How to choose the best method of taxation of revenue from business activity

If you are a natural person and make revenue from business activity, you can select one of the several methods of taxation with personal income tax (PIT). See what are the most important differences between the schemes and who can use them.

What constitutes a business activity for the purposes of personal income tax (PIT)?

Different regulations have different definitions of business activity. When running a business, you should consider whether a given activity constitutes a business activity under the provisions of the relevant regulations.

Business activity for the purposes of income tax law is one of the following activities:

manufacturing, construction, commercial, service activities
activity consisting in exploration, evaluation and mining of mineral deposits
activity consisting in the use of tangible movable items and intangible assets,

conducted in order to achieve profit, regardless of its outcome.

To be qualified as a business, your activity must fall into at least one category:

an activity carried out on your own account, which means that an entrepreneur performs activities for the needs of their business, and not for the benefit of any other entity
an activity conducted in an organized and continuous manner, which means that an entrepreneur has the infrastructure (computer equipment, desk, goods, office, etc.) that is necessary to perform the activities and performs them multiple times, with a certain regularity
the income received by the entrepreneur cannot be included in another source of income; if the revenue earned by the taxpayer as the result of a given activity is considered as coming from a different source, then this activity performed by the taxpayer does not constitute a business activity for tax purposes. Revenue that may be considered as coming from a different source, may be, for example, revenue from the sale of real property, its part or a share in real property.

If any of the above criteria of a business activity is not met, your activity will not be considered a business activity for income tax purposes. As a consequence, you will not pay your taxes under the rules provided for business activity.

Please note that a business activity is not an activity undertaken once or occasionally.

Example

Jan Kowalski runs a one-person business activity: he sells buttons and other haberdashery and sewing supplies. He also owns a property where he lives with his family. The property is not an asset related to his business activity.

Jan has decided to sell this property because he wants to buy a bigger apartment. The revenue received from the sale of real property will not constitute revenue from his business activity, as Jan Kowalski is selling his private property to buy another property for his own residential needs.

Example

Jan Kowalski runs a one-person business activity consisting in real property trading (he acquires and sells residential property).

In 2019, he bought an apartment in order to resell it (after renovating it). The revenue generated from the sale of this apartment constitutes the revenue from Jan’s business activity, because he carries out the real property trading activity in an organized, professional and continuous manner, and in addition, he bought the apartment to earn money from its sale.

Please note! Tax authorities may consider that an entrepreneur does not conduct business activity for taxation purposes if the following three conditions are all met:

liability towards third parties for the outcome of their activities and for their performance is borne by a party ordering the entrepreneur to perform the activities, so that the entrepreneur is not liable for the activities he or she has performed
the ordered activities are performed under the supervision of the ordering party and at the time and place indicated by this party, which means that the entrepreneur is not independent which makes his or her dealings resemble an employment relationship
the entrepreneur does not bear the economic risk that normally is and should be associated with a business activity.

Such an entrepreneur, although he or she operates for profit, on their own account, in a continuous and organized manner, will not be entitled to pay their taxes under the rules provided for businesses.

It is the tax authority that will determine to which source of revenue should the money earned by the taxpayer be attributed. The above principles are aimed at counteracting the phenomenon of "self-employment".

Please note! For tax purposes, the condition for conducting a business activity is not its registration in the CEIDG register, but the fulfilment of all the criteria which are associated with business activity for tax purposes.

This means that a taxpayer who meets these criteria must pay their taxes under the rules provided for businesses.

Example

Jan is not registered in CEIDG and earns income from renting 12 commercial premises and 15 apartments. Jan:

continuously places advertisements on the Internet, and in the press
changes the tenants of the premises and the apartments several times a year,
constantly tries to ensure that the property he owns is rented out,
cooperates with a person who checks the condition of the premises and the apartments rented by him, as well as the manner of their use by the tenants.

Jan believes that his rental activity falls under the so-called private renting. However, Jan’s activity meets all the characteristics of a business activity, so he should keep accounting records of his revenue and pay the taxes in accordance with the rules prescribed for businesses. If Jan fails to use this method of taxation of his income, the head of a competent tax office may intervene and tax his income according to a method reserved for businesses.

What are the available taxation schemes for business activity of natural persons?

You will pay Personal Income Tax (PIT) according to the rules provided for entrepreneurs if:

you run a one-person business activity (in Polish: jednoosobowa działalność gospodarcza)
you are a partner in a partnership of one of the following types:
civil law partnership,
general partnership of which the partners are natural persons,
general partnership of which the partners are bodies other than natural persons, provided that you submit information about corporate income taxpayers and about personal income taxpayers who have, directly or through bodies that are not personal income taxpayers, the right to share in the partnership’s profit,
or you are a partner in professional partnership.

When you start your business activity, as well as when operating your activity, you will wonder which income taxation scheme is best for you.

You can choose between three methods of taxation of income from your business:

Please note! The fourth method of taxation is the tax card scheme, but from 2022 it can only be used by taxpayers who were taxed according to this scheme before 2022 and they wish to continue to be taxed in this manner.

The tax scale is the basic form of taxation of business income; you will be taxed in this way unless you choose another form of taxation.

Opting for a lump-sum tax on recorded revenue is not always possible.

Certain activities are excluded from lump-sum taxation, for example, the operation of pharmacies, currency exchange offices, or trading in car parts.

The lump sum cannot be chosen by those who:

are engaged in other business activities taxed on a tax card basis
as part of their business activities, manufacture products subject to excise duty
are partners in a Civil Code partnership and a general partnership, and their partners have chosen another form of taxation (lump sum taxation must be chosen by all partners).

In the case of the general scheme (tax scale) and the flat-rate scheme, the object of taxation is income, and in the case of the “lump-sum tax on recorded revenues” scheme, it is revenue.

In order to make the right choice of the method of business taxation, you need to know what revenue, tax-deductible costs, income and loss mean.

What is revenue, tax-deductible expenses, income and loss

Revenue from business activity

Revenue from business activity is all amounts due to the entrepreneur in connection with the business activity, even if they have not been actually received, after excluding the value of goods that have been returned to the entrepreneur, as well as any discounts and rebates (i.e. discounts for making payments before the due date).

Simply put, the revenue from business activity will be everything that a business has received or should have received from its customers, for services rendered to them or goods delivered to them.

Please note! If you are a payer of tax on goods and services (VAT) in connection with your business activity, the amount of the VAT that you charge does not constitute your revenue. Revenue for tax purposes is only the amounts receivable less the value added tax (net amount).

Example

The company Balonex, which is a VAT payer, sells balls for PLN 123 per piece. In this amount, PLN 23 is VAT (23%), and PLN 100 is the amount due to the entrepreneur on account of sales, i.e. revenue.

Therefore, if you receive or are to receive any value in connection with your business activity, you should treat it as revenue from business activity.

Revenue from business activity may be, for example:

revenue from the sale of business assets used for business purposes (e.g. a company vehicle, a computer or office equipment)
interest on bank deposits or current accounts belonging to the entrepreneur
contractual penalties received
compensation received for damage to business assets
revenue from lease, sublease, tenancy, subtenancy of business assets.

Please note that in some cases, revenue will not be considered as revenue for tax purposes. The examples of receivables that do not constitute revenue from business activities include, typically:

repaid loans, with the exception of capitalised interest on these loans
the amount of interest accrued but not yet paid on receivables, including on loans granted (only at the time of their receiving will they constitute revenue of the entrepreneur)
refunded, written off or unclaimed taxes and fees constituting revenues of the state budget or budgets of local government units, not included in tax-deductible costs and other refunded costs not included in tax-deductible costs.
reimbursed other non-deductible expenses.

Tax-deductible expenses

The concept of 'tax-deductible expenses' (also called: tax-deductible costs) is crucial for taxpayers using the tax scale method and the flat-rate taxation method. The regulations do not specify what the tax-deductible cost may be. What is crucial is the purpose for which the entrepreneur incurs the cost.

Tax-deductible costs are expenses that:

have been incurred in order to:
obtain revenue, e.g. by purchasing goods, office materials, equipment, or anything that is supposed to directly or indirectly lead to obtaining revenue
preserve the source of revenue, i.e. expenses incurred for organizing meetings with contractors
secure the source of revenue, i.e. for example expenses for insurance policies,
have actually been incurred (the actual payment does not matter, but having incurred the cost, i.e. issued invoice, expense disclosed in the books)
have been incurred by the taxpayer (and not by another person)
are not listed in the catalogue of expenses not constituting tax-deductible costs.

Remember! The full catalogue of costs not constituting tax-deductible costs can be found in Article 23 of the Act on Personal Income Tax.

Income from business activity

The concept of income from business activity is crucial for taxpayers using the tax scale method and the flat-rate tax method – these taxpayers will pay income tax on their income at the prescribed rate.

Income from business activity is the difference between the sum of revenue from business activity achieved in a given calendar year and the sum of tax-deductible costs incurred in order to achieve the revenue from business activity, or to maintain or secure the business activity.

Therefore, the income is the surplus of revenue (proceeds) from business activity over the costs related to the business activity i.e. the expenses incurred in order to achieve the revenue.

Example

Wojciech runs a metal shop where he sells, among others, screws. Wojciech bought 50 screws at a wholesale store for the price of PLN 250 net (excluding VAT). The amount of PLN 250 is for Wojciech the cost incurred to obtain revenue . Wojciech sold 50 screws to a client for the price of PLN 400 net (excluding VAT). The amount of PLN 400 constitutes revenue for Wojciech. On the sale of screws, Wojciech earned income in the amount of PLN 150.

Loss from business activity

If the sum of revenue from your business in a given calendar year is lower than the sum of costs that your business incurred in order to obtain this revenue, you incur a loss.

The loss occurs most often in periods of economic downturn or when the taxpayer makes investments and therefore incurs higher costs.

If you have a loss from your business activity, you have the right to:

decrease your income achieved in one of the five tax years following the loss, but the amount by which you decrease your income in any of those years may not exceed 50% of the amount of the loss, or
decrease one time your revenue obtained from business activity in one of the five tax years following the loss by an amount not exceeding PLN 5 million. The non-deducted loss amount can be carried forward for deduction in the remaining years of this five-year period, except that the amount you can deduct in any of the years may not exceed 50% of the loss amount.

How a partner or a shareholder of a partnership or a company pays taxes on their business revenue?

Despite the fact that a one-person business activity remains the most popular form of conducting business, an increasing number of entrepreneurs decide to start a business in the form of a commercial law company or partnership.

If you decide to set up a business as a company or partnership, you can choose one of the following:

a general partnership
a professional partnership
a limited partnership
a partnership limited by shares
a limited liability company
a joint-stock company
a simple joint-stock company.

Shareholders or partners of companies and partnerships liable for CIT

You may have different reasons for choosing a company or a partnership as a form of doing business.

However, you must take into consideration that some of the companies will be payers of corporate income tax (CIT). This applies to limited liability companies, joint-stock companies, limited partnerships, limited joint-stock partnerships and certain general partnerships.

As a shareholder or partner of such company or partnership, you will pay income tax whenever the company or partnership shares its profit with you, or, in other words, pays you a dividend. In this case you will pay the tax on the share in the profits of a legal person.

Partners of tax transparent (or pass-through) partnerships

A tax transparent or pass-through partnership is a partnership which is not a taxpayer for corporate income tax purposes and the income tax is paid by its partners.

This applies to:

a general partnership of natural persons
a general partnership, the partners of which are entities other than natural persons, provided that information is submitted about the corporate income tax payers and about the personal income tax payers who have, directly or through entities that are not payers of income tax, the right to a share in the profits of this partnership – such a partnership will also be a tax transparent entity
a professional partnership
a Civil Code partnership (although it is not a commercial law partnership, but rather an agreement, the same rules on taxation of partners apply to it).

The partners of tax transparent (pass-through) partnerships calculate their income tax liability in proportion to their right to a share in the partnership’s profits.

The calculation shall take into account, proportionally:

revenue
tax-deductible costs
expenses not constituting tax-deductible costs
tax credits
reductions of income tax or of taxable amount
any other rights affecting the tax assessment.

Therefore, it is crucial to determine the right to a share in the profit of the partnership, which the partner is entitled to. Based on their right to a share in the profit, the partners of a tax transparent partnership calculate their tax liability.

Example

Jan is a partner in a general partnership formed by natural persons. It follows from the articles of association that Jan is entitled to a 50% share in the partnership’s profits. This means that Jan, when calculating income obtained from the general partnership, accounts for 50% of the partnership’s revenue, of tax-deductible costs, etc. in his tax calculations. He pays the income tax on the so determined income as an individual.

Importantly, depending on whether a partner of a tax transparent partnership is a natural person or a corporate tax payer, the income of such a partner from a tax-transparent partnership will be subject to taxation according to the rules applicable to a given partner.

Example

Jan and a limited liability company are partners in a general partnership. They have an equal right to a share in the profit (50%). Jan pays personal income tax on the income from his share in the partnership, while the limited liability company pays corporate income tax on the income from its share. The general partnership has submitted information about corporate income tax payers and about personal income tax payers who have, directly or through entities that are not income tax payers, the right to share in the profits of this company.

In the case of natural persons who are partners in tax transparent partnerships, the amounts obtained from their share in these partnerships are treated for tax purposes as income achieved from their one-person business activity. This means that partners in tax transparent partnerships pay tax on the amounts obtained through the partnerships according to the selected method of taxation of income from one-person business activity.

Please note! A lump-sum taxation on recorded revenue may be applied only by the partners of a general partnership or of a Civil Code partnership provided that all partners choose the lump-sum taxation as a method of taxation.

What are the differences between the methods of taxation?

Check the main differences between the four methods of taxing business activity of natural persons.

	Taxation under general rules scheme (according to the tax scale)	Flat-rate tax scheme	Lump-sum tax scheme	Tax card scheme
Who can use it – one-person business activity	any natural person engaged in a business activity	any natural person engaged in a business activity (except for entrepreneurs providing services to a former or current employer)	any natural person obtaining revenue from non-agricultural business activity (except for entrepreneurs providing services to a former or current employer)	natural persons who paid tax according to the tax card scheme as at 31.12.2021 and continue to pay tax according to the tax card scheme in 2022
Who can use it - partnerships	Partners of the following partnerships: a general partnership of natural persons or a general partnership that has opted for transparent (pass-through) taxation, a professional partnership, a Civil Code partnership	Partners of the following partnerships: a general partnership of natural persons or a general partnership that has opted for transparent (pass-through) taxation, a professional partnership, a Civil Code partnership	Partners of the following partnerships: a general partnership or a Civil Code partnership, the partners of which are only natural persons	Partners of a Civil Code partnership who paid tax according to the tax card scheme as at 31.12.2021 and continue to pay tax according to the tax card scheme in 2022
Types of activity	Any business activity	Any business activity	Any business activity, with the exception of some specified types of activities, which cannot be taxed with a lump-sum tax	indicated in the catalogue of activities that can be taxed according to the tax card scheme
Income limit	no limit	no limit	up to EUR 2 million: - independently, - jointly as part of a Civil Code partnership or a registered partnership	no limit
Deducting tax deductible costs	Yes	Yes	No	No
What is subject to taxation	income	income	revenue	the tax is determined by the Head of the Tax Office
Tax rate	12% or 32%	19%	from 2% to 17%	rates depend on, among others, the type of activity, place of its performance, number of employees
Who calculates the tax	taxpayer	taxpayer	taxpayer	Head of the Tax Office
Adding together different sources of income	Yes	No	No	No
Main advantages	possibility of declaring income obtained from different sources (but not all) in one tax return, – numerous tax reliefs	fixed tax rate – tax rate is not progressive	simple method of determining the taxable amount – simplified bookkeeping	pre-determined amount of tax – no bookkeeping
Major drawbacks	32% rate after exceeding the income of PLN 120 thousand	lack of possibility to apply certain tax reliefs	certain activities are exempt from the possibility of using this scheme	taxation scheme available only for entrepreneurs using it as at 31.12.2021 – starting from 2022 it is no longer possible to choose the tax card scheme

What to consider when choosing a taxation scheme

Whether you want to reduce your income tax with tax-deductible costs

Before choosing the method of taxation, consider how much expense you will incur in relation to your business activity.

If your planned expenses, for example related to the purchase of goods, services or equipment, are going to be substantial, you should consider choosing a scheme that gives you the possibility of deducting your costs when calculating your income tax. If you choose a lump-sum tax scheme, it may turn out that despite a more favourable tax rate, you will pay higher taxes than if you chose the flat tax scheme or the general scheme, due to the fact that this scheme does not allow you to include tax-deductible costs in your tax calculation.

The health insurance contribution rates

Since 2022, the amount of your health insurance contribution depends on the method of taxation you choose and the amount of your income.

If you choose the general taxation scheme (“under general rules” scheme, according to the tax scale), the rate of your health insurance contribution will be 9% of the contribution base (which is your income from business activity).

If you pay income tax at a flat rate (19%), you will pay health insurance contributions at the rate of 4.9% of the contribution base (which is, again, your income from business activity).

Please note! If you use the general scheme (according to the tax scale) or the flat-rate scheme and your income in a given month is lower than the minimum wage in force on 1 February of a given year, the amount of the health insurance contribution in this month will be 9% or 4.9% of the minimum wage in force on 1 February of a given year.

The minimum wage in Poland on 1 February 2024 is PLN 4242.

The minimum health insurance contribution for each month of the contribution year, from 1 February 2024 to 31 January 2025, is PLN 381.78.

If you settle your income tax based on lump-sum taxation on recorded revenue, your monthly health contribution will be 9% of the lump-sum base, which is the amount of the average salary in effect in the fourth quarter of the previous year, including payments from profit, published by President of Statistics Poland in the Official Gazette of the Republic of Poland, “Monitor Polski”.

If you pay tax based on the tax card scheme, the health insurance contribution base will be the minimum wage applicable on 1 January of a given year, so in 2024 it will be PLN 381.78 per month.

In addition, entrepreneurs must settle their health insurance liabilities annually. If, after calculating the total health insurance contributions paid in a given year, it appears that:

you have paid a higher total amount of health insurance contributions than the health insurance contribution amount due for a given year, calculated based on the annual contribution base – you can apply for a refund of the overpayment
the amount of your health insurance contributions paid is lower than the health insurance contribution amount due for a given year – you have to pay the difference.

In the case of paying income tax under general rules (according to the tax scale) or with a flat tax, if the total health insurance contribution base used in a given year is lower than the product of the number of months in the year when you were subject to health insurance and the minimum wage, you will be subject to the minimum annual contribution base.

In 2023, the minimum annual contribution base is PLN 50.904.

Whether you can deduct your loss to reduce your tax

Before choosing a method of taxation, consider whether or not your planned expenses are likely to be higher than the generated revenue.

This is often true at the initial stage of business activity or when you are planning investments. In such a case, a good solution may be to select a method of taxation which allows you to make a tax loss – i.e. the flat-rate tax or taxation under general rules according to the tax scale.

Whether you want to calculate and pay tax with your spouse

Consider whether you and your spouse want to calculate and pay tax together. If so, you will need to opt for the general scheme.

Joint taxation with the spouse excludes the right to use the flat tax scheme or the lump-sum tax scheme.

Whether you want to benefit from tax reliefs

Please note that choosing a given method of taxation may deprive you of the right to benefit from certain tax reliefs. Each taxation scheme is characterised by a different set of reliefs available to taxpayers, and the flat tax scheme deprives you of the possibility of benefiting from the majority of tax reliefs.

What kind of accounting you want to do

Different taxation schemes are associated with a different scope of accounting obligations. Depending on your chosen income taxation scheme, you will be required to keep:

revenue and expense ledger (simplified accounting) (Polish: podatkowa księga przychodów i rozchodów, PKPIR), in the case of taxation under general rules or with a flat tax
accounting books (the full accounting system) in the event of exceeding the limit of EUR 2 million of net revenue in the previous tax year;
records of revenue, in the case using the lump-sum tax scheme

Each type of accounting requires a certain level of detail of the data you record.

How to change the method of taxation

You can change the taxation scheme to a different one, but you must do it within the specified time limit.

How to switch to the tax scale

The tax scale is the basic method of taxation of business income.

This means that you will be taxed according to the tax scale (taxation under general rules) if upon registering your business you do not choose a different scheme or you choose a different scheme but you submit the application to the Head of the Tax Office after the deadline for applying to change the scheme.

If you already conduct business activity applying the flat tax rate or the lump-sum tax and you want to return to taxation under general rules, submit a written statement to the Head of your Tax Office on the change from the current method of taxation:

by the 20th day of the month following the month in which you obtain your first revenue from business activity in a given year
until the end of the year – if you obtain your first revenue in December of a given year.

Example

Marta uses the flat-rate taxation scheme. She obtained her first revenue in January 2023. She has time until 20 February 2023 to change the flat-rate tax scheme to a different scheme.

You can submit a statement on your intention to change the method of taxation from the flat-rate scheme or the lump-sum tax scheme to the general tax scale scheme:

at your tax office
via CEIDG, changing the relevant information in your entry.

If you run a business using the tax card scheme and you wish to return to taxation under general rules (the general scheme), you have to submit a written statement to the Head of your Tax Office on resignation from the tax card scheme by 20 January of a given calendar year.

You can opt out of the tax card scheme by:

filing the statement of resignation from the scheme with the tax office
via CEIDG, by changing the relevant information in your entry.

How to switch to the flat-rate taxation scheme

If you wish to switch to paying flat-rate tax on your income from business activity, you must submit a written statement to the Head of your Tax Office on your choice of the flat-rate for taxation of your business income:

by the 20th day of the month following the month in which you obtain the first revenue from business activity in a given year
until the end of the year – if you obtain your first revenue in December of a given year.

You can submit a statement on the choice of flat-rate taxation:

How to switch to the lump-sum taxation scheme

If you wish to choose to pay the lump-sum tax on your recorded revenue, you must submit a written statement on the choice of lump-sum taxation method to the Head of your Tax Office:

by the 20th day of the month following the month in which you obtained the first revenue from business activity in a given year,
by the end of the year – if you earn your first revenue in December.

You can submit a statement on the choice of lump-sum taxation scheme:

How to opt out of the lump-sum taxation scheme

If you want to resign from paying tax as a lump-sum amount on your recorded revenue and return to paying tax under general rules, submit a written statement to the Head of your Tax Office on the change of the method of taxation:

by the 20th day of the month following the month in which you obtained the first revenue from business activity in a given year,
until the end of the year – if you obtain your first revenue in December of a given year.

You can submit a statement on the change from the lump-sum taxation scheme:

at a tax office
via CEIDG, by changing the relevant information in your entry.

If you wish to want to resign from paying tax as a lump-sum amount on your recorded revenue and change to paying the flat-rate tax, you must submit a written statement to the Head of your Tax Office on your choice of the flat-rate as the method of taxation of your business income:

by the 20th day of the month following the month in which you obtained the first revenue from business activity in a given year,
until the end of the year - if you obtain your first revenue in December of a given year.

You can submit a statement on the choice of flat-rate taxation:

How to opt out of the tax card scheme

If you wish to resign from the tax card taxation scheme, you must submit to the Head of your Tax Office by 20 January:

statement on the resignation from the tax card taxation scheme – you will then return to paying tax under general rules (the general scheme)
statement on the choice of the flat-rate taxation or the lump‑sum taxation scheme on your recorded revenue – then you will be taxed according to your selected method in the next tax year.

Example

Jakub used the tax card scheme in 2022. On 14 January 2023, he submitted an application for the lump-sum taxation scheme on recorded revenue. In 2023, Jakub pays the lump-sum tax on his business activity. At the same time, he will no longer be able to benefit from the tax card taxation scheme.

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