Do you need an accountant for a JDG in Poland?

No. Polish law does not require a sole trader (JDG, jednoosobowa działalność gospodarcza) to hire an accountant: you may keep your own books and file your own returns. Whether you should depends on your tax form, whether you charge VAT, and how many documents you have.

A limited company (sp. z o.o.) is different. It may also do its own books, but they are full double-entry books, and in practice almost every company pays someone.

What the law requires

A JDG keeps one of two tax records, depending on its tax form:

You may keep either one yourself. The book stays at your place of business, or at the accounting office (biuro rachunkowe) if you use one. The rules allow for an office; they do not require one.

Full accounting (księgi rachunkowe) only becomes compulsory for a sole trader whose net sales reach EUR 2,500,000 in a year. For 2026 that is 10,646,500 PLN of 2025 sales, so it does not concern a freelancer.

A sp. z o.o. must always keep full accounting, whatever its size. The Accounting Act says the company keeps its books and “may” hand them to an office. Doing it in-house is legal, but then the company itself has to:

• write an accounting policy in Polish;
• close a trial balance every month;
• prepare the annual financial statement that is filed with the KRS (the court register of companies).

Few small companies manage that without a professional.

For foreigners: a sp. z o.o. may give its books only to a bookkeeper working under Polish business law, or to one from another EU or EEA-EFTA country (Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway). A firm based only in Ukraine, the UK or the US does not qualify.

For a JDG we found no rule on who may keep the book. But the book must be in Polish and in złoty and go through Polish systems, so an accountant registered in Poland is the safe choice.

Who may work as an accountant

The job is not licensed. For full accounting, the Accounting Act asks only that the people doing the work:

• have full legal capacity;
• have no conviction for offences against documents, property, business dealings, money and securities, or for fiscal offences.

Offices that keep full accounting must carry liability insurance (OC). On the usual reading of the law, offices that only keep a KPiR or a ryczałt register do not have to, so ask to see the policy.

What an accountant does each month

An accountant, or an app, turns your documents into entries, returns and amounts to pay. The deadlines are the same whoever does the work.

When a deadline falls on a Saturday, Sunday or public holiday, it moves to the next working day.

To do this work, the accountant usually asks for three permissions:

• UPL-1, so they can sign your tax returns (since 16 June 2026 it also covers the year-end book files);
• PEL, a power of attorney at ZUS;
• access to your invoices in KSeF, the national e-invoice system.

When doing it yourself is realistic

DIY works best when few rules apply to you and your documents are simple. It is realistic if most of these are true:

• You pay ryczałt, so your costs do not change your tax (see how to choose your tax form).
• You are VAT-exempt, with sales of up to 240,000 PLN a year (the limit from 1 January 2026), and your trade may use the exemption. Legal and most advisory services, for example, cannot (see the VAT exemption limit).
• You issue a handful of invoices a month to clients in Poland.
• You have no employees and no car in the business.
• You do not buy services from abroad, or you know how to handle them.

Clients in other EU countries add work. A VAT-exempt freelancer selling services to businesses there must register for VAT-UE (EU VAT) and file a monthly VAT-UE summary by the 25th.

The Ministry of Finance’s free tools cover part of the job:

• Twój e-PIT, in e-Urząd Skarbowy (the online tax office), for the annual return;
• the KSeF Taxpayer App for invoices;
• e-mikrofirma for invoices, VAT records and the VAT return;
• a free form that prepares the year-end JPK_PKPIR or JPK_EWP file (JPK is the tax office’s XML file format).

ZUS returns go through eZUS, the ZUS online portal.

Watch out: none of the free tools keeps a KPiR or revenue register during the year. The Ministry of Finance’s own manual says e-mikrofirma “is not an accounting program”. Monthly VAT filers must keep the book with software from 1 January 2026; quarterly filers and VAT-exempt freelancers from 1 January 2027. Whether a spreadsheet counts as software is not settled, so the safe choice is a cheap self-service app.

When doing it yourself is risky

Each of these adds rules that are easy to miss and expensive to fix:

• Active VAT payer. A monthly or quarterly VAT return and corrections. From 1 January 2027, every transfer that pays another VAT payer’s KSeF invoice must carry that invoice’s KSeF number.
• Foreign purchases. Google Ads, Adobe and similar services invoiced from another country make you account for Polish VAT yourself. Even a VAT-exempt freelancer must register for VAT-UE before the first purchase. They must then file VAT-9M by the 25th of the next month for each month with such a purchase, even while the business is suspended. See VAT-UE for Google, Adobe and AWS.
• Employees. Payroll, contracts and ZUS for each person.
• A car. Only 50% of the VAT is deductible for mixed use. Full deduction needs business-only use, a mileage log and a VAT-26 notice.
• IP Box (5% tax on qualifying income from intellectual property you create, such as software). It needs a separate record for each IP right.
• Reading Polish. The books, the forms and the tax office’s letters are in Polish.

An online app or an accounting office?

There are three levels, and the price follows how much work someone else takes on. Net monthly prices for a sole trader, from the vendors’ price pages and market surveys in September 2026:

With a self-service app, you still decide how each document is booked. With an accountant, you have someone to ask.

English support is not always included: ifirma’s price list adds 95 PLN net for contact with the accountant in English. For a small sp. z o.o., expect roughly 800–1,400 PLN a month at an office, or from about 620–650 PLN with an app’s accountant. There is more detail in what an accountant costs.

What stays your job, whatever you choose

An accountant takes over the work, not the responsibility.

• You are liable for your taxes. Under the Tax Ordinance, the taxpayer answers with all their assets. If the office makes a mistake, the tax office still collects from you, and you claim your loss from the office under your contract.
• Collecting the documents. KSeF delivers most Polish invoices, but not all. Foreign sellers do not have to use it, small Polish sellers may invoice outside it until 31 December 2026, and receipts and bank statements never appear there. Someone has to download, name and keep them, and that someone is you.
• Meeting the office’s deadline. Contracts usually ask for documents by the 5th–10th of the next month. Late documents cost extra: ifirma charges a sole trader 49–185 PLN depending on how late they are. See what to send your accountant.
• Checking the figures the office sends you before you pay.
• Keeping the documents. 2026 documents must be kept at least until 31 December 2032.
• Telling the tax office who keeps your books. When you start with an accountant, or change one, update your entry in CEIDG (the public register of sole traders) within 7 days. A company uses form NIP-8.

Komplet, our free Mac app, files each invoice into the right month under a readable name, pairs it with the payment on your bank statement, and prepares a folder for your accountant with every document and statement. It does not keep your books or file returns.

What to do next

1. Write down your tax form, your VAT status and roughly how many documents you have each month.
2. Check the risky list above. If two or more apply, get an accountant or an app with one.
3. If you go it alone, pick a self-service app: monthly VAT filers need one already, everyone else from 1 January 2027.
4. If you hire an office, ask for a written price per number of documents, the document deadline, who sends which return, and its insurance.
5. Either way, set up one folder per month now, so every document has a home when the tax office or your accountant asks for it.