Polish tax residency for foreigners: the 183-day rule and your income from abroad

You are a Polish tax resident if you spend more than 183 days in Poland in a tax year, or if the centre of your personal or economic interests is in Poland. Either test is enough on its own. A resident pays Polish tax on income from anywhere in the world, and a tax treaty decides what happens when another country also claims you.

The two tests: 183 days or your centre of interests

The rule is in article 3 of the PIT Act, the Polish personal income tax law. You “live in Poland” for tax purposes if you meet one of these tests:

People often forget the second test. Say you moved your life to Poland in October: your flat, your partner and your business are here. You can be resident for that year with far fewer than 183 days.

Some things do not decide it on their own:

• Meldunek (registering your address with the municipality) is an administrative step, not a tax test.
• Citizenship plays no part in the Polish tests. A Spaniard and a Pole in the same situation get the same answer.
• Where your clients are. Foreign clients do not make you a foreign resident.

Watch out: “Under 183 days means I am not resident” is a common mistake. The centre-of-interests test can make you resident with any number of days.

For Ukrainians: for 2024 to 2026, people covered by the 2022 special act (the law on help for Ukrainian citizens) meet the centre-of-interests test by a written statement. That rule ends on 31 December 2026. From 1 January 2027 the ordinary two tests apply.

What Poland taxes, resident or not

For a non-resident, “income earned in Poland” includes income from a business carried on in Poland. So a Polish JDG (sole trader business) run from Poland is taxed in Poland even if you are resident somewhere else.

Filing your return as a resident

Being a foreigner changes nothing about the forms. You file the same annual return as a Pole:

• PIT-36 if you pay on the progressive tax scale;
• PIT-36L if you pay the 19% flat tax;
• PIT-28 if you pay ryczałt (a lump-sum tax on revenue).

For 2026 income the deadline is 30 April 2027 (a Friday). Residents file with the tax office for the address where they live on the day they file. People who are not Polish residents at all file with the tax office for foreign persons (urząd skarbowy właściwy w sprawach opodatkowania osób zagranicznych). How the three forms of tax compare is in choosing your tax form.

When two countries both claim you

Each country applies its own law, so you can be resident in Poland and in your home country at the same time. The PIT Act says its residence rules apply “subject to” the double tax treaties Poland has signed (article 4a). The treaty then picks one country as your residence for treaty purposes.

Treaties use a list of tie-breakers, checked in order until one gives an answer. The Poland–Ukraine treaty, for example, uses this order:

1. Where you have a permanent home.
2. Where your centre of vital interests is.
3. Where you habitually live.
4. Your citizenship.
5. An agreement between the two tax authorities.

Poland has treaties with a long list of countries, but each one is worded a little differently. Some have also been changed by the MLI, the multilateral convention that amends tax treaties. Read the treaty between Poland and your country before relying on this order. For a treaty the MLI changed, the Ministry of Finance publishes a combined (“synthesised”) text on podatki.gov.pl.

Tip: keep evidence of where your life is: your lease, where your family lives, your Polish bank account, your PESEL (Polish ID number), and where you actually spent your days. If a tax office ever asks, this is what counts.

Income from abroad: exemption or credit

Most foreign freelancers in Poland are in the simple case. They live here, work from here and invoice clients abroad. That is Polish business income. Treaties usually let the client’s country tax business income only if you have a fixed place of business there (the Poland–Ukraine treaty does this in articles 7 and 14). For the invoices themselves, see invoicing a foreign client.

It gets more involved when a foreign country may tax part of your income: a job abroad, rent from a flat back home, or dividends. Then the treaty says which of two methods Poland uses:

The PIT Act sets out both methods for the tax scale (article 27, sections 8 and 9) and the credit for the flat tax (article 30c, section 4). Where Poland has no treaty with the other country, the credit applies. Those articles do not cover foreign income on ryczałt, so if that is your case, ask your accountant or the tax office.

For Ukrainians: the Poland–Ukraine treaty still uses exemption with progression for most income, and a credit only for dividends, interest and royalties. Keeping a Ukrainian FOP (sole trader) open can make you resident in both countries. See a Ukrainian FOP while living in Poland.

The certificate of residence (CFR-1)

A certyfikat rezydencji is the tax office’s confirmation that you are a Polish tax resident. Foreign clients or banks may ask for one so they can apply the treaty to what they pay you.

You may also need your old country’s certificate, to prove where you lived before. The relief for returning, below, asks for it.

Moving to Poland, or leaving, during the year

Your residence can change in the middle of a year. The Ministry of Finance’s tax explanations of 29 April 2021 say how: up to the day your residence changes you are taxed under one regime, and from that day under the other (a “split year”).

• Leaving Poland: Poland taxes your worldwide income until the move, and after it only income earned in Poland.
• Moving to Poland: it works the other way round.

The day of the change is the day your centre of interests moved, so keep proof of it. If the date is not clear-cut, ask KIS (Krajowa Informacja Skarbowa, the national tax information line) or a tax adviser.

If you leave Poland before filing your return, the return goes to the tax office for your last Polish address.

The relief for returning

If you moved your tax residence to Poland, check the ulga na powrót (relief for returning). It is open to Poles, to citizens of other EU/EEA countries and Switzerland, and to some others:

• up to 85,528 PLN of revenue a year is free of income tax (PIT), for 4 consecutive years, starting in the year of the move or the next one;
• it covers a business on the tax scale, the flat tax, IP Box (the lower rate for income from your own intellectual property) or ryczałt;
• you must not have been a Polish resident in the 3 calendar years before the year of the move, nor earlier in that year, and you need a certificate of residence or other proof of where you lived;
• you can use it only once, and the 85,528 PLN cap is shared with the other 0% reliefs (for young people, parents of four or more children and working seniors).

Digital nomads

The PIT Act has no separate rule for digital nomads. The same two tests apply to everyone. If you spend fewer than 183 days in every country, the centre-of-interests test decides. A Polish JDG, a Polish home or a partner in Poland all point here. Another country may also count you as resident under its own day rules, and then the treaty tie-breakers decide.

Tax residence and social security are separate questions. Where you pay ZUS (Polish social security) follows EU coordination rules, explained in staying insured in your home country.

What to do next

1. Count your days in Poland for 2026 and write down where your home, family and work are.
2. If another country could also see you as resident, find the treaty between Poland and that country and read its residence article.
3. If you moved in 2026, get a certificate of residence from your old country and check the relief for returning.
4. Ask for a CFR-1 in e-Urząd Skarbowy when a foreign client or bank needs proof.
5. If anything is unclear, call KIS: 801 055 055 from a landline, 22 330 03 30 from a mobile, or +48 22 330 03 30 from abroad, Monday to Friday 8:00–18:00.

If you are only now opening a business, start with opening a JDG as a foreigner.