How Do You Register a Sp. z o.o. Online via S24?

In short:

• S24 is Poland’s free online portal (ekrs.ms.gov.pl/s24) for setting up a sp. z o.o. with a standard, ready-made template — no notary appointment and no trip to Poland required.
• Every shareholder and board member needs an electronic signature: a free Profil Zaufany (usually needs a Polish bank account) or a qualified electronic signature (~PLN 250–350/year), which is what most non-resident founders use.
• The state fees total about PLN 250 — roughly half the notary route — plus a small PCC tax (~PLN 23) and the PLN 5,000 minimum share capital, which stays your company’s own money.
• The registry court (KRS) usually registers the company in about one business day and assigns your KRS number, NIP and REGON automatically.
• The trade-off: S24 locks you into a fixed template (cash share contributions only, no custom share classes). Need bespoke articles of association? Use a notary instead.

Once you have decided on a sp. z o.o., the next question is practical: how do you actually register it? For most foreign founders the answer is S24 — Poland’s online company-registration system that turns what used to be a notary-and-paperwork process into a same-day online filing. This guide walks through exactly how S24 works, what to have ready before you start, and when it is worth choosing a notary instead.

How do you register a sp. z o.o. online via S24?

You register through the S24 portal by filling in a standard articles-of-association template, adding the shareholders and board, signing everything electronically, and paying about PLN 250 in fees — the court then usually completes the entry in about one business day. No notary and no physical presence in Poland are required, as long as everyone involved has a working electronic signature.

Here is the whole process at a glance:

Step	What happens	Fee
1. Set up S24 access + e-signature	Account at ekrs.ms.gov.pl/s24 + Profil Zaufany or qualified e-signature	Free / ~PLN 250–350/yr
2. Complete the template	Company name, address, PKD codes, PLN 5,000 capital	—
3. Sign electronically	Every shareholder + board member signs	—
4. Pay + submit	Court fee	~PLN 250
5. Court registers	KRS number, NIP, REGON assigned	—
6. Post-registration	PCC-3 tax, NIP-8 data, VAT if needed	~PLN 23 PCC

This is the “how” companion to our overview of how to register a company in Poland as a foreigner and the full cost breakdown.

What is the S24 system, exactly?

S24 (System S24) is the Polish Ministry of Justice’s online platform for registering a limited company using a standardised template. It sits inside the national court-registers portal (Portal Rejestrów Sądowych / eKRS) and lets founders create a sp. z o.o. — and a few other company types — without visiting a notary. The name reflects the promise: a clean filing can be entered by the registry court in roughly one business day, versus the longer traditional route.

The trade-off for that speed is standardisation: you build the company from a fixed template of the articles of association (wzorzec umowy), so you cannot freely rewrite the governance clauses or contribute assets other than cash. For the large majority of new foreign-owned companies, the template covers everything they need.

What do you need before you start an S24 registration?

Before you log in, have your identification, an electronic signature for every founder, a registered Polish address, your PKD activity codes and your share structure ready. Missing any one of these is the usual reason a registration stalls. The checklist:

• Identification for every shareholder and board member (passport or ID; a PESEL number helps but is not always required).
• An electronic signature for everyone who has to sign (see the next section).
• A registered office address in Poland — a virtual office is acceptable; plans from henryestates.pl start at PLN 69/month + VAT.
• Your PKD codes — the Polish classification numbers describing what the business will do.
• The share structure: who owns how much, with PLN 5,000 minimum capital and a PLN 50 minimum nominal value per share.

Still deciding whether a sp. z o.o. is even the right vehicle? See our comparison of sp. z o.o. versus JDG.

How do you get the electronic signature S24 requires?

Everyone who signs the S24 application needs one of two things: a free Polish Profil Zaufany (trusted profile) or a paid qualified electronic signature. Which fits depends on whether you already have a foothold in Poland:

• Profil Zaufany — free and government-issued, but confirming it usually requires a Polish bank account or an in-person visit, so it suits founders already established in Poland.
• Qualified electronic signature (podpis kwalifikowany) — a paid certificate (~PLN 250–350/year) from an approved provider, recognised across the EU. This is what most non-resident founders use, because it can be obtained without a Polish bank account and works entirely from abroad.

This signature is the single most common thing founders forget to arrange — and without it the registration cannot be completed.

What are the exact steps to register through S24?

The registration itself is a guided online form — the real work is preparing the details correctly before you sign. Step by step:

1. Create an account on the S24 portal (ekrs.ms.gov.pl/s24) and make sure every shareholder and board member has an electronic signature.
2. Select the standard template (wzorzec umowy) and enter the company name, registered address, PKD activity codes and share capital (minimum PLN 5,000, PLN 50 per share).
3. Add the shareholders and the management board, and set each person’s shareholding.
4. Sign the articles of association and the application electronically — every shareholder and board member signs.
5. Pay the fee online: PLN 250 court fee. The PLN 100 Monitor Sądowy i Gospodarczy announcement fee was abolished on 29 November 2025.
6. Submit. The registry court (KRS) usually processes the filing in about one business day and assigns your KRS number, NIP and REGON automatically.
7. After registration, file the PCC-3 tax (~PLN 23, within 14 days), submit the NIP-8 supplementary data (within 21 days), and register for VAT if your activity requires it.

How long does S24 registration take?

The court entry itself is usually done in about one business day, but plan for two to four weeks to be fully operational. The KRS number arrives fast; what takes longer is everything around it — obtaining the qualified e-signature if you don’t already have one, sworn translations of foreign documents, opening a business bank account (often the slowest step for foreign owners), and filing the post-registration forms. The registration is quick; getting genuinely ready to trade is the part to budget time for. Our first-year tax calendar maps what follows once the company exists.

Can a non-resident register through S24 from abroad?

Yes — S24 is fully online, so a non-resident can register a Polish sp. z o.o. without ever setting foot in Poland, provided every founder has a working electronic signature. You do not need Polish residency, a Polish partner, or a physical visit. The practical hurdle is never location — it is the e-signature. A non-resident founder typically buys a qualified electronic signature (recognised EU-wide), completes the S24 filing remotely, and appoints themselves as sole shareholder and sole board member. Note that owning the company does not by itself grant you residency — that is a separate process.

S24 or a notary — which should you choose?

Choose S24 for speed and low cost with standard articles; choose a notary only when you need a custom structure the template cannot express. The differences:

	S24 (online)	Notary
Court fee	PLN 250	PLN 500
Notarial deed	—	from ~PLN 200 (incl. VAT)
Articles of association	Standard template	Fully customisable
Share contributions	Cash only	Cash or in-kind (aport)
Typical speed	~1 business day	Longer

Pick the notary if you want share classes, non-cash (in-kind) contributions, bespoke governance rules or a more complex ownership structure. For a straightforward single- or multi-owner company, S24 is the right default — cheaper, faster and entirely remote.

What happens after your company is registered?

Registration is the start, not the finish — a live sp. z o.o. immediately has filing obligations. Once your KRS number is issued:

• PCC tax: file PCC-3 and pay 0.5% of share capital (~PLN 23 on PLN 5,000) within 14 days.
• NIP-8: submit the supplementary identification data (bank account, forecast headcount) to the tax office within 21 days (7 days if you employ staff).
• VAT: register on form VAT-R if your activity requires it — filing is free. Whether you must register depends on turnover and activity; see our VAT guide.
• Accounting: an sp. z o.o. must keep full accounting (pełna księgowość) from day one, so arrange your bookkeeping before you issue the first invoice.

Miss these deadlines and a company that was cheap to create becomes expensive to fix — which is exactly why most foreign founders hand the whole sequence to an accountant.

Ready to register your sp. z o.o.?

Meyis is a Turkish-speaking accounting office in Warsaw, Poland — a biuro rachunkowe that registers foreign-owned companies through S24 and runs their accounting from day one, so the filing is done once and done right, in a language you understand.

Get help registering your company or message us on WhatsApp at +48 692 413 475. Give us your company name, activity and owners, and we will prepare the S24 filing, the PKD codes and the articles for you.

Official sources: the S24 registration system at ekrs.ms.gov.pl, the entrepreneurs’ portal biznes.gov.pl, and the court-registers portal prs.ms.gov.pl. Always confirm current fees and requirements, which can change year to year.