Do I need to register for VAT in Poland?
Most people only know the turnover rule. Two others catch businesses out far more often: some activities are shut out of the exemption from the first invoice, and a company established abroad has no threshold at all. This checks all three, plus the VAT-UE obligation that applies even to exempt businesses.
Net of VAT, excluding exempt supplies.
The exemption is prorated in a first year.
Any one of them ends the exemption from the first invoice.
Above 50 000 zł a VAT-UE registration is compulsory.
Above €10 000 across the EU, OSS or local registration applies.
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What to file
When
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A guide to the main rules, not a ruling on your case. Exempt supplies, reverse-charge purchases, the SME cross-border scheme and mixed activity all change the answer. Confirm your position before you invoice.
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Rates used (2026) — verified
- Narodowy Bank Polski Kurs średni EUR z 1.10.2025 (4,2586 zł) — the statutory conversion date for 2026 limits nbp.pl
- Ministerstwo Finansów Ustawa z 24.06.2025 — art. 113 exemption raised to 240 000 zł from 1.01.2026 podatki.gov.pl
Figures are official rates for the tax year shown. They are not advice on your own case.
01 What is the VAT registration threshold in Poland in 2026?
240 000 zł of taxable sales in the previous year, up from 200 000 zł. The new limit applies from 1 January 2026, and a business whose 2025 sales landed between the two figures can return to the exemption from January by filing an updated VAT-R. In a first year of trading the limit is prorated by the days left in the year, so a company starting in October has roughly a quarter of it.
02 Which activities can never use the exemption?
Legal services, consultancy of almost every kind, jewellery, and debt collection including factoring — those are excluded as services. On the goods side: excise goods, new means of transport, building land and buildings before first occupation, precious metals, and online sales of electronics, cosmetics and household appliances. If any of these is your business, you register before the first invoice regardless of turnover, and “consultancy” is read broadly by the tax office.
03 I am VAT-exempt but I buy services from abroad. Does that change anything?
Yes, and this is the trap. Buying a service from a supplier in another country — advertising, software, a marketplace fee — makes you liable for the Polish VAT on it under the reverse charge, and you must register as a VAT-UE taxpayer before the first such purchase and file VAT-9M. You stay exempt on your own sales, so you do not charge VAT to your customers; you simply owe VAT on what you bought. Ad accounts and SaaS subscriptions are how most small businesses walk into this without noticing.
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