The rate
The standard rate in Poland is 23%. Some goods and services carry reduced or zero rates and others are exempt. The difference matters: zero-rated sales still let you reclaim the tax on your purchases, exempt sales do not.
Who must register
240,000 PLN of taxable sales in the previous year, raised from 200,000 PLN on 1 January 2026 and the first change since 2017. Below it the small-business exemption in article 113 is available; it ends with the transaction that crosses the line, and registration must come first. A business starting mid-year gets the limit pro-rated by the days left in the year. Some activities, legal and tax advice among them, are excluded whatever the turnover.
How to register
VAT registration is made on the registration form (zgłoszenie rejestracyjne, VAT-R) filed with the head of the tax office before the first taxable activity (art. 96 ust. 1 of the VAT Act). A business that is exempt under the sales limit, or that performs only exempt activities, may register voluntarily (art. 96 ust. 3).
After checking the data, the head of the tax office registers the taxpayer as "podatnik VAT czynny" or, in the exempt cases, "podatnik VAT zwolniony", and confirms the registration on request (art. 96 ust. 4). Registration is refused where the data are untrue, the entity does not exist or cannot be reached, it ignores summonses, there is a risk of misuse of banks for tax fraud, or a court has banned the business (art. 96 ust. 4a).
A representative who files for a taxpayer is jointly liable up to 500,000 zł for tax arrears arising in the first 6 months after registration, unless the arrears were not linked to fraud (art. 96 ust. 4b-4c). Taxpayers trading within the EU additionally register as VAT-UE taxpayers under art. 97.
Filing and paying
Registered and filed with Krajowa Administracja Skarbowa.
One combined file, JPK_VAT with the declaration; there is no separate VAT return. Monthly filers send JPK_V7M and pay by the 25th of the following month. Small taxpayers may elect quarterly JPK_V7K, sending the records monthly and the declaration and payment by the 25th after the quarter. From the February 2026 period the schema requires each invoice's KSeF number.
Penalties for getting it wrong
Late or missing JPK_V7 is a fiscal offence carrying up to 120 daily rates, or up to 720 for unreliable data, the daily rate being set each year from the minimum wage. An error that prevents a transaction being verified and is not corrected within 14 days costs 500 PLN. Late VAT carries interest at 200% of the NBP lombard rate plus two points, never below 8%.