Taxes

Unlimited tax liability rests with the natural persons residing in the territory of the Republic of Poland. These are persons who have in Poland the centre of personal or economic interests or reside in the country for more than 183 days in the tax year. Such persons are subject to tax in Poland on their entire income (revenues), irrespective of the location of the sources of their income.

So the main factor determining the tax residency in Poland is the length of stay – 183 days in the tax year or having a centre of personal or economic interests (centre of vital interests) in Poland. This means that a person who meets these conditions should account for the Polish tax authorities of all his income, not only Polish income but also worldwide income taking into account agreements on avoidance of double taxation.

Your personal income tax on wages paid is paid by your employer. It is his duty to calculate, collect and pay your income tax advances to the tax office on time.

After the end of the calendar year, you settle accounts with the tax office and are entitled to a tax refund, or you have to pay extra tax.

Registration of the taxpayer and declaration of the form of taxation from the tax office

Polish taxation system consists of several types of taxes. As the legislator imposes fines on tax evasion, it is essential to remember making payments and submitting tax declarations within due time. Foreigners employed in Poland have two options:

• pay taxes in Poland (then it would be necessary that they submit the PIT (Personal Income Tax) by filling out the PIT-2 form and then they will receive PIT-37, all employees in Poland will get revenue in Poland, so it is necessary that they submit the PIT (Personal Income Tax) declaration.
• pay taxes in their home country (then they will have to submit the certificate of tax residency in their home country before arriving in Poland).

Income tax

Remember that you have to submit your annual tax declaration every year.

Each year between February and April 30th, all employees who have worked in Poland in the previous year, have to submit their annual Personal Income Tax declarations (PIT)  to the fiscal authorities. Providing you lived in Poland 183 days in the past year. Currently, it’s time to submit your PIT for the previous calendar year.

There are various PIT forms marked with different numbers but the most common form is PIT-37 for employees who do not run their own business and did not have any income from other countries in 2020.

The most convenient way of submitting your PIT is online via e-Urząd Skarbowy (eng. e-Tax Office) – the official government platform.

Since the system is available only in Polish, it may be helpful to have a Polish speaker assisting you. The platform works in such a way that you don’t have to make any calculations by yourself because your tax information should already be available in your profile (based on the information provided by your employer).

What you should do is just verify your personal details and tax data (compare with PIT-11 received from your employer) and submit the PIT declaration.

You can add tax relief and can decide, where to allocate 1% of your tax to a non-profit organisation (foundation, association) that collects donations e.g. for the benefit of someone's health. This option is available in the system together with a list of non-profit organisations.