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Costs of setting up and running a business in Poland

January 12, 2022

Analyzing the market of entrepreneurs, it can be concluded that own business is the way to achieve success. Each path begins with taking the first step. Thanks to the current political situation and international agreements signed by many countries (European Union – EU, European Free Trade Association – EFTA, The European Economic Area – EEA),  the area of “first steps in business” has significantly expanded. Citizens of countries that have ratified agreements on mutual facilities and amenities in business, are allowed to undertake activities in areas of given economic communities on equal rights in each country. International treaties mean equal opportunities for all citizens of the member countries.

Citizens of countries that have not ratified treaties and agreements on mutual cooperation must fulfil Polish statutory requirements and are obliged to have:

  • residence permit: permanent, long-term residence of the EU or temporary (in connection with full-time studies, in order to reunite with family),
  • or refugee status,
  • or be covered by subsidiary or temporary protection,
  • or have a Pole’s Card.

Foreigners from outside the areas covered by economic cooperation and without the required permits can start a business in the territory of the Republic of Poland by establishing (or joining as a partner) – limited liability company, limited partnership, limited joint-stock partnership or joint-stock company. A foreigner who registers a business in Poland is obliged to undergo the procedures required for all Polish citizens.

In order to set up a company, a foreigner does not have to have the right to stay in Poland, he does not even have to be physically present – it is enough to register via the Internet.

However, if a foreigner wishes to work in Poland, he should obtain necessary documents. He should obtain a work permit for a specific position or a document authorizing him to stay in the country.

Company registration – how to start?

If you want to register a company in Poland and you don’t know where to start, check out our article „How to start a company in Poland?”. You already know the steps you need to take to start a business and now you are interested in costs? That is a perfect place for you.

Do you need help with registering a company for social or health insurance? Our specialists have already registered over 300 companies in 18 years of experience. Let us guide you through this process without any stress. Click on the image above or send us an email: office.warsaw@vgd.eu.

You probably already know that when you decide to start your own business, you must choose:

  • type of business activity – on-line or in real life?
  • range of business activity – service or trade?
  • are of business activity – food industry, catering, sports …
  • place of business activity – at the seat of a company/premises or at the client’s?

You need also consider:

  • available capital
  • form of business activity.

All of this comes with costs that you should be prepared for in advance.

Business address

From 30th April, 2018 the law allows you to conduct business without indicating a permanent business address. For the entrepreneur this means that he should have an address from which he will collect mail – the delivery address. An address used for tax purposes is the entrepreneur’s private address of residence. The exception are types of activity for which separate regulations require a specific premises (e.g. pharmacy or gastronomy). On the other hand you can also benefit from a virtual office service. When you decide to have a seat of the company you need to enter the selected address in the Central Register and Information on Economic Activity (CEIDG) lub National Court Register (KRS). When choosing a premises for the seat, the entrepreneur is obliged to present documents that certify his right to the premises. For example such a document is a rental agreement, in which an owner of the premises must consent to the use of the premises for business purposes. The cost of renting a premises varies and is influenced by many factors, including location and size of a town.

Registering your own business in CEIDG

A business activity should be reported to the Central Registration and Information on Business.

Submitting the application is free of charge. It may be done:

  • on-line with an electronic signature
  • on-line with or without signing in – requires a signature at any commune office
  • by sending by post with a signature confirmed by a notary
  • by submitting a paper application in person at a commune office

Registration for CEIDG is free of charge.

Registration of the entrepreneur with ZUS

Registration of the entrepreneur with ZUS is free of charge. When establishing a company, you should pay attention to two concepts:

  • ZUA – full health insurance contributions, if the reported activity is the only source of paying contributions.
  • ZZA – only paid health insurance, when the reported activity is not the only soured of paying contributions

Do you want to know what reports to ZUS should be made when you set up a company? We have already created an extensive article on Registration for the social and health insurances in Poland, where we have described this process in detail.

Registration for VAT purposes also free of charge

Registration for VAT purposes is free of charge. However, you need to remember that issuing a VAT certificate, that confirms the registration for VAT, costs PLN 170zł.

Up to this point, we can complete all formalities free of charge.

Costs of establishing a limited liability company

We can set up a limited liability company in two ways:

1. online (S24 mode) – – then apart from above fees, we do not bear any other costs.

Necessary in this process are:

2. Traditionally, in the presence of a notary – this method is especially recommended for companies with a broad spectrum of activities. It will also protect us against possible ambiguities in a contract and facilitate the settlement of disputable issues in accordance with the law.

One needs to remember that when signing a contract with a notary, we are obliged to bear the costs in accordance with the notary fee.

Notary fee

The maximum amount of a notary fee depends on the amount of the share capital or contributions made to the company. The Ordinance of the Minister of Finance on the maximum rates of notary fees (Journal of Laws of June 29, 2004) regulates notary fees for establishing a company.

Depending on the capital we receive the fee:

  • up to PLN 3,000 – PLN 100,
  • over PLN 3,000 to PLN 10,000 – PLN 100 + 3% of the surplus over PLN 3,000,
  • over PLN 10,000 to PLN 30,000 – PLN 310 + 2% of the surplus above PLN 10,000,
  • over PLN 30,000 to PLN 60,000 – PLN 710 + 1% of the surplus above PLN 30,000,
  • over PLN 60,000 to PLN 1,000,000 – PLN 1,010 + 0.4% of the surplus above PLN 60,000,
  • over PLN 1,000,000 to PLN 2,000,000 – PLN 4,770 + 0.2% of the surplus above PLN 1,000,000,
  • over PLN 2,000,000 zł – PLN 6,770 + 0.25 % of the surplus above PLN 2,000,000, but no more than PLN 10,000.

In case of transactions between persons included in tax group I (within the meaning of the provisions of the Act of July 28, 1983 on inheritance and donation tax), not more than PLN 7,500.

PCC tax

Mandatory within 14 days from the conclusion of a partnership agreement, the tax on civil law transactions (PCC) must be paid. It amounts to 0.5% of the initial capital value minus the cost of registration of the company in the National Court Register (PLN 600 or PLN 350).

For example, with a minimum initial capital of PLN 5,000, the PCC, that we have to pay, is PLN 22 (or PLN 23).

The cost of establishing a company

The cost of establishing a limited partnership

When establishing a limited partnership we are not required to have the initial capital.

The cost of establishing a limited joint-stock partnership

When establishing a limited joint-stock partnership, one must have PLN 50,000 – of the share capital.

The articles of association must be in the form of a notarial deed.

The cost of establishing joint-stock company

When establishing a joint-stock company, we are required to have PLN 100,000 of the share capital.

The articles of association must be in the form of a notarial deed.

Entry in the National Court Register (KRS)

From 1st July, 2021 all applications submitted to the National Court Register must be sent electronically via ICT system of the Ministry of Justice (according to the court information, all letters submitted by non-electronic ways do not produce legal effect provided for by the act).

Cost of entry:

  • PLN 600 (PLN 500 for an entry + PLN 100 for announcement in the Court and Economic Monitor)
  • PLN 350 (PLN 250 for an entry + PLN for announcement in the Court and Economic Monitor – applies only to general partnership, limited partnership and limited liability company – in accordance with S24 mode – in this mode we have to take into account a handling fee – added by a payment processing unit)
  • PLN 350 –  in case of changes of the entry (PLN 300 when using the S24 mode).
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*If you use the template which is available on the website of the Ministry of Justice you will pay only PLN 250.

Bank account

Important element of any business is finance. You need to set up a business account. Fees depend on the bank’s offer.

Banks make their fees dependent on:

  • The amount of monthly inflows to the company account
  • Card operations – frequency and/or amount
  • Number and amounts of transfers made stationary and on-line
  • Number and amount of transfers made to the account of offices (ZUS, US)
  • Type of ATM’s used for cash withdrawals.

The amount of fees in banks:

  • Basic account maintenance fee = from PLN 0 – to PLN 25/month
  • Fee for using the card to the account = from PLN 0 to PLN 10/month
  • ATM use fee = from PLN to 3,5% of the amount withdrawn
  • Internet transfer fee = from PLN 0 to PLN 1,50.

Some banks that want to attract a client offer free account maintenance for the initial period of cooperation (usually it is 12 months). In settlements with Tax Office competent for the address of the company’s registered office, in accordance with the law, we use the entrepreneur’s address.

Cost of accounting services in Poland

The expense that we need to think about will probably be accounting services. If we do not have knowledge in accounting, bookkeeping and tax law, it will be wise to invest in professional services. Of course, you can hire an accountant, but at the beginning it is worth to outsource accounting, HR and payroll services to an external company. It is a cheaper solution. It ensures security because we entrust our services to professionals. This is important especially in case of limited liability company, limited partnership, limited joint-stock and joint-stock company, in case of which we are obliged to keep full accounting.

Accounting integrated with your bank account

Bank accounting is a good solution when we start a new business. It allows you to control expenses on regular basis, check payment reports and pay invoices by yourself. Some accounting settlements are preformed automatically then. We emphasize word “some” – unfortunately the application will not do everything for us. The big advantage of bank accounting is that it saves money in comparision to traditional accounting. Promotional offers give as much as PLN 0 for first months up to about PLN 100-150 per month. Unfortunately this does not go hand in hand with saving time. To learn how to use bank applications we need a lot of time and patience. Moreover, the application will not catch mistakes and will not advise on tax issues, taking into account the future of your company.

Outsourced accounting

Therefore, we recommended delegating the duties to a specialists who will be up to date with changes in law. An outsourcing company will handle your company’s accounting matters, provide comprehensive accounting, HR, payroll and legal services. The service of course will be more expensive, but performed reliably. The accounting office will also represent you before the Tax Office or the Social Insurance Institution. The amount starts from PLN 150. However it should be kept in mind that such low prices are offered by offices for sole proprietorships and few documents per month. In case of low prices, it is worth to verify if the accounting office does not provide mass services, where a software, which is not checked by anyone, is the only one responsible for calculations.

How much is the accounting of a limited liability company?

What do the costs of full accounting depend on?

How much we will actually pay for full accounting depends on many factors. The most important are:

  • the scope of the company’s activity (in which industry we operate)
  • area od activity (domestic or foreign)
  • the size of the enterprise
  • number of employees
  • number of accounting documents generated by company (purchase invoices, sale invoices, bank statements, payroll, cash reports…)

We should remember that usually there some additional fees, for:

  • financial statements
  • inspections of he Tax Office or the Social Insurance Institution
  • additionally required reports (quarterly, monthly or weekly)
  • delays – usually any failure to comply with formalities will result in additional costs.

You will be sure that accountants with experience and appropriate knowledge work for your success. It is a great psychological comfort. While you will be looking for investors at business meetings and developing the company’s strategy, accountants will take care of your taxes. They will relieve you and find the best solutions for every problem.

Do you need more info about company registration in Poland?

Take a look at our articles that are a part of series #StartBusinessInPoland You will find out in them the most useful information about:

Author: Agnieszka Fabiszak

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