Unregistered activity in Poland: earning a little without a JDG (the 2026 quarterly limit)

You can earn a small income in Poland without opening a business. It is called działalność nierejestrowana (unregistered activity): in 2026 you may earn up to 10,813.50 PLN per calendar quarter with no entry in CEIDG, the public register of sole traders, and no contributions of your own to ZUS, the Social Insurance Institution. You still keep a simple record of sales and pay income tax once a year.

What unregistered activity is

Polish law does not treat very small earnings as “business activity” at all. So there is nothing to register:

• no CEIDG entry;
• no REGON (the statistical number businesses get);
• in most cases no NIP (tax number);
• no monthly ZUS bill.

It suits people who sell a few handmade things, give the odd lesson, or want to test an idea before opening a JDG (jednoosobowa działalność gospodarcza, a sole trader business; see what a JDG is).

You are not an entrepreneur while you do it. That has one consequence many people miss, covered in the ZUS section below.

The limit: 10,813.50 PLN per quarter in 2026

Since 1 January 2026 the limit is 225% of the minimum wage per calendar quarter. Until the end of 2025 it was a monthly limit (75% of the minimum wage), so older articles that quote a monthly figure are out of date.

The 2027 figure is our arithmetic (225% × 4,950 PLN) from the minimum wage set on 14 September 2026.

The quarters are the calendar ones: January–March, April–June, July–September and October–December. Within a quarter you can earn unevenly: 9,000 PLN in November and nothing in October or December is fine. On average the 2026 limit is 3,604.50 PLN a month, and at most 43,254 PLN over the year.

What counts towards the limit is revenue due (przychód należny): everything you have sold or invoiced, even if the client has not paid yet. Returned goods and discounts do not count.

Example: in the fourth quarter of 2026 you invoice 4,000 PLN in October, 4,000 PLN in November and 3,000 PLN on 10 December. That makes 11,000 PLN, over the 10,813.50 PLN limit. From 10 December your activity is a business, and you have 7 days to register a JDG in CEIDG.

Who cannot use it

• Anyone who ran a business in the last 60 months. A suspension counts as not running it. So if you suspended your JDG recently, you are blocked, because you traded before the suspension. After 60 months of continuous suspension the route opens.
• Civil partnerships (spółka cywilna): it is for individuals only.
• Activities that need a licence, permit or regulated-activity entry, such as selling alcohol, security services or organising package tours. These must be registered however small. The same goes for bookkeeping services and insurance agency work, which the law defines as business activity.
• Many foreigners (see below).

Watch out: if you are registered as unemployed at the job centre, biznes.gov.pl says you may only do unregistered activity based on selling goods, and must stay under half the minimum wage a month: 2,403 PLN in 2026. A service contract ends the unemployed status.

Invoices, records and income tax

Documents. You issue a bill (rachunek) or an invoice when the buyer asks for it. A buyer can ask for an invoice within 3 months from the end of the month of the sale or payment. Your name is enough on it: you do not need your PESEL (Polish personal ID number) or home address.

Sales record. You must keep a simple sales record (uproszczona ewidencja sprzedaży), on paper or in a spreadsheet. Enter each day’s sales before your first sale the next day. The law sets no format; the usual columns are a line number, the date, the amount and a running total. Without a reliable record, the tax office may estimate your sales itself.

Income tax. You pay no advances during the year. You report the activity in your annual tax return, PIT-36, which has a separate section for unregistered activity, and pay the tax by 30 April of the next year. For 2026 income that is 30 April 2027, a Friday. The income is taxed on the tax scale: 12% up to 120,000 PLN of income, with the 30,000 PLN tax-free amount across all your income.

Two different counts apply, which confuses people:

You may deduct costs such as materials or goods for resale, so keep every purchase receipt, ideally with your name on it. Komplet, our free Mac app, reads receipts and invoices and files them by month, which makes the costs easy to find when you fill in PIT-36.

ZUS, VAT, cash registers and KSeF

ZUS. You pay no social or health contributions for the activity itself. But biznes.gov.pl adds that when you provide services, you are not an entrepreneur, so the contract is an umowa zlecenia (a civil-law service contract). The client then acts as the contribution payer and must register you with ZUS within 7 days, unless an exception applies (for example a student under 26). If you only sell goods, no contributions arise. When in doubt, ZUS answers on +48 22 560 16 00.

VAT. You are normally VAT-exempt, because your sales stay far below the 240,000 PLN a year exemption limit. The exemption does not apply to some activities from the first sale, including legal and advisory services, jewellery, debt collection and certain goods sold online (such as electronics and cosmetics). Those need VAT registration and a NIP. See the VAT exemption limit.

Cash register. You need a cash register, even without a business:

• once your sales to private individuals go over 20,000 PLN a year (a proportionally lower amount in the year you start); the duty begins two months after the month you go over;
• from the first sale of certain services, such as hairdressing, beauty treatments and car repairs.

A cash register also means you need a NIP.

KSeF, the national e-invoicing system, matters only if you invoice businesses (B2B, business-to-business). An invoice issued in KSeF must carry your NIP.

Invoices to private individuals never have to go through KSeF. More in KSeF explained.

Foreigners and Ukrainians

Since 1 June 2025, a foreigner may do unregistered activity only if they belong to one of the groups that can open a JDG on Polish terms. Before that, any foreigner staying legally could.

Allowed:

• EU and EEA citizens;
• non-EU citizens with one of the listed statuses, such as permanent residence, EU long-term resident, a Blue Card, temporary residence for studies or family reunification, refugee status, a valid Karta Polaka (the Pole’s Card), or temporary protection.

Not allowed: for example, a foreigner on a residence-and-work permit.

Unclear: US and Swiss citizens. They may open a JDG on Polish terms under international agreements, and biznes.gov.pl lists them, but the law on unregistered activity points only to EU/EEA citizens and the listed statuses. Ask the CEIDG helpline before you rely on it.

For foreigners: Ukrainians with temporary protection (PESEL status UKR) can use unregistered activity. A citizen of a country outside the EU, the EEA and Switzerland who provides services on a civil-law contract may also need a work permit or a registered declaration, which is the client’s job to obtain. Some people, such as Karta Polaka holders and full-time students in Poland, are exempt. The full list of statuses is in how a foreigner opens a JDG.

When to switch to a JDG

You must register when you go over the quarterly limit (within 7 days) or start an activity that needs a licence. We found no official rule on whether a weekend or public holiday extends the 7 days, so count calendar days and file in time.

You may want to register earlier if:

• your earnings are growing and one good month could push the quarter over the limit;
• your clients are businesses that want proper invoices, and you would rather have a NIP and KSeF sorted from the start;
• you want your own pension, sickness and health insurance, which the activity itself does not pay for.

A new JDG usually pays no social contributions for up to 6 full calendar months, though the health contribution is due from the start; see ZUS startup relief. Registering in CEIDG is free.

What to do next

1. Check you qualify: no business in the last 60 months, no licensed activity, and the right residence status if you are not Polish.
2. Start a sales record today and write in each day’s sales.
3. Keep every purchase receipt for your costs.
4. Watch the quarter’s total, not the month’s.
5. File PIT-36 by 30 April of the next year.
6. If you go over the limit, register a JDG in CEIDG within 7 days.