Does inactive SPI have to submit reports to the PFSA

In accordance art. 117r (1) of the Payment Services Act (i.e., Journal of Laws of 2019, item 659, as amended), SPI provides the PFSA with quarterly and annual information on the total value and number of payment transactions carried out. It must do so by the last day of the month following the month ending the quarter and until 31 January of the following year. In accordance with paragraph 2 of the above provision, this also applies if SPI did not perform any payment transaction in a given period, except for the case when a person conducting business activity as SPI in that period had a suspended business activity.

Therefore, if the number of transactions carried out by SPI in a given period is 0, the quarter or the year has ended and SPI’s business activity has not been suspended within that period, the information must be submitted anyway. This can be done through a simple form available on the PFSA website. It should be remembered that non-performance or improper performance of the obligation may constitute the basis for the PFSA to apply sanctions, including fines and even a ban on conducting business activities in the field of payment services as SPI.

The PFSA will call for late submission of information, but may set a very short deadline, e.g. 3 days, for which failure to do so may expose SPI to liability. It is clear that statistics of transactions should be kept and that data should be easily accessible to provide information on a voluntary basis, i.e. within the statutory deadline.