practice favors settlement date. 11 „przychód wykazać należy w dniu transakcji”7 „są nim przychody należne, a nie otrzymane”5 „dochód z powyższej transakcji winien Pan rozliczyć ... za rok 2024”
- For 30/31 December trades, check whether a settlement date is available in the actual export. The IBKR Activity Statement CSV examples in this repository do not expose trade-level settlement dates; a settlement-date workflow would need a settlement-date IBKR export or another documented source. 16 “Activity Statement ... includes information about your account activity by trade date.”
- The conservative position is settlement date. The practical position for foreign brokers is trade date. The important point is consistency.
Sources
- 1 Art. 17 ust. 1ab updof - sip.lex.pl
- 2 Art. 7 ustawy o obrocie instrumentami finansowymi - lexlege.pl
- 3 MF - Zbycie akcji (podatki.gov.pl)
- 4 SII - Co oznacza T+2 dla podatku
- 5 KIS 0112-KDIL2-1.4011.351.2024.1.JK - year-end GPW sale
- 6 KIS 0114-KDIP3-2.4011.34.2019.2.AK1 - settlement date and PIT-8C duties
- 7 IBPBII/2/415-308/09/MM - historical pre-2016 trade-date interpretation
- 8 StockWatch - T+3 -> T+2 a podatek
- 9 Grant Thornton - moment przychodu, nowelizacja PIT 2016
- 10 XTB - Dlaczego dane w PIT-8C różnią się od platformy
- 11 e-pity - Broszura PIT-8C (stanowisko trade-date)
- 12 KIS 0113-KDIPT2-3.4011.143.2023.2.MS - moment przeniesienia własności
- 13 KIS 0111-KDIB1-1.4010.85.2025.1.KM (CIT, 18.03.2025)
- 14 KIS 0112-KDIL2-1.4011.401.2025.1.TR (PIT, 09.06.2025) - earn-out
- 15 NSA II FSK 1648/17 (30.05.2019)
- 16 IBKR - Statement Type glossary
Disclaimer: educational summary, not tax advice. For high-stakes situations request an individual KIS ruling or consult a tax adviser.