Mandate contract or specific-work contract in 2026?
Poland's two common civil-law contracts, umowa zlecenie (mandate) and umowa o dzieło (specific work), give very different net pay for the same fee, because only the mandate carries ZUS and health contributions.
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For the same gross amount, a Polish specific-work contract (umowa o dzieło) leaves more take-home pay than a mandate contract (umowa zlecenie), because it generally carries no ZUS or health contribution. On PLN 4,000 gross a mandate leaves PLN 2,889 and a specific-work contract PLN 3,616; if the work is a copyrighted creation and you transfer the rights, 50 % deductible costs lift net pay to PLN 3,760. Both contracts give 20 % deductible costs, on a mandate calculated after contributions. The choice is not really about net pay, though, but about the work: dzieło is a defined result, zlecenie is carrying out tasks with due care. A specific-work contract with your own employer is treated like salary for contributions. Under-26s get the youth relief only on a mandate, and a student on a mandate pays neither contributions nor tax. Contracts of up to PLN 200 are flat-taxed at 12 % either way. The mini calculator compares both for your amount.
Zlecenie or dzieło for the same amount
Take-home gap in favour of dzieło
PLN 727
| Net on zlecenie | PLN 2,889 |
| Net on dzieło | PLN 3,616 |
| ZUS and health on zlecenie | PLN 770 |
Result or due care: the legal difference
Both contracts fall under the Civil Code, not the Labour Code, so neither gives you paid leave or the notice periods of an employment contract. What separates them is the subject. A specific-work contract commits you to a defined result that can be handed over and assessed: a translation, a logo, a piece of software, a bathroom renovation, a magazine feature. You answer for the outcome, and you are paid for the work delivered, not the hours.
A mandate contract commits you to performing tasks with due care. You teach, staff a stand, look after clients, hand out leaflets; you answer for diligence, not for whether the client is happy with the result. Because time and activity are what count, mandate contracts are covered by the PLN 31.40 gross minimum hourly rate.
What decides the nature of a contract is its content and how it is carried out, not the title on page one. Repetitive work done under supervision and billed by the hour does not become a specific work just because someone called it that. Foreigners in Poland are sometimes offered a dzieło for what is plainly ongoing shift work; read the description of the task before you sign.
Net pay from both contracts for the same amount
| Gross | Mandate | Mandate with sickness cover | Specific work (20 %) | Specific work, copyright (50 %) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| PLN 200 | PLN 138 | PLN 133 | PLN 176 | PLN 176 |
| PLN 1,000 | PLN 723 | PLN 702 | PLN 904 | PLN 940 |
| PLN 3,000 | PLN 2,167 | PLN 2,107 | PLN 2,712 | PLN 2,820 |
| PLN 5,000 | PLN 3,612 | PLN 3,512 | PLN 4,520 | PLN 4,700 |
| PLN 10,000 | PLN 7,223 | PLN 7,024 | PLN 9,040 | PLN 9,400 |
The table is for someone past their 26th birthday, with no PIT-2 statement and no other insurance title. Above PLN 200, the specific-work contract comes out ahead by roughly a fifth of the gross amount, and the copyright version by more. On PLN 4,000 the gap between a mandate and an ordinary specific-work contract is PLN 727 a month, or PLN 8,722 a year on a contract repeated monthly.
The higher net pay is not free. No contributions means nothing paid into your pension account, no sickness benefit and no health insurance from that contract. On a mandate, pension and disability cover is compulsory and sickness cover voluntary. The "with sickness cover" column shows what the voluntary 2.45 % contribution costs: PLN 79 a month on PLN 4,000.
ZUS and health contribution on each contract
Mandate contractors (zleceniobiorcy) are listed in article 6(1)(4) of the Social Insurance System Act, so they are compulsorily covered by pension and disability insurance. From PLN 4,000 gross, the client withholds PLN 450 in social contributions and PLN 319 in 9 % health contribution. Sickness insurance is voluntary, on the contractor's request (article 11(2)).
People doing specific work are not on that list. A specific-work contract with a company that does not employ you therefore generally creates no social contributions, and because compulsory health insurance for contractors is tied to social insurance cover, no health contribution either. The commissioning party pays the gross amount minus only the tax advance.
There is one important exception. Article 8(2a) treats as an employee anyone who signs a mandate or specific-work contract with their own employer, and anyone who works for their employer under such a contract even though it was signed with a different firm. The contract pay is added to the salary and charged contributions as salary.
Deductible costs: 20 % on both, 50 % with copyright
Article 22(9)(4) of the PIT Act gives both contracts deductible costs (koszty uzyskania przychodu) of 20 %. On a mandate they are calculated after the social contributions withheld: PLN 710 on PLN 4,000. On a specific-work contract without contributions the percentage applies to the full amount: PLN 800. The tax advance is 12 % of the base after costs, PLN 341 and PLN 384 respectively.
If the contract produces a work protected by copyright and you transfer the rights to the client, costs rise to 50 %, with an annual limit of PLN 120,000. On PLN 4,000 the advance on a copyright specific-work contract drops to PLN 240 and net pay rises to PLN 3,760. Who can use these costs and when is covered in our guide to creative work costs.
On either contract you can give the client a PIT-2 statement that cuts the advance by PLN 300 a month; see our guide to the PIT-2 form.
Contracts up to PLN 200, under-26s and students
On a contract of up to PLN 200 with someone who is not the payer's employee, tax is a flat 12 % of the whole amount, with no costs and no PIT-2. A specific-work contract for PLN 200 leaves PLN 176. A mandate for the same amount still carries contributions, leaving PLN 138.
Age flips part of the calculation. The youth relief covers mandate income but not specific-work income. Someone under 26 who is not studying takes home PLN 3,230 from a PLN 4,000 mandate: no tax, but contributions. From a specific-work contract for the same amount they get PLN 3,616: tax is due, but without contributions it still works out better.
The best case is a student or pupil under 26 on a mandate contract: no contributions and no tax, so the full PLN 4,000. For them a mandate beats dzieło; our guide to students on a mandate contract has the details.
Reading the bill for your contract
Civil-law contracts are usually paid against a bill (rachunek) rather than a payslip. A bill for a PLN 4,000 gross mandate should show the pension contribution PLN 390, disability PLN 60, health contribution PLN 319, deductible costs PLN 710, taxable base PLN 2,840, tax advance PLN 341 and the amount paid out, PLN 2,889.
A bill for a specific-work contract of the same amount is shorter: costs PLN 800, base PLN 3,200, advance PLN 384 and PLN 3,616 paid out. If a specific-work bill shows ZUS contributions, check whether the client is also your employer. If a mandate bill shows none and you are not a student under 26, ask why: the client may be relying on another insurance title, and you should know which.
How to choose before you sign
Start with what you will actually do. If the contract describes a finished product with a delivery date, dzieło is the natural fit. If it describes shifts, hours and ongoing tasks, it is a mandate, whichever form pays more. Then check that the client is not your employer, because that removes the contribution saving.
Finally, think in years, not months. Specific work pays more now, but a mandate builds an insurance record and, if you pay the voluntary contribution, access to sickness benefit. Run your own numbers in the mandate contract calculator and the specific-work contract calculator.