What you need to know before registering your business

Check if you can conduct business activity in Poland

To conduct one-person business activity you need to be of legal age – only then you can be fully responsible for your actions, and you have full capacity to make decisions.

Persons who are under 18 years old and wish to run their own business will have to act through their legal representatives for many matters. This role is most often played by their parents.

In order to register a one-person business activity, you do not need to be a Polish citizen.

Citizens of:

• the Member States of the European Union and of the European Economic Area may start and conduct business activity under the same principles as Polish citizens
• countries outside the European Union and the European Economic Area may start and conduct business activity under the same principles as Polish citizens – if they have a residence title that entitles them to do so, such as a permanent residence permit, an EU long-term residence permit or a temporary residence permit, issued for a specific purpose, for instance in relation to university studies.

Read to find out who may conduct business activity in Poland.

Make sure that you need to register your business

Business activity is an organised gainful activity conducted on your own account and in a continuous manner.

If you wish to conduct such activity, you need to apply for an entry in the Central Register and Information on Economic Activity (CEIDG) – a register of entrepreneurs conducting one-person business activity (sole traders) in Poland. Entry in this register is also required for entrepreneurs who wish to become partners in a civil law partnership.

However, if you expect that revenues from your business activity will be small, such small business activity may be conducted without completing any additional formal procedures – you do not need to register as an entrepreneur.

Non-registered business activity is a small gainful activity conducted by natural persons and it does not have to be entered in the register.

You may conduct non-registered activity if:

• revenues from your activity in any month do not exceed 75 % of the minimum wage
• you are a natural person
• you do not conduct activity as part of a civil law partnership
• you do not engage in regulated activity, that is an activity which requires specific permits or licences
• you have not conducted business activity within the last 60 months.

Since January 2024, the maximum revenue for non-registered activities has been PLN 3181,5 per month, and as of July 2024 it will be PLN 3225 per month

Please note! The following do not need to be entered in the register of entrepreneurs:

• agritourism activity conducted by farmers
• production of wine by farmers
• agricultural retail trade.

Find out more about non-registered activity.

Select a name for your business

When registering as an entrepreneur in CEIDG, you need to state the name under which you will operate. The name must contain at least your name and surname in the nominative case, for instance – Jan Kowalski.

The order of words is important here – first enter your name and then your surname.

You may add other elements to your name and surname to indicate your business profile (e.g. Jan Kowalski Locksmith Services) or location. You can also add a pseudonym or any expression of your choice.

Please note! A natural person may only have one entry in CEIDG. You may not have several one-person businesses registered in your name, however, you may conduct various types of business activity under one entry.

Read more about choosing a business name.

Decide on the registered address of your business

You may conduct your business activity in one or in many fixed locations, for instance at a customer service point, an office, a virtual or co-working office, in your own apartment, or without a permanent address or in a mobile form, for example, if you perform your services at your clients’ locations. You can choose the form which suits you best.

Which procedures can be completed when registering your business online through Biznes.gov.pl

• you can indicate an address for service, that is an address where you will collect all correspondence concerning your business activity
• you can indicate your fixed place of business – if you conduct your business activity at a fixed place
• you can indicate any additional fixed places where you operate – if apart from the fixed place of business you have also local offices, branches, warehouses or points where you accept orders.

You may also select the answer “no fixed place of business” if you do not conduct your business activity at a fixed place.

Please note! You need to hold a legal title to any real property which you register as a place of business in CEIDG. A legal title to a real property may include:

• ownership (or co-ownership) title to a real property or an apartment
• the right of perpetual usufruct to land, together with the ownership title to the buildings
• cooperative ownership right to an apartment
• lease
• rental
• lending for use.

Read more about a place of business.

Select the code indicating the type of your business activity (PKD)

Any entrepreneur registering a company must categorise such business activity under a specific code in the Polish Classification of Business Activity (PKD), that is select a PKD code.

The codes are used in public statistics but they are also important for practical reasons. For instance, some codes are related to specific forms of taxation, required use of fiscal cash register or VAT registration.

Select the code which best describes your planned business activity. Choose one main code – related to the type of activity that is supposed to give you the highest income – and any number of additional codes.

Read about how to select the PKD code or use the search tool for PKD codes.

Check whether you need a licence

As a general principle, entrepreneurs may operate freely. This means that there is no need to obtain any consent to conduct a specific type of activity.

However, for certain types of business activity you need to have specific professional qualifications, specific equipment or premises. Also, some types of business activity may be conducted only once you have obtained a permit from a relevant public institution.

In such cases, you will need to apply for a licence, a permit or an entry in the register of regulated activity. You need to apply for them after registering your business.

Read more about regulated activity.

Choose the taxation form

When conducting one-person business activity (as a sole trader), you are a payer of personal income tax (PIT).

There are three forms of income taxation for business activity:

• under general rules, according to a tax scale (12% and 32% tax rates)
• flat rate tax (rate of 19%)
• lump sum tax on registered revenues.

Please note! Starting from 2022, the fourth form of taxation – the tax card – may be used solely by those taxpayers who continue this taxation form and calculated their tax in this manner in 2021. Therefore, if you are only starting with your business activity, you may not select the tax card option.

The tax scale is the basic taxation form for income from business activity. This means that if you do not select a different form of taxation, you will pay income tax as calculated under the general rules.

In the case of the tax scale and the flat rate tax, tax is calculated based on income, while in the case of the lump sum tax on registered revenues, tax is calculated based on the revenues gained.

Please note! It is not always possible to choose the lump sum tax on registered revenues, as some types of business activity are excluded from this form of taxation.

Which procedures can be completed when registering your business online through Biznes.gov.pl

When applying for an entry in CEIDG, you can also indicate your chosen form of taxation: under general rules, that is according to the tax scale, the flat-rate tax or the lump sum tax on registered revenues.

Find out how to choose the best form of taxation for your business activity.

Check whether you need to pay VAT

VAT is a tax collected at each stage of trade in goods or services. Its value is added to each transaction.

VAT is paid regardless of personal income tax (PIT) and regardless of how you settle your tax – under general rules, based on the tax scale, at a flat-rate, as a lump sum tax on registered revenues, or based on a tax card.

As a general rule, all entrepreneurs must register for VAT. However, you do not need to register for VAT if:

• your annual sales do not exceed PLN 200,000
• you sell only VAT exempt goods and services.

Which procedures can be completed when registering your business online through Biznes.gov.pl

In order to register for VAT, submit a VAT-R form. The form must be submitted no later than on the day preceding the day when you start selling goods or services subject to VAT. If you already have a NIP (Tax Identification Number), you can submit the form when applying for an entry in CEIDG.

Check how to submit VAT-R.

Choose one of these two options:

• registration as an active taxpayer
• registration as an exempted taxpayer – then you may submit the VAT-R form but it is not obligatory.

Read who must pay VAT.

Decide how you wish to keep your accounts and choose a bank account

Records and accounting books

Entrepreneurs need to keep their accounting books, including invoices, bills and records. This does not concern only those entrepreneurs who have chosen to pay tax based on the tax card – such documentation is not necessary in their case, as their tax amount for a given tax year is calculated by the head of the relevant tax office.

Other entrepreneurs may keep their accounting books in the following forms:

• simplified accounting – a revenue and expense ledger, or a revenue registry (for lump sum tax)
• full accounting – accounting books.

Please note! You can hire an external entity to keep your accounting books, for instance an accounting office.

Find out more about accounting forms (PL) for businesses and check whether you need to register your sales in a fiscal cash register (PL).

Bank account

For the purpose of their business activity, entrepreneurs may use a company bank account or a private bank account – however, it has to be a bank account that has only one holder.

Having a bank account is important as not all transactions may be made in cash. According to the law, an entrepreneur may not make payments in cash where:

• a counterparty to the transaction is another entrepreneur
• one-off transaction value is higher than an equivalent of PLN 15,000, regardless of the number of payments made under such transaction.

If you are involved in such transactions, you need to have a bank account. Also, you will need a bank account to pay taxes or social security contributions – apart from micro-entrepreneurs (that is companies which in at least one out of the two previous tax years employed fewer than 10 employees and had annual net turnover below EUR 2 million) who may pay their taxes and social security contributions at post offices.

You will need a business bank account (and not your private bank account) if:

• you are a VAT payer – only business bank account numbers are published in the register of VAT payers, that is the White List of VAT Payers
• you make transactions where the split payment mechanism is applied.

Which procedures can be completed when registering your business online through Biznes.gov.pl

In your application for an entry in CEIDG state your bank account number which you will be using. Your tax refund from the tax office will be made to this bank account. If this is your business bank account and you are a VAT payer, this bank account will be entered in the White List of VAT Payers.

Read more about the White List of VAT payers (PL).

Read about social security contributions

As an entrepreneur, you need to calculate and pay to the Social Insurance Institution (ZUS) your contributions to:

• social insurance, where retirement pension insurance, disability insurance and work accident insurance are obligatory, and sickness insurance is optional
• Labour Fund and Solidarity Fund
• health insurance.

Businesses which are only starting their operations, or closed their previous operations at least 60 months earlier and do not plan to perform services for their former employer for the first 6 months of operation, may use a relief for new companies (“Ulga na start”).

With this relief, you do not need to pay contributions to:

• social security insurance, that is retirement pension, disability insurance and work accident insurance
• Labour Fund and Solidarity Fund.

After 6 months, you may use another relief and pay reduced contributions calculated on a preferential basis for another 24 months.

If you are not entitled to a relief, you need to pay social security contributions calculated on the basis which is not lower than 60% of the forecast average monthly wage.

Which procedures can be completed when registering your business online through Biznes.gov.pl

To register with ZUS, you need to submit special forms. Our system will ask you some relevant questions and generate those forms based on your answers.

Based on your entry in CEIDG, ZUS will enter you in the register of payers of contributions and will record your settlements in the payer’s account. Also, you will receive your ZUS contribution account number at your correspondence address.

Please note! If you are a farmer and you wish to start a business, you may retain your right to be insured in the Agricultural Social Insurance Fund (KRUS).

Read about contributions that need to be paid by an entrepreneur to ZUS.

Decide whether you need an attorney-in-fact

An attorney-in-fact is a person who will be authorised to act on your behalf, according to the scope of the power of attorney. You may appoint more than one attorney-in-fact. Such an attorney-in-fact may, for instance, enter into contracts, accept payments or represent you before an office or court.

Which procedures can be completed when registering your business online through Biznes.gov.pl

Submit information on your attorney-in-fact when registering your business. With information on your attorney-in-fact entered in CEIDG, you do not need to deliver the power of attorney each time your attorney-in-fact represents you at an office. Also, you will not need to pay for stamp duty for the power of attorney – the register shows all the data of your appointed attorneys-in-fact, together with the scope of their powers.

Read more about information on the attorney-in-fact representing an entrepreneur and entered in CEIDG.

Register your company online

You can register your company online at Biznes.gov.pl, using an online application form generator. All you need to do is check the relevant boxes or enter the data requested by the generator, and the system will create the application for an entry in the register of entrepreneurs and an application to ZUS/KRUS, GUS (Statistics Poland) and the tax office.

Please note! If you have an account at Biznes.gov.pl, you will be able to change your data in CEIDG, and to suspend, resume or end your business activity.

Read about the advantages of having an account at Biznes.gov.pl and enjoy its convenient solutions to start and conduct business activity.

In order to register your business at Biznes.gov.pl, you need to have a Trusted Profile or a qualified electronic signature.

• A Trusted Profile is a free of charge tool for contacts with public administration (public offices, ministries, etc.). It is available for anyone who has a PESEL no. (personal identification number) and full or limited legal capacity.
• A qualified electronic signature is a paid electronic signature which has the same legal effect as a handwritten signature. You can use it to sign any document, including any application to be submitted to a public office, any contract with your business partner, and electronic bids on tender platforms.

Read about:

• how to set up the Trusted Profile and the possibilities it offers
• how to use a qualified electronic signature and where to buy it

Before starting the process of online registration, prepare the data that you will be requested to present. The following information needs to be entered in an application for an entry in the register:

• name, surname, names of your parents, date and place of birth
• type, series and number of an identity document
• PESEL no. (personal identification number), if you are a Polish citizen or you have been assigned a PESEL no.
• all citizenships you hold
• NIP (Tax Identification Number) and REGON (Business Statistical Number), if they have been issued for you
• your residence address and other addresses related to the business activity you wish to start
• name of the business activity you wish to start
• short business name
• relevant codes of the Polish Business Activity Classification (PKD)
• number of employees that you are planning to employ
• start date of your business activity
• information on being insured with the Social Insurance Institution (ZUS), KRUS or any foreign institution
• details of the tax office competent for your place of residence.

Please note! If you do not have a Tax Identification Number (NIP) or a Business Statistical Number (REGON), your application for an entry in the register of entrepreneurs will be also an application for a NIP and a REGON. The NIP and REGON numbers will be automatically added to your entry – the NIP number within 1 working day, and the REGON number within 7 days.

REGISTER YOUR BUSINESS ONLINE

If you have any further questions concerning:

• company registration or obligations of entrepreneurs: contact our Help Centre, open Monday to Friday, between 07.00 am and 05.00 pm
• taxes: contact the National Tax and Customs Information Office (KIS) – by phone or chat. The Helpline is open Monday to Friday, between 07.00 am and 06.00 pm, phone: +48 801 055 055 or +48 22 330 03 30. Consultants are available through the chat from Monday to Friday, between 08.00 am and 04.00 pm.
• social security insurance or ZUS contributions: contact the ZUS Helpline Centre. The Helpline is open from Monday to Friday, from 07.00 am to 06.00 pm, phone: +48 22 560 16 00.

Please remember that consultants are not able to provide you with advice on your individual business needs, such as the choice of the form of taxation. Seek advice on such matters from accountants and tax advisors.