This page helps you understand which taxes in Poland apply to you: as an employee, a business owner, a property owner or a person with income in Ukraine. The figures are for the 2025 and 2026 tax years, with a reference to the legal rule.
Who is a Polish tax resident?
You become a tax resident if your center of vital interests (personal or economic) is in Poland or you stay here for more than 183 days in a tax year. One of these conditions is enough. A resident pays tax on all income, wherever it was earned, including in Ukraine. A non-resident pays tax only on income earned in Poland. Pay for work done in Poland counts as Polish income, wherever it is paid.
In its tax explanations, the Ministry of Finance writes that residency is not a matter of declaration and depends on an assessment of all the facts. Address registration (zameldowanie) does not matter. The 183 days are counted as days of physical presence: every part of a day counts, including the days of arrival and departure, and the stay does not have to be continuous.
We have not found a direct official explanation that UKR status, a residence card (karta pobytu) or temporary protection do not determine tax residency. The tax administration writes for Ukrainian citizens that you may be a resident of Poland or of Ukraine and that all the facts must be assessed to decide. If both countries consider you a resident, the rules of the convention apply: first a permanent home, then closer personal and economic ties, then your habitual place of residence, then citizenship and, finally, an agreement between the tax authorities.
You can confirm Polish tax residency with a certificate on form CFR-1, issued by the tax administration.
A special rule for those who came because of the war
If you came to Poland in connection with the war in Ukraine, the law lets you confirm your center of vital interests in Poland for the period from 1 January 2024 to 31 December 2026 with a written statement, for example one given to your employer. The tax administration writes that with such a statement you are treated as a Polish tax resident for this period. The Act of 12 September 2025 extended the rule to 31 December 2026. Before that, it applied until the end of 2025, and the Act of 23 January 2026 only changed its wording.
How much tax does an employee pay?
Income from work is subject to personal income tax (PIT) on a tax scale that is the same in 2025 and 2026.
| Annual tax base | Tax |
|---|---|
| Up to 120,000 zł | 12% minus 3,600 zł |
| Over 120,000 zł | 10,800 zł plus 32% of the amount over 120,000 zł |
The tax reduction of 3,600 zł corresponds to a tax-free amount of 30,000 zł. If you have given your employer a PIT-2 statement, the employer reduces your advance tax payment by 300 zł every month. If you have two or three payers, you can split the reduction between them (150 or 100 zł each). In 2026 the standard costs of earning income from work are 250 zł a month (no more than 3,000 zł a year), or 300 zł a month (no more than 3,600 zł) if your workplace is in a different town from your home. Income over 1,000,000 zł a year is also subject to a solidarity levy of 4%.
After the end of the year, your employer sends you the PIT-11 income statement by the end of February.
If you are a tax resident of Ukraine
The Polish tax administration explains it to Ukrainian citizens as follows:
- an employment contract with a Polish employer for work in Poland: the tax is paid in Poland, whether you are here for more than 183 days or less;
- a civil-law service contract (umowa zlecenia) with a Polish company, without a certificate of residence in Ukraine, if you are in Poland for no more than 183 days: the company withholds 20% tax;
- the same contract with a certificate of Ukrainian residence, if you have no fixed base (stała placówka) in Poland: the income is taxed only in Ukraine.
What about income and property in Ukraine?
A convention for the avoidance of double taxation applies between Poland and Ukraine. It was signed in Kyiv on 12 January 1993, entered into force on 11 March 1994 and has applied since 1 January 1995. According to the Ministry of Finance, the multilateral convention MLI also applies to it.
| Income | Where it is taxed |
|---|---|
| Salary | Only in the country of residence, if the work is done there. If the work is physically done in the other country, that country may tax the salary. The exception is short trips of up to 183 days in a calendar year, when the employer is not from that country and the salary is not borne by the employer's permanent establishment there |
| Business profit | Only in the country of residence, if there is no permanent establishment in the other country; construction work becomes one only if it lasts more than 12 months |
| Independent professional services | Only in the country of residence, if there is no fixed base in the other country |
| Rental income and sale of real estate | May be taxed in the country where the property is located |
| Dividends | The source country withholds no more than 5% (companies with a stake of 25% or more) or 15% |
| Interest and royalties | The source country withholds no more than 10% |
| Pensions for past employment | Only in the country that pays them |
| Other income not named in the convention | Only in the country of residence |
Poland eliminates double taxation in two ways. Income that Ukraine may tax under the convention is exempt from tax in Poland, but Poland takes it into account when it sets the rate on your other income (exemption with progression). Only for dividends, interest and royalties is the tax paid in Ukraine credited against the Polish tax.
If you work from Poland for a Ukrainian employer
Exemption with progression applies only to pay for work physically done in Ukraine. If you are a Polish resident and work remotely from Poland for a Ukrainian employer, this pay is taxable under the convention only in Poland, in full, with no exemption. Poland does not credit the tax withheld from it in Ukraine, so you need to settle a refund of that tax with the Ukrainian tax service.
A Polish resident with income from abroad, as a rule, files PIT-36 with the PIT/ZG annex, a separate one for each country, not PIT-37. We explain how to do this on our tax return page. For a Ukrainian sole trader (FOP) after a move abroad, read a separate article.
What does a business owner (JDG) pay?
A JDG owner pays income tax and social insurance contributions. JDG (jednoosobowa działalność gospodarcza) means a business run by an individual, similar to a Ukrainian FOP. Holders of temporary protection, the Pole’s Card (Karta Polaka), permanent residence permits, the EU long-term resident permit and some other permits can run a business on the same terms as Polish citizens. The separate procedure under the 2022 special act was closed on 5 March 2026, but a business opened under it can continue as long as your stay is legal. According to the biznes.gov.pl portal, a business owner is registered in the central register CEIDG online and free of charge. That page was updated on 23 July 2026. It already mentions the CUKR card, but it still also describes the abolished procedure for holders of PESEL UKR.
How is a business owner’s income taxed?
| Form | Rate | Tax return |
|---|---|---|
| Tax scale | 12% and 32%, as for employees | PIT-36 |
| Flat tax (podatek liniowy) | 19% of income, whatever the amount; no joint filing with your husband or wife; you cannot do the same kind of work for your current or former employer | PIT-36L |
| Ryczałt (tax on revenue at a fixed rate) | From 2 to 17% of revenue, depending on the type of activity | PIT-28 |
Ryczałt rates: 17% for liberal professions; 15% for some services, including advertising, legal, accounting and management consulting services; 14% for medical, architectural and engineering services; 12% for some IT services; 10% for trading in your own real estate; 8.5% for other services; 5.5% for manufacturing and construction work; 3% for catering and trade services. Ryczałt is available if your revenue in the previous year did not exceed €2,000,000, and also when you start a business, whatever the revenue. You choose the flat tax or ryczałt with a statement by the 20th day of the month after the month of your first income (if the first income comes in December, by the end of the year). The choice also applies in the following years until you change it.
How much does a business owner pay to ZUS in 2026?
ZUS (the Social Insurance Institution) collects social and health contributions.
| Period | Social contributions per month |
|---|---|
| First 6 months (“start-up relief”) | Not paid; the health contribution is paid |
| Next 24 months (preferential contributions) | 456.18 zł with voluntary sickness insurance, 420.86 zł without it (base 1,441.80 zł) |
| After that (full contributions) | 1,926.76 zł with voluntary sickness insurance, 1,788.29 zł without it (base 5,652 zł) |
Start-up relief applies to people who open a business for the first time, or 60 months after closing or suspending the previous one, and who do not work for a former employer. The health contribution is 9% of income on the tax scale and 4.9% on the flat tax, but from February 2026 to January 2027 it is at least 432.54 zł a month. On ryczałt the health contribution is fixed: 498.35 zł with revenue up to 60,000 zł a year, 830.58 zł up to 300,000 zł and 1,495.04 zł above that. On the flat tax, you can deduct health contributions paid in 2026 up to 14,100 zł.
Can you work without registering a business?
Yes, under several conditions named by the tax administration. Your revenue (przychód należny) does not exceed 225% of the minimum wage in any quarter; in 2026 this is 10,813.50 zł. You have not run a business in the last 60 months (a suspended business does not count). The activity does not require a concession, a license or an entry in the register of regulated activity.
VAT
The standard VAT rate is 23%: the law states 22%, but 23% applies temporarily. From 2026, business owners whose sales did not exceed 240,000 zł in either the previous or the current year are exempt from VAT. The exemption does not apply, in particular, to legal, consulting and jewelry services or debt collection, or to sales of certain goods, whatever the turnover.
What does a property owner pay?
A property owner pays property tax, which is a local tax: the gmina council sets the rates within maximums that the state announces every year. The tax is paid mainly by owners. Individuals pay it in installments by 15 March, 15 May, 15 September and 15 November. If the amount does not exceed 100 zł, it is paid in one payment by the deadline of the first installment. Within 14 days of acquiring a property, you submit information about it.
Maximum rates for 2026: residential buildings 1.25 zł per m² of usable floor area, business premises 35.53 zł per m², land used for business 1.45 zł per m², other land, including land under housing, 0.77 zł per m². The actual rates are set by each gmina.
What mistakes should you avoid?
- Assuming that temporary protection or a residence card in itself determines your tax residency.
- Filing PIT-37 when you have income from Ukraine: as a rule, you need PIT-36 with the PIT/ZG annex.
- Assuming that pay from a Ukrainian employer for work done from Poland is exempt from Polish tax: exemption with progression applies only to work physically done in Ukraine.
- Taking the conditions for business from pages written before 5 March 2026.