PL: Self-employment/contractor earnings
The take-home amount calculator for B2B (Business to business, invoice based) contract. If you work (or going to work) as contractor in Poland, then this calculator helps you to calculate how much you will earn as self-employed.

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Information about your work and your company#

Tax year and tax model
Year of work
Income tax model
Insurance contributions (polish ZUS)
Contribution payment on preferential principles (allowances and breaks in ZUS contribution payments eligible to those conducting business activities which fulfil certain criteria)
Small ZUS Plus - preferential ZUS for entrepreneurs achieving income below 120,000 PLN
Income achieved during previous yearPLN
Number of business days during previous yeardays
Voluntary sickness insurance
Working time
Number of working days within single month
Number of working days within year

Net incomes (without VAT)#

Incomes categoryDailyMonthlyYearly
Regular incomes
Casual incomes

Net outgoings (without VAT)#

Outgoings categoryDailyMonthlyYearly
Accountings
Phone
Billings (electric, heat etc)
Auto
Workers
Outgoing diets
Other outgoings

Results - what is going on with money seen on invoice#

DailyMonthlyYearly
Net incomes (without VAT)250.005000.0060000.00
Net expenses (without VAT)0.000.000.00
Net profit250.005000.0060000.00
Advance payment towards income tax35.95719.008628.00
ZUS (insurance)74.731494.6017935.20
Net earnings ("take-home")139.322786.4033436.80

Your money month by month#

MonthNet incomes (without VAT)Net expenses (without VAT)ZUS (insurance)Advance payment towards income taxNet earnings ("take-home")
Pension insuranceDisability insuranceVoluntary sickness insuranceAccident insuranceLabour Fund (FP)Health (NFZ)Total
January (1)5000.000.00693.58284.2687.0559.3487.05419.921631.20719.002649.80
February (2)5000.000.00693.58284.2687.0559.3487.05270.901482.18719.002798.82
March (3)5000.000.00693.58284.2687.0559.3487.05270.901482.18719.002798.82
April (4)5000.000.00693.58284.2687.0559.3487.05270.901482.18719.002798.82
May (5)5000.000.00693.58284.2687.0559.3487.05270.901482.18719.002798.82
June (6)5000.000.00693.58284.2687.0559.3487.05270.901482.18719.002798.82
July (7)5000.000.00693.58284.2687.0559.3487.05270.901482.18719.002798.82
August (8)5000.000.00693.58284.2687.0559.3487.05270.901482.18719.002798.82
September (9)5000.000.00693.58284.2687.0559.3487.05270.901482.18719.002798.82
October (10)5000.000.00693.58284.2687.0559.3487.05270.901482.18719.002798.82
November (11)5000.000.00693.58284.2687.0559.3487.05270.901482.18719.002798.82
December (12)5000.000.00693.58284.2687.0559.3487.05270.901482.18719.002798.82
Total (%)100.000.0013.875.691.741.191.745.6729.8914.3855.73
Total60000.000.008322.963411.121044.60712.081044.603399.8217935.188628.0033436.82

Some facts#

  • Company in in Poland is defined in several different ways depending on the context in which we speak about it.
    • According to the Act on Freedom of Economic Activity it is: "gainful manufacturing, construction, trade and service activities as well as the search, exploration and extraction of minerals from the fields, as well as professional activities, carried out in an organized and continuous manner".
    • According to the Law on personal income tax: "gainful activity (manufacturing, construction, trade, service or: consisting of the search, exploration and extraction of minerals from deposits; Intangible assets) carried out on its own behalf, irrespective of its expenses, in an organized and continuous manner from which the revenue obtained is not included in other income from the sources referred to in article 10."
    • According to the VAT Act: "economic activity covers all activities of producers, traders or service providers, including natural resource and farmer as well as freelance workers, also when the activity has been Performed once in circumstances indicating the intention to perform activities on a frequency basis. Business activities also include activities involving the use of goods or intangible assets continuously for profit."
  • When you register company in in Poland, you automatically become obligated to pay insurance contributions (polish ZUS). This obligation arises under the Social Insurance System Act of 13 October 1998.
  • Obligatory insurance contributions are:
    • health fund contribution,
    • retirement contribution,
    • disability insurance contribution,
    • accident insurance contribution,
    • labor fund contribution.
    • You can also pay (but you're not obligated to do it) voluntary sickness insurance contribution. Then you get access to benefits such as: sickness allowances, care allowances, rehabilitation benefit and maternity allowance.
    • Unfortunately, the amount of insurance contribution (polish ZUS) doesn't dependent on income. This means, that you need to pay about 1400 PLN (as of 2020) each month - doesn't matter if you earn money or not.
    • New entrepreneurs can pay lower insurance contributions (so called "small ZUS" in Poland) for the first 2 years after company was registered. In order to benefit from preferential ZUS contributions, the following conditions must be met:
      • 1. You did not register company in Poland in the last 5 years,
      • 2. If you're contractor for your former employer, you can't do the same work for him in current or previous tax year.
    • Setting up own company is common pratice for freelencers. In that case, their company is informally treated as an alternative form of employment (although in the legal sense there is no employee-employer relationship). Such form is often used by programmers, doctors or any other specialists. These people are often called contractors.
    • Replacing contract of employment employment by one-person bussiness can bring many benefits, but it's not always a best solution. Each decision depends on many factors like kind of activity, work expense and should always be analysed individually.
    • Common benefits of starting your own bussiness are:
      • you can take into account the costs incurred and reduce tax in this way. NOTE: This privilege does not apply if you use flat rate tax.
      • you can give VAT (incluing VAT EU) invoice to your contrahent, which make cooperation with foreign companies much easier,
      • you get more options to optimize you costs e.g. by choose tax model, which bests your case in the best way (linear tax, progressive tax, flat rate tax).
    • Own business have some disadvantages too:
      • you're not employee, so you have no any privileges related to contract of employment employment. All depends on contract beetwen your company and your contrahent. So, of course you can negotiate better conditions, but also you can negatiate worse. It's simply your business now.
      • you need to manage accountancy on your own. Also, you can hire accounting office to do it for you, but it's extra cost.
      • you're obligated to pay insurance contributions (polish ZUS) each month, no matter if you earn money or not.

      More about progressive tax:

      • Currently (as of 2022) taxpayers who settle accounts on general rules are subject to the so-called tax thresholds. This means that the rate (percentage) of the tax depends on the achieved incomes.
      • At the beginning of 2022, after the so-called "Nowy Ład" (en: "New Deal") entered into force, the thresholds have been changed, so that income below 120 000 PLN is taxed at 17%. Starting from July 2022 the rate of the first threshold will be reduced to 12%. Income above this amount is taxed at 32% rate (before and after July 1). This means that for the first six months we should count advances on income tax according to the scale of 17% and 32% (before July 1, 2022), and in the second - 12% and 32% (after July 1, 2022).
      • In Poland, there is a free amount (tax allowance), on which we will not pay tax. For this reason, the final tax will be slightly lower than it would appear from the thresholds. In 2022 the tax-free amount is 30 000 PLN.
      • The tax base (i.e. the amount on which the tax is calculated) is the sum of revenues obtained in a given year decreased by social insurance contributions contributions (polish: ZUS) and costs of getting incomes:
        tax base = gross earnings - social insurance - cost of getting income
        ⚠ WARNING! Beginning from 2022 (→ see "Nowy Ład") we cannot decrease tax by health insurance contribution if we use tax thresholds (general rules).
      • Despite the fact that the method of calculating the monthly tax advance changes during the year, the annual tax for 2022 year will be calculated in the unified way i.e. using 12% and 32% rates for the whole year. To calculate annual tax for income earned in 2022 use the following formula:
        • if your tax base does not exceed 120 000 PLN:
          12%×tax base360012\% \times \text{tax base} - 3600
        • if your tax base exceeds 120 000 PLN:
          1440+32%×(tax base120000)1440 + 32\% \times (\text{tax base} - 120000)
      • Because so-called "Polski Ład" (en: "New Deal") introduced in 2022 caused a decrease in the net salaries of selected groups (on-the-hand), the polish rulers introduced the so-called relief for the middle class. This is the amount that should be subtracted from the tax base when calculating the monthly tax advances from January to June 2022 inclusive. However, the rulers gave up this idea and we should stop including this relief after July 1, 2022. To calculate the middle class relief, the we use following formula:
        If your gross monthly earnings:
        • do not exceed 5 700 PLN - no discount,
        • are in the range from 5701 PLN to 8549 PLN:
          middle class tax relief=gross monthly earnings×0.0668380.50.17\text{middle class tax relief} = \frac{\text{gross monthly earnings} \times 0.0668 - 380.5}{0.17}
        • are within the range from 8550 PLN to 11141 PLN:
          middle class tax relief=gross monthly earnings×(0.0735)+819.080.17\text{middle class tax relief} = \frac{\text{gross monthly earnings} \times (-0.0735) + 819.08}{0.17}
        • exceed 11141 PLN - no relief.
      • Starting from August 2019, people under 26 y.o. in Poland do not need to pay income tax (PIT).
        In 2019: the tax-relief covers annual revenues up to 35636.67 PLN. In 2020, 2021 and 2022 tax-relief covers annual revenues up to 85528 ​​PLN. Revenues exceeding the annual limit remain taxed using tax-scale.

What is the meaning of each calculator field ?#

  • Year of work - select the year of the employment.
    Every year is slightly different. The employment taxation rules and rates in Poland are little bit changing from time to time. Most of the time the changes are just minor adjustments to rates (numbers, factors, percentages). When you select the year of the employment here, the calculator will use the rules and rates for particular year.
    This calculator supports all years from 2007 to 2020 including changes introduced in-the-middle of 2019 tax year and we will update it every year to follow changes of the labour law and tax rates in Poland.
  • Contribution payment on preferential principles - Tick it if you use so-called "small ZUS", which allow you to pay smaller insurance contributions (polish ZUS). Preferential principles can be applied for new companies during first 24 months of activity on market only.
  • Voluntary sickness insurance - Tick if you want to pay optionally sickness insurance contribution (part of polish ZUS). This contribution is not obligatory, but gives you extra benefits when you're sick.
  • Number of working days within single month - simply the number of days, when you work during single month. Most typical value is +/- 20 days (four weeks with five working days each).
  • Number of working days within year - the same as above (number of working days withing single month), but for whole tax year.
  • Income tax model - select your tax model, which you declared during company registration or using special form sent to the tax office later. Possible tax models are:
    • linear tax - a fixed 19% tax based on profit i.e. the amount you earned decreased by the costs you incurred. This model takes into account both incomes (e.g. sales of services) and costs (e.g. internet bills). The tax rate is constant regardless of the profit (incomes minus outgoings).
    • progressive tax - in this model, the tax rate depends on the generated profit i.e. if you earn more, then you pays higher tax rate and vice versa. For example taxthresholds in 2020 were are 17% (below 85528 PLN) and 32% (above 85528 PLN). Like linear tax, this model takes into account both incomes and outgoings. The difference between them is the profit used as tax base.
    • flat rate tax - this is the easiest way how the tax can be calculated. In this model, the tax depends only on the incomes (e.g. hairdresser can pay 8.5% tax per each haircutted client). The tax rate depends on the kind of goods or services being sold (industry). In the most cases, flat tax rates are much lower than in other models, but it's not allow to deduct costs (e.g. internet bill). In other words flat tax rate takes into account incomes only and ignores the outgoings.
  • Table: net incomes (without VAT) - enter incomes, which you generate during single working day, a month or a whole tax year.
  • Table: net outgoings (without VAT) - enter your outgoings (costs) during single working day, month or whole tax year. For example you can enter telephone or internet bills, employee salaries, travel expenses etc.

See also#

If you want to learn more about taxes and contributions paid by entrepreneurs in Poland, check out our other calculators:
  • Polish ZUS: rates and base - current and archival social insurance contributions (retirement, disability, sickness, accident), labor fund, guaranteed employee benefits fund (polish: FGŚP) and health contribution (polish: NFZ),
  • Polish salary #4 (self-employment) - calculator of tax and social security contributions (polish: ZUS) for the self-employed for various taxation methods (flat tax, tax scale, lump sum),
  • Polish health contribution (lump-sum tax) - current and archival amount of health contribution (polish: NFZ) for lump-sum tax,
  • Polish lump-sum tax rates - current lump-sum tax rates on recorded revenues for various types of activity (polish: PKWiU codes).

Nowy Ład 2022 (en: New Deal)#

  • At the beginning of 2022 polish government introduced many changes in the tax system. The package of changes was politically promoted by the then ruling party Law and Justice party (polish: Prawo i Sprawiedliwość, PiS) under the name Nowy Ład (en: New Deal), Polish Ład (en: Polish Order) or sometimes Nowy Polski Ład (en: New Polish Order).
  • The changes introduced from January 1, 2022 include:
    • increasing tax-free amount to 30 000 PLN,
    • raising the tax threshold for persons using general rules to 120 000 PLN,
    • the health insurance contribution for the self-employed is not constant anymore (polish: NFZ) - instead of the flat-fee paid by all entrepreneurs, new health contribution depends on the income earned/revenues and the selected taxation form,
    • because social insurance contributions (polish: ZUS) for the self-employed may vary from month to month, entrepreneurs need to submit a ZUS DRA declaration every month beginning from 2022,
    • persons who pay taxes according to the tax scale can no longer deduct the health insurance contribution from the tax,
    • new lump-sum tax rates were introduced,
    • new entrepreneurs can't use the tax card anymore (the simplest form of taxation),
    • the introduction of the so-called middle class relief aimed to reduce extra cost of increased health insurance for selected social groups.
  • Government said that Nowy Ład simplifies the polish tax system, as well as reduces the effective tax on people earning less at the expense of people with higher income. Jarosław Kaczyński (leader of the then ruling Law and Justice party) in an interview for the Interia portal said in October 2021 that people living with cunning may lose on Nowy Ład. In January 2022, the television presenter Krzysztof Skowroński spoke about 14 million beneficiaries on the polish state-owned channel TVP INFO.
  • In practice, the Nowy Ład introduced many chaotic and unforeseen consequences. In January 2022, Cezary Kaźmierczak (then president of the Association of Private Employers) suggested that Poland may have the worst tax system in the world in terms of complexity from 2022.
  • At the first half of 2022, the government announced further changes, known in terms of marketing as Nowy Ład 2.0 (en: New Deal 2.0). The changes applied from July 1, 2022 include:
    • reduction of the PIT rate to 12%,
    • elimination of the middle class tax relief,
    • persons who pay lump-sum tax, linear tax or tax card may deduct the health insurance contribution from the tax base.

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