What is a JDG in Poland? The sole trader, explained in plain English

A JDG is a one-person business run in your own name and registered in CEIDG, the free public register of sole traders. In English you would call it a sole trader, a sole proprietor, or simply “self-employed”. It is the most common way to work for yourself in Poland, and what most people mean when they say they work “on B2B”.

What the letters mean

JDG is short for jednoosobowa działalność gospodarcza: “one-person business activity”. Polish law calls anyone who runs organised, for-profit activity in their own name, on a continuous basis, an entrepreneur (przedsiębiorca). A JDG is the simplest way to be one.

There is no separate company. You and the business are the same person in law:

• the business name must contain your first name and surname, for example “Jan Kowalski Software”;
• the business uses your own NIP (tax number).

“B2B” is the contract, not the business form. When a client hires you “on B2B”, you invoice them from your own business instead of being their employee. For most freelancers, that business is a JDG.

Who can open a JDG

• Polish citizens.
• Citizens of the EU and the EEA (Norway, Iceland, Liechtenstein), on the same terms as Poles.
• US and Swiss citizens, also on the same terms, under international agreements.
• Other foreigners, only with one of the statuses the law lists. For example:
  • permanent residence, or EU long-term resident status;
  • certain temporary residence permits, such as an EU Blue Card, family reunification or studies;
  • refugee status or subsidiary protection;
  • temporary protection (most Ukrainians who fled the war);
  • a valid Karta Polaka (Pole’s Card);
  • being the family member of an EU citizen.

Anyone else can do business in Poland only through a company, such as an sp. z o.o. (limited company). A work permit, or a single residence-and-work permit, is not on the list. So an employee on such a permit cannot simply switch to B2B through a JDG.

For foreigners: from 1 November 2026, a foreigner registering a business in CEIDG needs a PESEL (Polish personal ID number) or the identifier issued by an EU country’s eID scheme. Foreigners already registered without one must add it by 1 June 2030. The full route is in how a foreigner opens a JDG.

What it costs to open

Nothing. The application to CEIDG is free, and so is every later change, suspension or closing. You file it online at biznes.gov.pl and log in with a profil zaufany (trusted profile), an e-dowód (Polish e-ID card) or a qualified e-signature. Some banks and accounting services can also file it for you.

One application does four jobs. CEIDG passes your data to:

• the tax office, for your NIP;
• GUS (Statistics Poland), for a REGON number;
• ZUS, the Social Insurance Institution.

Your entry appears by the next business day, and you may start trading on the day you file. What is CEIDG explains the register itself.

Watch out: paper registration is ending. From 1 November 2026 a new JDG can only be registered through the electronic form. A paper application handed in or posted after 31 October 2026 is left unexamined.

Three things to decide on the form, or soon after:

You can stay VAT-exempt while your sales, without VAT, stay under 240,000 PLN a year (the limit from 1 January 2026), unless your activity is one that is always VAT-able. If you start mid-year, the limit is cut in proportion to the days left in the year.

Monthly costs in 2026: ZUS and tax

The big monthly cost is ZUS. It has two parts:

• social contributions: pension, disability, accident, and optional sickness cover;
• the health contribution (składka zdrowotna), which you pay at every stage.

For a new business, the social contributions follow a fixed path:

In short: your first half-year costs the health contribution alone, months 7 to 30 are on reduced ZUS, and from month 31 the amount depends on your income.

The health contribution depends on your tax form:

• Tax scale: 9% of income, with a minimum of 432.54 PLN a month (from February 2026 to January 2027).
• 19% flat tax: 4.9% of income, with the same minimum.
• Ryczałt: fixed by revenue band, 498.35, 830.58 or 1,495.04 PLN a month in 2026.

The start-up relief and preferential ZUS are only for a first business, or one after a 60-month gap. They also do not apply when you work for a former employer, doing what you did for them as an employee this year or last year. ZUS explained covers each stage.

On top of ZUS come:

• Income tax: the scale (12% up to 120,000 PLN of income, 32% above, with 30,000 PLN a year effectively tax-free), the 19% flat tax, or ryczałt at a rate set by your activity. Ryczałt, liniowy or skala compares them.
• An accountant, if you use one: market surveys in 2026 put a sole trader on ryczałt without VAT at about 150–250 PLN net a month at a traditional office, and self-service online bookkeeping from about 40–60 PLN. These are market prices, not official figures.

The minimum wage rises to 4,950 PLN from 1 January 2027, so the preferential and minimum health amounts will rise slightly. ZUS normally publishes the official 2027 figures in late December; full ZUS for 2027 is not known yet.

What you are personally liable for

Everything you own. A JDG has no separate legal existence, so business debts, unpaid tax and unpaid ZUS are your personal debts. Creditors can reach your savings, your car and your home. If you are married with joint marital property, that property can be affected too.

CEIDG stops recording whether you share marital property from 14 October 2026. That is a change to the register, not to your liability.

This is the main difference from an sp. z o.o. There, shareholders are not liable for the company’s debts. Board members can be, if enforcement against the company fails and they did not file for bankruptcy in time. JDG or sp. z o.o. weighs the two.

What you file every month and every year

Every month, for the month before:

When a deadline falls on a weekend or public holiday, it moves to the next working day. In 2026, the December deadline for ZUS and tax is 21 December, and VAT for September is due on 26 October because 25 October is a Sunday. Tax and ZUS deadlines for 2026 lists them month by month.

Every year:

Three things to check in 2026

• PKD 2025 codes. PKD is the Polish list of business activity codes. A JDG registered before 2025 that still has the old codes must switch to PKD 2025 by 31 December 2026.
• e-Doręczenia. A JDG registered before 2025 needs an e-Doręczenia address (the official electronic mailbox) in place when that duty starts on 1 October 2026.
• KSeF, the national e-invoicing system. Since 1 February 2026 every business, VAT-exempt ones included, receives invoices through it. Since 1 April 2026 small businesses issue their business invoices there too. Until 31 December 2026 you may stay outside KSeF while those invoices total no more than 10,000 PLN gross a month. Once a month goes over, you stay in KSeF for good.

Behind all of this sits paperwork. Keep every invoice, receipt and bank statement for at least 5 years from the end of the year the tax was due, so 2026 documents until 31 December 2032. Komplet, our free Mac app, files each invoice into the right month and pairs it with the bank payment, so the month is ready for you or your accountant.

What to do next

1. Check that you can open a JDG: Polish, EU, EEA, Swiss or US citizen, or one of the listed residence statuses.
2. Get a way to log in to biznes.gov.pl (profil zaufany or e-dowód). If you are foreign, get a PESEL first: from 1 November 2026 you need one, or an EU eID identifier, to register.
3. Pick your PKD 2025 codes and your tax form before you open the form.
4. Register in CEIDG online, and attach the ZUS form so you do not miss the 7-day deadline.
5. Set up folders for your documents on day one, and put the 20th and 25th of every month in your calendar.