Działalność nierejestrowana in Poland in 2026: the limit, tax, ZUS and invoices

Działalność nierejestrowana (unregistered activity: small-scale business without a CEIDG entry) is a minor, paid occupation of a private individual that doesn’t have to be reported to CEIDG (the Central Register and Information on Business, Poland’s register of sole traders): selling handmade goods, private tutoring, graphic design, occasional online sales. As long as revenue stays within the limit, it isn’t business activity within the meaning of the Entrepreneurs’ Law — you don’t pay ZUS (the Social Insurance Institution) contributions as a business owner does, you don’t pay tax advances and you don’t need a NIP (the tax identification number). Below: what the limit is in 2026 and how to calculate it, who can operate this way, what documents you issue, how you settle the tax and when it’s time to set up a JDG (a sole trader’s business, jednoosobowa działalność gospodarcza).

The rules and amounts apply to 2026 and were checked on biznes.gov.pl, podatki.gov.pl and ksef.podatki.gov.pl on 30 September 2026.

Up to what amount you can run a działalność nierejestrowana

According to biznes.gov.pl, since 1 January 2026 the limit has been counted quarterly, not monthly. Your revenue due may not exceed 225% of the minimum wage in any quarter. With a minimum wage of PLN 4,806, set by a Council of Ministers regulation, that gives:

The quarters are calendar quarters: January–March, April–June, July–September, October–December. You’ll work out the limit for 2027 the same way, from the minimum wage set for 2027.

A quarterly limit gives more freedom to people whose earnings are uneven — at Christmas markets, in season, with one bigger job. One strong month doesn’t ruin the quarter, as long as the total for the three months fits within PLN 10,813.50.

What you count towards the limit

You count revenue due towards the limit: amounts due from sales, including from bills and invoices you’ve issued, even if the client hasn’t paid yet. You subtract the value of returned goods, discounts given and early-payment discounts. Advance payments received before the sale count too.

An example. In the first quarter of 2026 you sell handmade goods for PLN 2,000 in January and PLN 5,500 in February. Under the old rule, February alone would have exceeded the monthly limit. Under the new one, you’re at PLN 7,500 after February, so in March you can still sell PLN 3,313.50 worth. A sale that pushes the quarter’s total above PLN 10,813.50 turns your occupation into business activity.

Once you exceed the limit, the activity becomes business activity from the day you exceed it, and you have 7 days to file the application for entry in CEIDG. You don’t wait until the end of the quarter.

Who can run a działalność nierejestrowana

A działalność nierejestrowana can be run only by a private individual, and under a few conditions:

• you haven’t run a business in the last 60 months. A period of suspension counts as time in which the business wasn’t carried on, so a suspended JDG doesn’t close this route;
• you’re not operating within a civil-law partnership;
• your occupation doesn’t require a licence, a permit or an entry in the register of regulated activities;
• your revenue due stays within the quarterly limit.

Restrictions can also come from your status. The biznes.gov.pl portal covers four cases:

• Foreigners — since 1 June 2025 a foreigner can run a działalność nierejestrowana only if they hold a residence title allowing them to register a business in Poland. Citizens of the EU, the EEA, Switzerland and the USA operate without such restrictions.
• The unemployed — activity based solely on sales contracts is possible, but any contract of mandate or contract for specific work removes unemployed status. Revenue also may not exceed half the minimum wage, that is PLN 2,403 a month in 2026.
• Minors — they can run such an activity, but usually need a parent’s or guardian’s consent to enter into contracts.
• Farmers (KRUS) — they can run a działalność nierejestrowana outside their farming activity. What the Entrepreneurs’ Law excludes from its scope altogether (e.g. crop growing, agritourism, making wine below 100 hectolitres a year) isn’t run as a działalność nierejestrowana — separate rules apply.

Which services and sales fit

The regulations give no list of permitted occupations. Anything that has the features of a paid activity and doesn’t require an authority’s consent fits: handmade goods, selling your own products, private tutoring, translation, graphic design, photography, small repairs or online sales.

Everything that requires a licence, a permit or an entry in the register of regulated activities stays outside a działalność nierejestrowana. The portal gives examples:

• security of persons and property,
• selling alcohol,
• organising package tours,
• detective services,
• waste collection.

There are also occupations the law names as business activity from the outset, so they always require registration: insurance intermediation and bookkeeping services.

Services have a separate consequence for ZUS: a contract to provide services concluded within a działalność nierejestrowana is a contract of mandate. More in the ZUS section below.

A bill or an invoice

Day to day, you don’t have to issue any document. The obligation arises when the buyer asks.

You issue a bill (rachunek, the document of a seller outside VAT) when the client asks for one. It should contain at least:

• a sequential number,
• the date of issue,
• the seller’s and buyer’s details,
• the name of the service or goods,
• the amount to pay.

You issue an invoice when the client requests one within 3 months of the end of the month in which they received the goods or service or paid all or part of the price. It’s usually an invoice without VAT, because you benefit from the small-business VAT exemption (zwolnienie podmiotowe, art. 113 of the VAT Act; below). The types of invoice and their mandatory elements are described in the article on invoice types.

An invoice for a business and KSeF

Here the rules of the National e-Invoicing System, KSeF (Krajowy System e-Faktur), apply, and a działalność nierejestrowana isn’t excluded from them:

• An invoice for another taxpayer, that is for a business, goes through KSeF as a rule. Until the end of 2026 you can issue it outside KSeF, on paper or electronically, if your sales documented by invoices don’t exceed PLN 10,000 gross a month. From 1 January 2027 an invoice for a business has to go into KSeF, and from that date penalties apply for bypassing the system.
• An invoice for a consumer may, but doesn’t have to, be issued in KSeF.
• KSeF requires the issuer’s NIP. If you only have a PESEL and a business client wants an invoice in KSeF, podatki.gov.pl points to registering for VAT as an exempt taxpayer (form VAT-R, VAT registration) and obtaining a NIP. Registration is free.
• A bill isn’t an invoice and, as the KSeF questions and answers show, isn’t issued in KSeF.

A bill or an invoice outside KSeF — for a consumer or, until the end of 2026, for a business within PLN 10,000 a month — you can prepare in BravoLisa as a PDF; BravoLisa doesn’t send invoices to KSeF yet. Details of the system and the deadlines: KSeF for a JDG.

Simplified sales record

From your first sale you’re required to keep a simplified sales record (uproszczona ewidencja sprzedaży). It’s what tells you how much of the limit you have left, and it’s what the tax office can check.

The rules are simple:

• you record each day’s sales, at the latest before the first sale of the following day;
• you can keep it on paper or electronically, e.g. in a spreadsheet;
• the regulations don’t set a template. A record usually has a sequential number, the date of sale, the amount and a running total.

Sample entries:

You can add the bill number or the type of transaction. The “running total in the quarter” column shows straight away how close you are to PLN 10,813.50.

If the record is unreliable or missing, and the value of sales can’t be established from the documents, the tax authority will determine it itself.

Keep proof of purchases too — materials, goods, energy used for the work. Preferably with your first and last name on them. They’re what will lower the tax in your annual return.

Działalność nierejestrowana and tax

As podatki.gov.pl states, revenue from a działalność nierejestrowana belongs to other sources in the PIT Act, not to business activity. Several things follow from this:

• You don’t pay advances during the year and don’t file monthly declarations.
• You settle once, in the PIT-36 return (the annual return on the skala), filed between 15 February and 30 April of the following year. For 2026 — by 30 April 2027. In part E of the return there’s a line „działalność nierejestrowana, określona w art. 20 ust. 1ba ustawy” (unregistered activity, as defined in art. 20 ust. 1ba of the Act), where you enter revenue, costs and income. You pay the tax by the same deadline.
• You pay according to the skala podatkowa (the progressive tax scale, also called zasady ogólne, the general rules): 12% and 32%, with a tax-reducing amount of PLN 3,600. You don’t choose the ryczałt (ryczałt od przychodów ewidencjonowanych, a lump-sum tax on recorded revenue) or the podatek liniowy (the 19% flat tax) here. If you also have, e.g., a salary from an employment contract, you calculate the tax on the total of these incomes.
• You deduct documented costs, recognised on a cash basis — on the day you pay for them.

You count revenue for tax differently from revenue for the limit. The limit takes the amount due, even unpaid; tax takes only money actually received. A December bill paid in January counts towards the limit of the fourth quarter, but towards the tax for the following year.

A działalność nierejestrowana doesn’t take away the right to joint filing with a spouse. A comparison of the PIT-28 and PIT-36 returns is in the article PIT-28 or PIT-36.

Działalność nierejestrowana and ZUS

From a działalność nierejestrowana itself you pay neither social insurance contributions nor the health contribution (składka zdrowotna). That’s its biggest advantage over a JDG.

The exception is services. A person running a działalność nierejestrowana isn’t a business owner, so a contract to provide services is a contract of mandate for them. In that case:

• the client who commissions the work is the contribution payer: within 7 days they register you for insurance and pay the ZUS contributions. The portal points out that it doesn’t matter whether the client is a private individual or a business, or for how long the contract was concluded;
• a student under 26 isn’t covered by social or health insurance under this contract;
• if you have a full-time employment contract, and the mandate isn’t concluded with your employer or performed for them, only health insurance is compulsory.

With sales of goods, e.g. handmade goods, there are no contributions. In less obvious cases — several contracts, several bases for insurance — ZUS decides. There you’ll also come across a second name for this activity: działalność nieewidencjonowana.

VAT and the cash register

VAT. In a działalność nierejestrowana you’re a VAT taxpayer, but you usually benefit from the small-business VAT exemption: since 1 January 2026 its threshold has been PLN 240,000 of sales a year, and the quarterly limit for a działalność nierejestrowana is far lower. The exemption doesn’t apply to the goods and services in art. 113 ust. 13 of the VAT Act — among them consultancy (other than agricultural), legal and jewellery services, debt collection, selling car and motorcycle parts, or selling cosmetics and electronics online. In that case you have to register as an active VAT payer before your first sale. More: VAT exemption.

Cash register. You don’t need a cash register (kasa fiskalna) if sales to private individuals and flat-rate farmers don’t exceed PLN 20,000 a year (in the year you start — proportionally). Some goods and services require a register from the first sale, whatever the amount, e.g. hairdressing, beauty and cosmetology services, vehicle repair or selling electronics. A cash register also means you have to obtain a NIP.

When to set up a JDG

A działalność nierejestrowana works well for starting out: it lets you test an idea without ZUS and without registering. A JDG becomes necessary, or simply more convenient, when:

• your revenue exceeds the quarterly limit — then you have 7 days for the form CEIDG-1 (the application to register, change, suspend or close a JDG) application, and business activity already runs from the day you exceeded it;
• you want to do something that requires a licence, a permit or an entry in a register;
• you work mainly for businesses and regularly issue them invoices;
• you want to choose your form of taxation, e.g. the ryczałt, instead of the skala in PIT-36;
• you want to hire an employee or grow your sales beyond a small scale.

As a new business owner you may be entitled to an exemption from social contributions to start with, and then to lower contributions. What this looks like step by step is described in the article how to set up a JDG, and the contributions in the following years in ZUS for a JDG.

Frequently asked questions

Do I have to report a _działalność nierejestrowana_ anywhere?

No. You don't report it to CEIDG, the tax office or GUS (Statistics Poland). You use your PESEL number until you need a NIP (VAT registration, a cash register, an invoice in KSeF).

Can I run a _działalność nierejestrowana_ while in a job?

Yes. A job doesn't rule it out. You add the income from the działalność nierejestrowana to your salary in PIT-36.

What if I earn more than PLN 10,813.50 in a single month?

The limit applies to the quarter, but one month can exceed it on its own. In that case you're running a business from the day you exceed it and have 7 days for the entry in CEIDG.

An entry in the record every day and one look at the quarter’s total — that’s all it takes to know when it’s time for a JDG.
💜💙 Your BravoLisa Team

This article is for general information purposes only and does not constitute professional tax, legal, or accounting advice. Every situation is different — consult a qualified professional (tax adviser, accountant, or lawyer) for advice specific to your circumstances. BravoLisa does not accept liability for decisions made based on this information.

Last updated: September 2026. Rates and thresholds can change: always check them on biznes.gov.pl, podatki.gov.pl, zus.pl or with the relevant office.

Sources (7)

Verified on 30 September 2026

1. biznes.gov.pl — Działalność nierejestrowa i inne rodzaje działalności, których nie trzeba rejestrować
2. podatki.gov.pl — Działalność nierejestrowana
3. podatki.gov.pl — Dochody z działalności nierejestrowanej
4. ISAP — Rozporządzenie Rady Ministrów z dnia 11 września 2025 r. w sprawie wysokości minimalnego wynagrodzenia za pracę oraz wysokości minimalnej stawki godzinowej w 2026 r.
5. ISAP — Ustawa z dnia 6 marca 2018 r. Prawo przedsiębiorców
6. KSeF — Zasady obowiązywania KSeF i przepisy prawne
7. KSeF — Pytania i odpowiedzi KSeF 2.0