Tax and ZUS deadlines in Poland for 2026: a month-by-month calendar for sole traders

A sole trader in Poland (a JDG, jednoosobowa działalność gospodarcza) has two monthly deadlines: the 20th for ZUS (social and health insurance) and the income-tax advance, and the 25th for VAT, if you are a VAT payer. Once a year you add the annual tax return (by 30 April) and the health-contribution reconciliation (by 20 May). When a deadline falls on a weekend or a public holiday, it moves to the next working day.

What is due every month

Everything you pay in a month is for the month before. September’s ZUS and tax are paid in October, and so on.

A few things catch people out:

• ZUS is always monthly. Every sole trader files a ZUS DRA each month, including in the first six months of ulga na start (start-up relief), when you pay only the health contribution. A month when the business is fully suspended needs nothing.
• Two transfers, two accounts. ZUS goes to your personal ZUS account (NRS, numer rachunku składkowego): one payment covers social contributions, health and the funds. Income tax and VAT go to your tax micro-account (mikrorachunek podatkowy), which is built from your NIP (tax identification number).
• The December payments are due on 20 January. The December tax advance, the December ZUS and a Q4 quarterly advance are all due by 20 January of the next year.

If you run a sp. z o.o. (a limited company), the company pays ZUS for its staff by the 15th, not the 20th. Our ZUS guide explains what the monthly amount is made of, and the health contribution guide explains the part that changes with your income.

The 2026 calendar, month by month

These are the real dates, with weekend and holiday shifts applied. The 20th column is for ZUS and income tax, the 25th for VAT.

Dates in bold moved. The rule is the same for tax and ZUS: a deadline that falls on a Saturday, a Sunday or a public holiday moves to the next working day. The December VAT date moves three days, because 25 December is Christmas, followed by a weekend.

Tip: do not wait for the last evening. Schedule the ZUS and tax transfers a few days before the deadline, especially in December, with its run of holidays.

Can you pay quarterly instead?

For income tax, often yes. For ZUS, no.

• Tax scale or flat tax (19%): quarterly advances are allowed for “small taxpayers” (sales in the previous year up to 8,517,000 PLN including VAT, the 2026 figure) and for anyone in their first year of business who has not run a business in the two years before. You do not notify anyone in advance: you state the quarterly method in your annual return.
• Ryczałt (the flat-rate tax on revenue): quarterly if your 2025 revenue was no more than 851,720 PLN (200,000 EUR), or if you started the business in 2026 and did not run one in 2025.
• Quarterly dates in 2026: Q1 by 20 April, Q2 by 20 July, Q3 by 20 October, and Q4 by 20 January 2027.
• VAT: small taxpayers can file the declaration quarterly with JPK_V7K, but the records part is still sent every month. You must tell the tax office by the 25th of the second month of the first quarter you want, and it is not available in your first 12 months as an active VAT payer.

Quarterly means fewer transfers, not less tax. Put the money aside every month anyway.

What is due once a year

The tax form choice rolls over. If you do nothing, you stay on your 2026 form for all of 2027. If you want to change, file it through your entry in CEIDG (the public register of sole traders) on biznes.gov.pl, for free, by the 20th of the month after your first revenue of the year. For most people that is 20 February, which in 2027 becomes Monday 22 February. Our guide to choosing a tax form helps you compare.

The health reconciliation is where you work out the year’s real health contribution and pay any shortfall with the April contributions. If you paid too much, ZUS prepares a refund request in eZUS (its online portal) for you to check and send.

For foreigners: the annual return goes to the tax office for your home address on the day you file. If you have left Poland by then, it goes to the office for your last Polish address.

One-off dates in 2026

Some dates in 2026 happen only once. Several have passed; the last ones are close. Two terms first: KSeF is the National e-Invoicing System (Krajowy System e-Faktur), and PKD codes are the Polish classification codes that say what your business does.

Until 31 December 2026 you may still issue PDF or paper invoices outside KSeF, as long as the invoices you issue outside it add up to no more than 10,000 PLN gross in the month. From the invoice that takes a month over that limit, you must use KSeF for good.

From 1 January 2027 invoices to other businesses go through KSeF, apart from a few exclusions. Under the law as it stands, KSeF penalties apply from 1 January 2027. A government draft published on 23 September 2026 would move the penalties to 1 January 2028, but it is not law yet. See KSeF explained.

For the other two dates, see what the e-Doręczenia address is and switching to PKD 2025. If CEIDG cannot convert your old codes automatically, the law says the entry is deleted after 31 January 2027. It is not yet clear whether that means the whole business or only the codes, so switch yourself.

Watch out: anything you file in CEIDG (a change, a suspension, a resumption) already forces you to pick PKD 2025 codes. If you plan to change your tax form for 2027 in CEIDG, do the PKD switch in the same application.

The first weeks of 2027

Mark these now, because they come quickly after the holidays:

1. 20 January 2027 (Wednesday): December ZUS, the December or Q4 tax advance.
2. 25 January 2027 (Monday): December JPK_V7M and VAT.
3. Mały ZUS Plus (income-based contributions), if you are joining it for 2027: the sign-up deadline is 31 January, a Sunday in 2027. ZUS has not said whether it moves to Monday, so register by Friday 29 January 2027.
4. 22 February 2027: last day to change your tax form for 2027.
5. 15 February – 30 April 2027: annual return for 2026.

What to do next

1. Put the 20th and the 25th in your calendar for every month, using the dates in the table above.
2. Save your NRS and your tax micro-account as two separate payees in your bank.
3. If you registered before 2025, check your e-Doręczenia address before 30 September and your PKD codes before 31 December.
4. Decide by February whether your tax form still suits you for 2027.

Komplet, our free Mac app, shows your next deadlines with Polish holidays already skipped. Its Taxes screen groups the tax and ZUS transfers it finds on your PDF bank statements, so you can see which months are paid and which are still open.