How to suspend a JDG in Poland (we just did it), and why you might want to

To suspend a JDG (jednoosobowa działalność gospodarcza, a sole proprietorship), you file a free application in CEIDG, the public register of sole traders, on biznes.gov.pl. You choose a start date and, if you like, a date to restart. CEIDG then tells ZUS (social insurance), the tax office and GUS (Statistics Poland) for you.

While suspended, you pay no social contributions and no PIT (personal income tax) advances, and usually file no VAT returns. In exchange, you cannot work for clients.

Our founder, an EU citizen living in Poland, suspended their own JDG in CEIDG on 24 September 2026, with no end date. This guide follows the real form, including the step that catches people out: the switch to PKD 2025 activity codes.

Suspend or close?

Zawieszenie działalności (suspending your business) is a pause. Your JDG stays in CEIDG with the same NIP (tax number), and you restart with one form, or automatically on a date you set. Closing (wykreślenie) ends it: coming back means registering again.

People commonly suspend to:

• take a job;
• go on parental leave (there is also a special childcare suspension, in which the state pays the pension and disability contributions);
• spend time abroad;
• rest in the off season of seasonal work;
• stop paying ZUS in a quiet period without the paperwork of closing.

Both applications are free. You can suspend if:

• you have no employees, or your only employees are on maternity, parental, childcare or carer’s leave;
• the suspension lasts at least 30 days (a whole February counts) or is indefinite.

There is no limit on how many times you suspend. The 24-month cap you may read about applies only to companies in the KRS, the court register.

If you are finished for good, closing is cleaner: see how to close a JDG.

What stops while you are suspended

ZUS gets the suspension from CEIDG and deregisters you itself, so you file no ZUS form to report it. You still settle the month in which the suspension starts, as usual.

The 6-month Ulga na start (start-up relief) and the 24 months of preferential ZUS keep running during a suspension: it does not extend them.

Health insurance ends too. Your NFZ (National Health Fund) cover through the business stops when the suspension starts, and your right to treatment lasts 30 more days. After that you need a job, a spouse’s insurance, or voluntary NFZ insurance.

How much a suspended month saves in 2026

At the minimum rates, per fully suspended month:

The 432.54 PLN minimum applies on the tax scale and the 19% flat tax (February 2026 to January 2027). On ryczałt the 2026 amount is 498.35, 830.58 or 1,495.04 PLN, depending on revenue.

Tip: start the suspension on the 1st of a month. A month that is only partly suspended costs a full health contribution.

Example: you suspend from 15 October 2026. For October you pay social contributions for the 14 active days plus the full health contribution, and file the ZUS DRA, by 20 November 2026. An active VAT payer files the October JPK_V7M by 25 November 2026, because October was only partly suspended. From November, nothing is due to ZUS.

What you still have to do

A suspension does not pause these:

• file the annual PIT return for 2026 (PIT-36, PIT-36L or PIT-28), between 15 February and 30 April 2027 (a Friday);
• include the annual health settlement in the ZUS DRA for April 2027, by 20 May 2027, if the business insured you on any day of 2026;
• file returns and make payments for months before the suspension, on their usual dates, and pay old debts;
• pay taxes not tied to trading, such as property or vehicle tax;
• keep your records: 2026 documents until the end of 2032.

When a ZUS or tax deadline falls on a weekend or public holiday, it moves to the next working day.

Invoices, KSeF and VAT while suspended

While suspended you may not run the business or earn current revenue. In plain words, you cannot keep working for clients. You may still:

• collect payment for work done before the suspension;
• pay old debts and end existing contracts;
• sell your own fixed assets and equipment (with an invoice if the buyer is a business);
• earn interest.

So issue every invoice for finished work before the suspension date. If one slips through, ask KIS, the tax information helpline (801 055 055, or 22 330 03 30 from a mobile), how to handle it.

KSeF, the national e-invoicing system, carries on without you. Since 1 February 2026 every business must be able to receive invoices there, and Polish suppliers who issue in KSeF still send invoices for your NIP there. KSeF sends no notifications, so check it now and then.

The official KSeF pages we read say nothing specific about suspended businesses. If you do invoice a business while suspended, for example for your old laptop, the normal KSeF rules apply. That includes the 10,000 PLN a month relief for small issuers, which runs until 31 December 2026.

VAT has exceptions. You still file a return for:

• a period that is only partly suspended;
• any period in which you owe VAT: an intra-EU purchase of goods, a sale of assets, a correction, or import of services.

Import of services catches freelancers. A foreign software subscription still billing your business must be declared (JPK_V7M as an active VAT payer, VAT-9M if VAT-exempt). Cancel the ones you will not need, and see VAT on Google, Adobe and AWS invoices.

Tip: if you know you will have taxable transactions during the suspension, tell the tax office before it starts (or before the transaction). You then stay on the VAT register for that period.

Two things the form may ask for

PKD 2025 codes

PKD is the official list of business activity codes. Since 1 January 2025, CEIDG accepts a change, a suspension or a resumption only with PKD 2025 codes; only closing (and a “never started” notice) is exempt.

If your entry still has PKD 2007 codes, you replace them in the same application. The wizard shows the closest new code under each old one. For typical IT work, GUS’s transition key (the official table from old codes to new) gives:

Every JDG still on PKD 2007 codes must switch by 31 December 2026, suspended or not. After that, CEIDG converts old codes automatically by 31 January 2027 where it can. Where it cannot, the law says the entry is deleted; whether that means the whole business entry is not clear, so do not wait to find out. More in PKD 2025 codes.

An e-Doręczenia address

From 1 October 2026 every business in CEIDG, suspended ones included, must have an address in the e-Doręczenia database, the official electronic mailbox for registered letters. If you registered before 1 January 2025, the deadline to have it entered is 30 September 2026.

It is free with the public provider, and you can set it up in the CEIDG form itself (section 22). Official letters will arrive there while you are suspended, so keep checking it. See the e-Doręczenia address.

How to suspend in CEIDG, step by step

These are the steps our founder went through on 24 September 2026.

1. Before the start date: invoice finished work, tell your clients and cancel subscriptions you will not need.
2. Log in to biznes.gov.pl with your trusted profile (profil zaufany), a Polish e-ID card or a qualified e-signature, and choose “Zawieś działalność gospodarczą” (Suspend your business).
3. Enter the start date: today, a later day, or an earlier one if you really stopped working then.
4. Resumption date: add one if you know when you will restart, and the business resumes by itself. Leave it empty for an indefinite suspension, as our founder did.
5. Update the PKD codes if the entry still has PKD 2007 ones. Our founder’s application could not go further until the old codes were moved to PKD 2025.
6. Add the e-Doręczenia data if you have no address yet.
7. Sign and send. It costs nothing. The entry shows as zawieszona (suspended) within one business day, and CEIDG passes it on to ZUS, the tax office and GUS.
8. Afterwards: pay the last month’s contributions by the 20th of the following month, and arrange health insurance within 30 days.

It is also a good moment to close your last active month properly: Komplet, our free Mac app, files each invoice into its month, pairs it with the bank payment and prepares the month’s folder for your accountant.

For foreigners: if you chose “insured abroad” (Jestem ubezpieczony za granicą) in CEIDG because another EU country covers you, CEIDG still tells ZUS. As no Polish contributions were being paid, we expect nothing to change there, but no official page confirms it: ask your ZUS branch, and ask your home insurer whether it needs to know. More in insured abroad. If your residence permit depends on running your business, ask your voivodeship office before you suspend.

How to resume, and how quickly

• With a date in your application: do nothing. The business resumes on that day.
• Without one: on biznes.gov.pl choose “Wznów działalność” (Resume your business). It is free. The resumption date must be at least 30 days after the suspension began, and this application needs PKD 2025 codes too.

CEIDG shows the change by the next business day and tells ZUS and the tax office. ZUS registers you again, unless something changed during the suspension (your Ulga na start or preferential period ended, or you took a job). In that case you file the ZUS forms yourself within 7 days.

Your VAT status comes back by itself, without a new VAT-R, and contributions and PIT advances restart from the resumption month. Details in how to resume a JDG.

What to do next

1. Pick your start date, ideally the 1st of a month.
2. Check your PKD codes and your e-Doręczenia address before you open the form.
3. After filing, arrange health insurance and note 30 April 2027 for the annual PIT return.