Suspending your business allows you to take a break without closing it permanently. However, it does not mean that all expenses and obligations disappear overnight. You may continue to receive invoices for rent, lease instalments or equipment insurance. ZUS contributions for the last month of active business operations will also remain payable.
Can these expenses still be claimed for tax purposes? When do you stop paying contributions? What happens to health insurance and your annual personal income tax return?
The key is to distinguish between three things: the period to which a liability relates, when it was paid and the rules governing its tax treatment. The date on which you suspend your business does not, by itself, prevent an expense from being recognised for tax purposes.
The following explanations primarily concern individuals operating a sole proprietorship in Poland.
How long can you suspend your business?
An entrepreneur registered in CEIDG, Poland’s Central Register and Information on Economic Activity, may suspend their business for a specified period or indefinitely. The minimum suspension period is generally 30 days. An exception applies where the suspension covers the entire month of February only: in that case, the number of days in that month is sufficient.
For businesses registered in KRS, the National Court Register, suspension may last from 30 days to 24 months.
These rules are set out in Article 23(1) to (3) of the Polish Entrepreneurs’ Law Act. Eligibility for suspension also depends on meeting the conditions concerning employees specified in Article 22 of that Act.
What can you do while your business is suspended?
Suspension means taking a break from carrying on your business. During this period, you cannot continue processing new orders, selling goods or providing new services in the ordinary course of business.
However, you may, among other things:
- Receive payments for receivables arising before the suspension.
- Settle liabilities arising before the suspension.
- Sell your own fixed assets and equipment.
- Take steps necessary to preserve or safeguard your source of revenue.
- Participate in proceedings connected with your previous business activities and fulfil statutory obligations.
The legal basis is Article 25(1) and (2) of the Polish Entrepreneurs’ Law Act.
Example
Anna suspended her business from 1 November. In November, she received payment for a service provided in September. She may accept this payment.
However, she cannot provide another service in November simply because she signed the contract with the client before suspending her business. An earlier contract does not give her a general right to continue operating during the suspension.
Do you have to pay ZUS contributions during suspension?
Compulsory social insurance coverage arising from your business ceases for the suspension period. This applies from the first day of suspension until the day before business operations resume.
However, this does not mean that you can immediately stop making all payments to ZUS, Poland’s Social Insurance Institution. You must still settle contributions for the period during which your business was active.
The legal basis is Article 36a(2) and (3) of the Polish Social Insurance System Act.
Social insurance contributions when suspension starts during a month
If your business is suspended for an entire month, compulsory social insurance contributions arising from that business are not due for that month.
If suspension begins partway through a month, the minimum contribution assessment basis for social insurance may be reduced proportionately, in accordance with Article 18(9) of the Polish Social Insurance System Act.
Example
Marek suspended his business from 15 November 2026. He was covered by social insurance through his business from 1 to 14 November, a total of 14 days.
The proportionate minimum assessment basis is calculated as follows:
Monthly minimum assessment basis ÷ 30 days in November × 14 days of insurance coverage.
The relevant contributions are then calculated using the resulting assessment basis. You should not simply divide the entire ZUS payment by the number of days, because the health insurance contribution follows different rules.
The health insurance contribution is not prorated by day
The health insurance contribution is monthly and indivisible. If your business was active for part of a month, a contribution is generally payable for the entire month, calculated under the rules applicable to your tax regime.
This follows from Article 79(2) of the Polish Act on Healthcare Services Financed from Public Funds.
Example
Ewa suspended her business from 2 November.
Social insurance contributions may be due for one day in November. However, her health insurance contribution will not be reduced to 1/30 of the monthly amount.
If the suspension had started on 1 November and covered the entire month, no monthly health insurance contribution for November would arise from that business alone.
The suspension and resumption dates therefore have a real financial impact. However, they must reflect when you actually stop and restart your business activities.
Your business is suspended, but ZUS contributions are still payable. Why?
Contributions are paid for the previous month. For a typical sole proprietor, the deadline is the 20th day of the following month, subject to the applicable deadline adjustment when that day falls on a nonworking day.
The legal basis is Article 47(1)(3) of the Polish Social Insurance System Act.
Example
Adam suspended his business from 1 November 2026.
In November, he must still pay the contributions due for October. The payment deadline is 20 November 2026.
The payment is made during suspension, but it relates to an earlier period when the business was active.
Suspension does not cancel contribution arrears or postpone payment deadlines for contributions relating to earlier periods.
Can contributions paid during suspension be claimed for tax purposes?
Yes, provided they meet the conditions applicable to the particular contribution and tax regime. Paying contributions during suspension does not, by itself, prevent you from claiming contributions due for an earlier period.
However, social insurance and health insurance contributions must be considered separately.
Social insurance contributions
Under the progressive tax scale and the flat income tax regime, your own social insurance contributions that have been paid may generally either:
- Be recognised as tax deductible business expenses, or
- Be deducted from income.
The same contribution cannot be claimed twice.
Under the lump sum tax on recorded revenue regime, known in Poland as ryczałt, social insurance contributions may reduce taxable revenue under the rules applicable to that regime. They are not recorded as tax deductible business expenses.
The legal basis includes Article 26(1)(2), Article 30c(2) and Article 23(1)(55a) of the Polish Personal Income Tax Act, together with Article 11(1) of the Polish Act on Lump Sum Income Tax on Certain Revenues Earned by Individuals.
Health insurance contributions
The tax treatment depends on your tax regime:
- Progressive tax scale: the contribution is not a tax deductible expense and cannot be deducted from income or tax.
- Flat income tax: the contribution may be recognised as an expense or deducted from income, subject to a combined annual limit.
- Lump sum tax on recorded revenue:50% of contributions paid may be deducted from revenue, provided the statutory conditions are met.
For 2026, the limit under the flat income tax regime is PLN 14,100. This is the combined limit for health insurance contributions recognised as expenses and deducted from income. It applies to the entire year and is not an additional allowance available after suspending your business.
The legal basis is Article 23(1)(58) and Article 30c(2)(2) of the Polish Personal Income Tax Act, together with Article 11(1a) of the Polish Act on Lump Sum Income Tax on Certain Revenues Earned by Individuals.
Example
Monika pays flat income tax on her business income. She suspended her business from 1 November and, on 20 November, paid the following contributions due for October:
- PLN 1,600 in social insurance contributions.
- PLN 500 in health insurance contributions.
These amounts are illustrative.
If she treats social insurance contributions as business expenses, she may include the PLN 1,600 paid in her tax deductible expenses. She may also recognise the health insurance contribution as an expense, provided she has at least PLN 500 of her annual limit remaining.
PLN 1,600 + PLN 500 = PLN 2,100 in tax deductible expenses.
This does not mean she will receive a PLN 2,100 tax refund. It is an amount that affects her taxable income or tax loss. The final outcome depends on her overall annual tax calculation.
What happens to your right to healthcare during suspension?
Savings on contributions should be considered alongside the effect on insurance coverage.
As a general rule, entitlement to publicly funded healthcare expires 30 days after compulsory health insurance coverage ends, unless entitlement continues on another basis.
The legal basis is Article 67(4) of the Polish Act on Healthcare Services Financed from Public Funds.
Before taking a longer break, you should establish whether you can obtain coverage, for example through employment, as an insured family member or through voluntary insurance with NFZ, Poland’s National Health Fund.
Example
Katarzyna’s sole proprietorship was her only basis for insurance coverage. After suspending it, she has no employment or other basis for coverage. Her husband is employed.
If she meets the conditions for registration as a family member, her husband may arrange for her to be registered for health insurance through his employer. This does not happen automatically.
You should also consider any family members who were previously covered through your business insurance.
Does suspension extend start up relief or preferential ZUS contributions?
No. Suspension does not pause the period of start up relief, known as ulga na start, or the period of preferential social insurance contributions.
You may therefore spend several months without operating your business while still using up part of the period during which you would otherwise be entitled to relief.
These rules follow from Article 18(1) of the Polish Entrepreneurs’ Law Act and Article 18a(1) of the Polish Social Insurance System Act.
What other expenses can be claimed?
Suspension does not prevent you from recognising expenses incurred to preserve or safeguard your source of revenue. However, you must demonstrate their connection with the business and take account of statutory exclusions.
The legal basis is Article 22(1) of the Polish Personal Income Tax Act.
For individual expenses, consider the following:
- Rent for business premises: whether retaining the premises during the break is commercially justified.
- Lease instalments: the contract terms, the intended use of the leased asset and the applicable tax limits.
- Domain registration and hosting: whether the expense maintains the website and the business’s online address.
- Bank charges: the account’s connection with settling transactions relating to earlier business activities.
- Property insurance: whether the policy protects business assets.
- Necessary repairs: whether they prevent damage to or loss of assets.
- Accounting services: the scope of work connected with recordkeeping and the business’s obligations.
Example
Michał suspended his workshop for the winter. He continues to rent the premises where he stores his machinery. Terminating the lease would require expensive transport and finding secure storage.
The rent may be justified as an expense incurred to preserve the business. However, the circumstances must be documented. The fact that the contract was signed before suspension does not, by itself, determine the tax treatment of every payment.
Should invoices be recorded only after the business resumes?
You should not set documents aside until your business resumes.
If business transactions occur during suspension, they must be recorded in accordance with the rules applicable to your accounting records. Under the ordinary expense recognition rules for the Polish tax revenue and expense ledger, known as KPiR, the invoice payment date is not necessarily the date on which an expense is recognised. For your own ZUS contributions, however, actual payment is relevant.
Recording documents and paying income tax advances are separate matters. Article 44(10) of the Polish Personal Income Tax Act provides an exemption from paying income tax advances in respect of the business for the suspension period, but it does not remove the obligation to maintain proper records.
Expense recognition rules are set out, among other provisions, in Article 22(4) and (6b) of that Act.
Example
A business is suspended from November 2026 until March 2027. Contributions for October were paid in November 2026.
Their tax treatment cannot simply be deferred to 2027 because that is when the business will resume. The rules applicable to the year of payment and the chosen method of claiming the contributions must be followed.
What happens to depreciation?
Assets that are not used because the business has been suspended are not eligible for tax depreciation from the month following the month in which suspension began.
This follows from Article 22c(5) of the Polish Personal Income Tax Act.
Example
An entrepreneur suspended their business on 15 November. A machine stopped being used as a result of the suspension.
The tax depreciation allowance for November may still be claimed, but depreciation must be suspended from December.
What obligations remain after the end of the year?
Suspension does not bring all reporting obligations to an end.
An entrepreneur taxed under the progressive tax scale, flat income tax or lump sum tax on recorded revenue must still submit the appropriate annual tax return. They should also check whether they are required to complete the annual health insurance contribution reconciliation.
If the business operated during the year and an annual reconciliation obligation arose, subsequent suspension does not remove it. The reconciliation may result in an additional contribution payable or an overpayment.
The legal bases are Article 45(1) and (1a)(2) of the Polish Personal Income Tax Act, Article 21(2)(2) of the Polish Act on Lump Sum Income Tax on Certain Revenues Earned by Individuals, and Article 81 of the Polish Act on Healthcare Services Financed from Public Funds.
What should you discuss with your accountant before suspension?
Before submitting your application, discuss:
- The suspension date and expected resumption date, as these affect contributions.
- The final ZUS contributions payable and how they will be treated for tax purposes.
- Entitlement to publicly funded healthcare for you and any registered family members.
- The remaining contribution relief period, if you are using such relief.
- Contracts and recurring expenses that will remain in place.
- Depreciation and lease agreements.
- How documents will be provided during suspension.
- Annual obligations, including the personal income tax return and health insurance contribution reconciliation.
A well planned suspension can help reduce expenses and keep your accounting and tax affairs in order. At MonTe, we help identify the obligations that remain during the break, explain which documents you should continue to provide and prepare you to resume your business.
Legal position as at 3 November 2026. This article primarily describes a typical sole proprietorship in Poland. Other grounds for insurance coverage, specific exemptions and accounting or tax methods may affect the rules presented.