Taxes in Poland for foreigners: income tax, reliefs and refunds

Tax is the thing a foreigner in Poland usually puts off while the employer deducts it from the salary. Then spring comes, and with it the annual PIT return, and it turns out that some of the money could have been claimed back and some reliefs were never applied at all.

This guide follows the Personal Income Tax Act (*ustawa o podatku dochodowym od osób fizycznych*) in the consolidated text Dz.U. 2026 item 592, and the Tax Ordinance (*Ordynacja podatkowa*), Dz.U. 2026 item 622. Amendments published later do not change the articles cited here. It covers the income of an individual — a salary and civil-law contracts; the taxes of your own company are covered in our guide to doing business in Poland. The links lead to the sources page, with the date on which we read each text.

Taxes in Poland for foreigners in 2026: the short version

• A tax resident is someone whose centre of vital interests is in Poland, or who spends more than 183 days here in a year. A resident pays tax on all income, including income from abroad.
• The scale: 12% up to 120,000 zł and 32% above it. The tax is reduced by 3,600 zł a year, so the first 30,000 zł is in effect untaxed.
• Under 26, a salary and mandate contracts are exempt up to 85,528 zł a year.
• Someone who moves to Poland gets the same exemption for four years — if they hold Polish citizenship, a Pole's Card, EU citizenship, or lived in a country on the Act's list.
• Child relief — from 92.67 zł a month per child, and the unused part is paid out in cash within the limit of contributions.
• Joint filing with a spouse — only if both are Polish residents or the spouse is an EU resident.
• The annual return is filed from 15 February to 30 April. The employer sends you a PIT-11 by the end of February.
• An overpayment is refunded within 45 days of an electronic return, 3 months of a paper one.

Tax residency in Poland: who pays tax here

Everything starts with art. 3 of the Act. It decides which income you pay tax on.

The two conditions of residency are independent: one is enough. A person whose family and job are in Poland is a resident even with 150 days in the country; a person who spent 200 days here is a resident even if the family stayed at home.

A double taxation treaty changes the rule. Art. 3 applies subject to such treaties, art. 4a. If two countries each consider you their resident, the dispute is settled by the treaty's rules, not by the Polish article alone. Polish residency is confirmed by a tax residency certificate (*certyfikat rezydencji*), issued by the tax authority on application, art. 306l of the Tax Ordinance. A certificate from your previous country is also needed for the relief for people moving to Poland, described below.

Income tax in Poland on a salary: the rate and the scale

An individual's income is taxed on the scale by default, art. 27(1):

The 3,600 zł deduction is called the tax-reducing amount (*kwota zmniejszająca podatek*). 3,600 zł is 12% of 30,000 zł, so up to that threshold the tax is in effect zero; that is where the "30,000 zł tax-free" people search for comes from.

The employer deducts the tax from your salary. It calculates and pays advance payments (*zaliczki*) every month, art. 32(1), and reduces the base by:

• tax-deductible costs (*koszty uzyskania przychodu*) — 250 zł a month under one employment contract, 300 zł if you live in a different locality from your workplace, art. 22(2);
• social insurance contributions deducted, art. 32(4).

The employer applies the 300 zł monthly reduction only if you ask for it. If you declare that you are taxed on the scale and your income will not exceed 120,000 zł, each advance payment is reduced by 1/12 of 3,600 zł — that is, by 300 zł a month, art. 32(3). In practice this is the PIT-2 form. Without it you get the reduction only through the annual return.

Tax reliefs for foreigners in Poland

Relief for people under 26

Exempt from tax under art. 21(1)(148) is the income of a person under 26 from:

• an employment contract (*umowa o pracę*);
• a mandate contract (*umowa zlecenia*);
• a graduate internship and a student apprenticeship;
• maternity benefit.

The limit is 85,528 zł a year. The Act does not require citizenship: the relief (*ulga dla młodych*) is the same for a Pole and a foreigner. Income above the limit is taxed on the scale.

Relief for moving to Poland and the Pole's Card

Art. 21(1)(152) exempts up to 85,528 zł a year, for four consecutive years, the income of a person who moved their residence to Poland — from the year of the move or from the following year (*ulga na powrót*). The conditions, art. 21(43):

1. after the move you became a Polish tax resident;
2. you were not a Polish resident for the three calendar years before the year of the move, nor in that year up to the day of the move;
3. you hold Polish citizenship, a Pole's Card (*Karta Polaka*) or citizenship of the EU, the EEA or Switzerland — or you lived continuously in an EU or EEA country, Switzerland, Australia, Chile, Israel, Japan, Canada, Mexico, New Zealand, Korea, the United Kingdom or the United States, or you had previously lived in Poland for at least 5 years;
4. you have a tax residency certificate or another document confirming your place of residence for tax purposes for the required period;
5. you have not used this relief before.

If none of point 3 applies to you — no Polish citizenship, no Pole's Card, no EU, EEA or Swiss citizenship, and the country you lived in is not on that list — the relief is not available. If you are a citizen of Ukraine, Belarus or Russia, this means: without a Pole's Card the relief is closed to you, because those countries are not on the list. With a Pole's Card it is available if the other conditions are met. The main one is a tax residency certificate from your previous country for the three years before the move.

A shared limit. The exemptions for people under 26, for moving to Poland, for families with four children and for working pensioners together may not exceed 85,528 zł in a year, art. 21(44).

Child relief

For each month, the following is deducted from the tax, art. 27f (*ulga na dzieci*):

If your tax is too low to absorb the deduction, the difference is paid out in cash, art. 27f(8) — up to the social and health insurance contributions you paid, art. 27f(9). That is the "child tax refund" people search for.

Joint filing with a spouse

Spouses can be taxed together (*wspólne rozliczenie*) — the tax is calculated on half of the combined income and doubled, art. 6(2). The condition: both spouses are Polish tax residents, or one is a Polish resident and the other a resident of the EU, the EEA or Switzerland with at least 75% of the income coming from Poland, art. 6(3a). If your husband or wife lives in Ukraine, Belarus, Russia or anywhere else outside the EU, the EEA and Switzerland, joint filing is not possible.

The PIT tax return in Poland: deadlines and documents

The PIT-11 also shows income exempt under the under-26 relief and the relief for moving to Poland, art. 39(1) — check that your employer has included it.

Twój e-PIT. The National Revenue Administration (*Krajowa Administracja Skarbowa*) prepares a return for you in the e-Urząd Skarbowy online account, based on what employers report. Check it for reliefs the tax office may not know about: children, moving to Poland, joint filing. If something is missing, the return is corrected before you send it.

Tax refund in Poland: when the money arrives

An overpayment is refunded within the period set by art. 77 § 1 of the Tax Ordinance:

• 45 days from the day an electronic return is filed, point 5a;
• 3 months for a paper return, point 5.

A return filed before 15 February counts as filed on 15 February, so the 45 days run from that date, not from the day you sent it.

Why there is no refund. The commonest reasons follow from the same Act:

• the employer did not apply a relief and you did not claim it;
• two employers received the request to reduce advance payments and both cut them by the full 300 zł a month — the reduction was taken for more than one year, and you owe the difference;
• your income crossed the 120,000 zł threshold while the advance payments were calculated at 12%;
• the one-child relief is not due because of the income threshold.

Where practice differs from the law

• "Under 26 you pay no tax" — only up to 85,528 zł and only on the types of income listed. Income from your own business is not exempt under this provision.
• "Tax refund in 1 day" — this is how refund services advertise. The law gives the tax office 45 days for an electronic return; it can be faster, but that is not an obligation.
• "The relief for moving to Poland is only for Poles" — no: a Pole's Card holder gets it too, including a citizen of Ukraine or Belarus.
• "You become a tax resident after 183 days" — that is only one of the two conditions. A centre of vital interests in Poland makes you a resident sooner.

How we help. Our partner in Poland, a consultancy that works with foreigners on legalisation, documents and taxes, will check your tax residency and whether the under-26 relief or the relief for moving to Poland applies, tell you whether you need a tax residency certificate, and help with the return. Describe your situation in the form below: citizenship, residence status, where your income comes from and your tax question.

How to check it yourself

1. Establish your tax residency under art. 3 of the PIT Act: 183 days or the centre of interests.
2. Compare your PIT-11 with your payslips: income, advance payments, exempt income.
3. Check the reliefs: age under 26, a Pole's Card and the date of your move, children and family income.
4. Settle the joint filing question: where is your spouse resident?
5. File the return electronically — the refund arrives within 45 days.

Frequently asked questions about taxes in Poland for foreigners

When your taxes are not a simple case

The return is simple if you have one job in Poland and no income abroad. It is different if:

• you have income in two countries, or you moved in the middle of the year;
• you want to use the relief for moving to Poland with a Pole's Card;
• you do not have a tax residency certificate from your previous country;
• the tax office is demanding an additional payment after several employers;
• you work under a contract and are also thinking about a company of your own.

Describe your situation in the form below: citizenship, residence status, where your income comes from and what needs resolving.