KPiR and the revenue record in Poland: how to keep a JDG's books

The KPiR, the tax revenue and expense ledger (podatkowa księga przychodów i rozchodów), is the book in which a JDG (a sole trader’s business, jednoosobowa działalność gospodarcza) on the skala podatkowa (the progressive tax scale) or on the podatek liniowy (the 19% flat tax) records its revenue and costs, so it can work out its income at the end of the year. On the ryczałt (a lump-sum tax on recorded revenue), its place is taken by the simpler revenue record (ewidencja przychodów), which has no costs in it at all. Below: which book you keep, what columns it has and when entries are due, from when it must be electronic, what JPK_PKPiR and JPK_EWP are, and whether you can manage to keep it yourself.

The rules and dates are those in force on 30 September 2026, checked on biznes.gov.pl, gov.pl/web/kas and in the Dziennik Ustaw.

Which book you keep

The kind of book is decided by your form of taxation, not by your line of work or the size of your business (as long as you don’t exceed the limit for full accounting books).

Both books are what’s called simplified bookkeeping: they are kept by a JDG and by a civil-law partnership of individuals, instead of full accounting books. Alongside the book you also keep a fixed-asset register (with the KPiR) or a list of fixed assets and intangible assets (on the ryczałt), if your business has such assets.

According to biznes.gov.pl, you can keep the KPiR as long as your net revenue from the business in the previous year doesn’t exceed €2,500,000. Biznes.gov.pl states that if in 2025 your net revenue from the sale of goods, products and financial operations reached PLN 10,646,500, in 2026 you must keep full accounting books. The ryczałt has its own limit: €2,000,000 of revenue in the previous year.

KPiR: what it is and what it looks like

The KPiR is a list of business events in chronological order: every sale, every purchase of goods, every expense that is a deductible cost (koszty uzyskania przychodu). Its totals give the income on which you calculate your tax advances (zaliczki) and your annual tax.

Since 1 January 2026, the book’s template has been set by a new regulation of the Minister of Finance and Economy of 6 September 2025 (Dz. U. poz. 1299). It replaced the 2019 regulation and changed the book’s layout: a column was added for the invoice’s KSeF number (KSeF being the National e-Invoicing System, Krajowy System e-Faktur), and a column for the counterparty’s tax identifier. The book now has 19 columns.

KPiR columns from 2026

If you enter the counterparty’s tax identifier in column 5, you no longer fill in columns 6 and 7. For sales recorded in bulk, from a cash register or from a sales summary, columns 3–7 stay empty.

When you make entries, and on what basis

The regulation requires every entry to be based on an accounting document: an invoice, a bill, a customs document, a statement of bank charges, and in a few cases listed in the regulation an internal voucher (dowód wewnętrzny) (for example, a business-trip settlement or the share of rent and utilities that falls on the business).

• Revenue from invoices and fiscal reports you enter no later than the 20th of the month after the month in which you earn it.
• Sales without an invoice and without a cash register you keep in a sales summary, day by day, and carry over to the book as a single item at the end of the month.
• Costs you enter according to the rules for deducting costs in the PIT Act.

You open the book on 1 January or on the day you start the business. At the end of the year, when you start and when you wind up the business, you draw up a stocktake (spis z natury) of goods and materials: without it, you won’t calculate the year’s costs correctly.

You calculate income from the KPiR like this: revenue from column 11, minus costs. Costs are the stocktake at the start of the year plus purchases from columns 12 and 13, minus the stocktake at the end of the year, plus expenses from column 16. The regulation shows this calculation with an example in the notes to the template.

The revenue record (ewidencja przychodów) on the ryczałt

The revenue record is the simplest form of book: you enter only revenue in it, each item in the column for the ryczałt rate that covers it. There are no costs, because you pay the ryczałt on revenue, not on income. How to match the rate to your activity is explained in the article on the ryczałt.

Since 2026, the template has been set by a regulation of the Minister of Finance and Economy of 6 September 2025 (Dz. U. poz. 1294). The record has 17 columns:

You make entries on the basis of invoices, and for sales without invoices on the basis of an internal voucher issued at the end of the day, split by rate. The deadline is the same as for the KPiR: by the 20th of the month for the previous month. If you have a cash register, you enter the data from fiscal reports, daily or monthly.

If you pay the ryczałt quarterly, you can enter the date you received the revenue in the „Uwagi” (Remarks) column. You keep the list of fixed assets separately and enter an asset in it no later than the month you put it into use.

Electronic KPiR and revenue record: from when

From 2026, the book stops being just a record for you and for the tax office in case of an audit. It becomes a file you send to the tax office (urząd skarbowy) once a year. According to KAS, the obligation comes in two stages, and which group you belong to depends on how you settle VAT.

This applies to both books: the KPiR on the skala and on the liniowy, and the revenue record on the ryczałt. From your date, you keep the book in a computer program that gives immediate access to the entries and lets you print all the data in chronological order.

If you don’t yet know whether you send JPK_V7M (the monthly VAT file with the return) or JPK_V7K (the quarterly one), see the article on JPK VAT. A JDG using the VAT exemption sends no JPK_V7 at all, so the electronic book covers it from 2027.

JPK_PKPiR, JPK_EWP and JPK_ST

The electronic book has a set logical structure, like JPK_V7 in VAT (JPK being the Standard Audit File for Tax):

• JPK_PKPiR is the KPiR as a file,
• JPK_EWP is the revenue record as a file,
• JPK_ST is the register or list of fixed assets and intangible assets, sent together with the book.

The submission deadline is tied to the deadline for the annual return, as KAS states. Biznes.gov.pl gives it directly for the ryczałt: you send the record after the end of the year, by 30 April. You file the PIT-36 (the annual return on the skala) and PIT-36L (on the liniowy) returns by the same deadline, from 15 February to 30 April of the following year. So the first group will send its files for 2026 by 30 April 2027. What the return itself looks like is described in the article on PIT-28 and PIT-36.

You send the JPK_PKPiR and JPK_EWP files once a year, but you keep the book up to date as you go. The file is only an export of what’s already in it: entries filled in during April for the whole year risk data in the book that doesn’t match the JPK_V7 and the invoices in KSeF, which the tax office already has.

The paper „książka” of revenue and expenses

The rules still allow a book kept without a computer program: in that case it must be bound and its pages numbered. It’s an option only for those not yet covered by the electronic obligation, which in practice means until the end of 2026 for JDGs on JPK_V7K or VAT-exempt ones. From 2027, a paper book won’t be enough for anyone.

You often hear „książka przychodów i rozchodów”, but the Act and the regulation speak of a księga. When you look for a template or a program, it’s worth using the official name.

Can you keep the KPiR without a bookkeeper

Yes. No rule requires the KPiR or the revenue record to be kept by an accounting office: you can keep it yourself, as long as it’s kept reliably and without defects, meaning in line with reality and with the template. An accounting office is a choice, not an obligation. If you choose one, the book and the documents can be kept at its premises.

What you need to keep the book yourself:

1. A program that keeps the book to the 2026 template and, from your date, can generate JPK_PKPiR or JPK_EWP and JPK_ST.
2. Documents in one place: sales and purchase invoices, and once KSeF is in force also their KSeF numbers, which you enter in column 3 of the KPiR or column 4 of the revenue record. More on the KSeF number in the article on KSeF for JDGs.
3. A fixed date in your calendar: the 20th of the month for the previous month’s entries, the same day you pay your tax advance.

The Ministry of Finance has announced free tools for the new obligations, including interactive forms for submitting the KPiR and the revenue record. You keep the book and the documents for 5 years, counting from the end of the year in which the tax payment deadline passed.

Errors in the book and how to correct them

You correct a wrong entry by entering the new content. In a paper book, you cross out the old content so it can still be read, sign the correction and add the date. You add a missing document, and enter items that reduce revenue or costs with a minus sign.

The regulation treats the book as reliable and free of defects despite errors, among other cases, when:

• unrecorded or wrongly recorded revenue doesn’t exceed, in total, 0.5% of the revenue in the book for the year,
• you correct the entries before an audit begins,
• the error is an obvious slip and you have correct accounting documents.

If an error in the book led to an understated tax advance or a late settlement, correcting the entry alone may not be enough. How to avoid a penalty in that case is explained in the article on czynny żal (voluntary disclosure of a tax offence, which avoids the penalty).

Frequently asked questions

Do you keep a KPiR on the ryczałt?

No. A JDG on the ryczałt keeps a revenue record and a list of fixed assets. The KPiR is for the skala podatkowa and the podatek liniowy. So when you change your form of taxation, you also change your book, from the start of the year in which the new form takes effect.

From when is JPK_PKPiR due?

JDGs that send JPK_V7M every month send the JPK_PKPiR file for the first time in 2027, for 2026. Everyone else keeps an electronic book from 1 January 2027 and sends the file for the first time in 2028. The same dates apply to JPK_EWP on the ryczałt.

Can't costs without an invoice be entered in the KPiR?

They can, if the regulation allows another document for them: a bill, proof of a bank charge, or an internal voucher in the listed cases, such as business-trip allowances or parking fees from a machine. An expense that isn't a deductible cost at all doesn't go in the book.

Can you keep the KPiR in a spreadsheet?

The regulation doesn't name specific programs. It requires the program to give immediate access to the entries and a printout in chronological order. From your obligation date, the book must also be transferable in the JPK_PKPiR or JPK_EWP structure, so before you choose a tool, check that it can prepare that file.

One book, entries by the 20th of every month, a file once a year by 30 April: that’s all the KPiR asks of you, if you keep it up to date.
💜💙 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 (8)

Verified on 30 September 2026

1. biznes.gov.pl — Jak prowadzić podatkową księgę przychodów i rozchodów (PKPiR)
2. biznes.gov.pl — Ryczałt od przychodów ewidencjonowanych
3. gov.pl/web/kas — Struktury JPK w podatkach dochodowych
4. gov.pl/web/kas — Elektroniczne księgi i ewidencje podatkowe
5. gov.pl/web/kas — Nowe zasady dokumentacji księgowej w podatku PIT od 2026 r. – ważne informacje
6. Dziennik Ustaw — Rozporządzenie Ministra Finansów i Gospodarki z dnia 6 września 2025 r. w sprawie prowadzenia podatkowej księgi przychodów i rozchodów (Dz. U. poz. 1299)
7. Dziennik Ustaw — Rozporządzenie Ministra Finansów i Gospodarki z dnia 6 września 2025 r. w sprawie prowadzenia ewidencji przychodów i wykazu środków trwałych oraz wartości niematerialnych i prawnych (Dz. U. poz. 1294)
8. biznes.gov.pl — Złóż zeznanie podatkowe PIT-36/PIT-36S, PIT-36L/PIT-36LS