Tax-free allowance in Poland 2026: how it works and what it is worth

PLN 30,000 and PLN 3,600: one relief, two numbers

People talk about a PLN 30,000 allowance; the Act and your payslip show PLN 3,600 or PLN 300. It is the same relief. The law does not exempt the first PLN 30,000 from tax; it tells you to subtract a fixed PLN 3,600 from tax calculated at 12 %. Since 12 % of PLN 30,000 is exactly PLN 3,600, the outcome is as if PLN 30,000 of income were tax-free. Hence the everyday name.

The way it is written has practical consequences. The relief has a fixed value in złoty rather than in income, so it does not depend on how much you earn or on the time of year. There are no "tax-free months" at the start of the year followed by taxed ones: with PIT-2, every payslip gets the same slice of the relief.

What the relief is worth at different salaries

The table shows annual tax on the scale with and without the relief, for several steady salaries on an employment contract with PLN 250 costs. The base is income after ZUS contributions and costs.

Beyond a certain level the relief is worth a flat PLN 3,600. It is worth less only on the lowest incomes, where tax at 12 % is below PLN 3,600: the relief wipes out the tax, but anything left over is lost, because tax cannot go negative. The tax-reducing amount is not a payment from the tax office.

No taper in the second bracket

In many countries a personal allowance shrinks as income rises. Not in Poland in 2026. For income above PLN 120,000, the table in article 27(1) gives tax of PLN 10,800 plus 32 % of the excess. That fixed part is 12 % of PLN 120,000 minus PLN 3,600, so the relief survives in full. On a salary of PLN 25,000 gross, with an annual base of PLN 257,835, the tax saved thanks to the allowance is the same as on the minimum wage. The second bracket is covered in our guide to income tax brackets.

How the relief reaches your payslip

Your employer can subtract PLN 300 from each month's tax advance only if you have given it the PIT-2 statement. On PLN 6,000 gross, the advance is then PLN 291 instead of PLN 591, and take-home pay rises from PLN 4,120 to PLN 4,420. Without the statement the relief is not lost, it comes back in one go as a refund after you file your annual return. How to fill in the statement, how many payers to give it to and how to split it are covered on our page about the PIT-2 form.

The annual relief is available once, whatever the number of payers. If you work for two employers and both deduct the full PLN 300, you will have claimed twice your entitlement over the year and will pay the difference with your return.

Income under PLN 30,000: zero tax

Anyone whose income for the year does not exceed PLN 30,000 pays no tax on the scale. Income here means revenue minus ZUS contributions and costs, so gross pay can be noticeably higher. On PLN 2,000 gross a month, PLN 24,000 a year, the taxable base is PLN 17,712 and tax for the year is PLN 0.

During the year, though, the employer still withholds advances: PLN 2,124 in total without PIT-2, PLN 0 with it. You recover the difference between advances withheld and tax due as an overpayment in the PIT-37 return (zwrot podatku from the urząd skarbowy, the tax office). This often applies to part-time workers, students over 26 and people who worked only part of the year.

Who the allowance covers

The relief belongs to the tax scale, so it covers any income taxed on the scale: employment, mandate contracts, specific-work contracts and business income where the owner has not chosen another regime. You can file PIT-2 on a mandate contract too: on a PLN 3,000 gross contract it lifts take-home pay from PLN 2,167 to PLN 2,423. The exception is very small contracts of up to PLN 200 with someone who is not the payer's employee: the payer then withholds a flat 12 % of revenue and does not apply the relief.

A sole trader on the scale benefits from the same tax-reducing amount: on revenue of PLN 6,000 a month with no costs, tax on the scale averages PLN 205 a month against PLN 718 on the flat tax. The 19 % flat tax and the lump-sum tax on recorded revenue do not include it. That is one reason the scale often works out better than the flat tax at lower incomes. The B2B calculator compares the regimes.

Spotting the allowance on your payslip

Payslips rarely show the allowance as a separate line. You see it indirectly in the tax advance: some payroll systems print a "kwota zmniejszająca" line of PLN 300, others simply show the advance after the reduction. A quick check in the first bracket: multiply the taxable base on your payslip by 12 % and subtract PLN 300. If the result matches the advance to the złoty, your employer is applying the relief. If the advance is PLN 300 higher, the relief is waiting for your annual return, and over the year you go without PLN 3,600 of cash flow.

Three misconceptions

First, "the allowance is for low earners". Everyone taxed on the scale gets it, and its value in złoty is identical on the minimum wage and on a high salary. Second, "the allowance rises with the minimum wage". The PLN 30,000 figure is written into the PIT Act and is not linked to the minimum wage; in 2026 it is the same all year. Third, "without PIT-2 I lose the relief". You do not lose it, you receive it later, as a refund in your annual return.

The allowance and the youth relief

These are two different mechanisms. The youth relief exempts revenue up to PLN 85,528 a year before any tax is calculated; the tax-reducing amount lowers tax on whatever income remains taxable. Someone under 26 with revenue above the limit therefore uses both: the exemption covers revenue up to the limit, and PLN 3,600 comes off the tax on the excess. The second calculator shows what the youth relief alone is worth.

Eligibility, including the contract types the exemption covers, is explained on our page about the youth tax relief.