Changing accountant in Poland: when to switch and what to hand over

You can change accountant in Poland at any point in the year. Switch at the end of a month, get a written list of everything the old office hands back, move the online permissions to the new office, and update your registration data within 7 days. The year end is the easiest moment, but a mid-year switch works too if the handover is complete.

When is the best time to switch?

Your contract sets the notice period, so it decides how fast you can leave. A widely used sample contract has 3 months’ notice, ending at the end of a calendar month, and makes documents available within 14 days of the office’s last task. It also lets either side end the contract at once if the other breaks it. Read your own contract before you sign with anyone new.

Then pick the handover point:

The returns for the old office’s last month fall due after it has stopped working for you. If that month is October 2026, the October returns to ZUS (the Social Insurance Institution) and the tax office are due on these dates:

A deadline on a weekend or public holiday moves to the next working day. Agree in writing which office sends these returns. See tax deadlines for 2026.

Example: A three-month notice given at the end of September 2026 would, under the sample contract, end on 31 December 2026. The old office then books all of 2026 and the new one starts with January 2027. Check how your contract counts the notice.

Watch out: At a year-end switch, decide who prepares the annual return for 2026: a sole trader’s by 30 April 2027, a company’s CIT-8 (corporate income tax) by 31 March 2027. A sole trader who files monthly VAT returns (JPK_V7M) also sends the first electronic copy of the tax book, JPK_PKPIR or JPK_EWP, by 30 April 2027. A company that is a VAT payer may owe its first book file, JPK_KR_PD, at the end of July 2027; ask the new office whether yours does. Decide who sends these files too; some offices charge for them separately.

What should the old office hand over?

Ask for a protokół przekazania dokumentów (a written handover list) and sign it with the old office. It records what you got back and when, which matters if something turns out to be missing later.

For a sole trader on the tax scale or the flat 19% tax, the tax book is the KPiR (podatkowa księga przychodów i rozchodów, the book of revenue and expenses). On ryczałt (the lump-sum tax on revenue) it is the revenue register.

A company has more to hand over: the full accounting books, its written accounting policy and past financial statements.

From 2026, monthly VAT filers must keep the book with software, and everyone else must from 1 January 2027. Ask for an export the new office’s software can read, not only PDF printouts.

Tip: Some offices charge to take over a book mid-year. One large online office lists 0 PLN to take over a KPiR or VAT register, but 10 PLN per fixed-asset entry and 50 PLN per employee (net, price list, September 2026). Ask for the price before you sign. See what an accountant costs.

Which permissions do you withdraw and grant?

Your old office probably signs your returns, sends your ZUS documents and reads your invoices in KSeF, the national e-invoice system. Each of these is a separate permission. Remove each one yourself: the new office’s permission does not replace it.

You may authorise more than one person to sign your returns, so a new UPL-1 does not replace the old one by itself. Since 16 June 2026, UPL-1 also covers signing the year-end book files, which makes withdrawing it more important.

A sole trader has owner rights in KSeF automatically and can grant permissions there without any extra form. For more on how KSeF works, see KSeF explained.

Tip: Also change the passwords of any logins you shared with the old office: a portal, a cloud folder, an email inbox for invoices.

Who tells CEIDG and the tax office?

You do. Your tax registration data includes the name and NIP of whoever keeps your books and the address where the records are stored, and changes must be reported within 7 days.

The CEIDG application is online and free. File it on the day the new contract starts, so you never need to count days.

How do you check the old office filed everything?

Before the old office closes your file, go through the year month by month. See also the month-end checklist.

1. VAT (if you are a VAT payer): for each month, you have the sent JPK_V7 file and its UPO. Quarterly filers send a file every month too.
2. ZUS: for each month, you have the ZUS DRA and a payment on your bank statement by the 20th (the 15th for a company), or the next working day.
3. Income tax: each advance or ryczałt payment went to your tax micro-account by the 20th (after the quarter if you pay quarterly). The transfers are on your bank statement; see the tax micro-account.
4. The book: sales invoices are entered up to the last month the old office worked on.
5. Open items: anything the old office was still waiting for, such as a missing invoice or a question about a payment, is written on the handover list.

If a return or payment is missing, raise it in writing with the old office while the contract still runs. The tax office collects from you, not from the accountant: under the Tax Ordinance, the taxpayer is liable for their taxes with all their assets. You can claim your loss from the office afterwards, under the contract and its liability insurance. Only offices that keep full accounting books must have that insurance, so ask a KPiR office whether it has a policy.

Komplet, our free Mac app, reads PDF bank statements from any bank and groups your tax and ZUS transfers by tax and period, which makes a gap easy to spot.

Why keep your own copy of everything?

A handover can drag on, and an office that is losing a client has little reason to hurry. If your documents live only in the old office’s portal, you cannot carry on without it.

Keep your own copy of:

• every sales and cost invoice, filed by month;
• every bank statement;
• every return and its UPO;
• your contracts with clients and suppliers.

You must keep tax documents for 5 years from the end of the year the tax fell due. For 2026 that means until 31 December 2032, long after the old contract has ended. Komplet’s “Prepare for my accountant” builds one folder and ZIP per month with every document, the statements and a summary, which is also a ready package for a new office. See what to send your accountant for the monthly list.

What to do next

1. Read your contract: the notice period, and how and when documents are returned.
2. Agree a start date with the new office, ideally the 1st of a month or 1 January.
3. Give notice in writing, and agree who files the old office’s last month.
4. Get the handover list signed, with electronic exports of the book and registers.
5. File OPL-1 and PEL-O, remove the old office in KSeF, then grant UPL-1, PEL and KSeF permissions to the new one.
6. Update CEIDG (or file NIP-8) within 7 days.
7. Check every month’s returns and payments, and keep your own copy of everything.