You’ve found a great specialist in Poland. The CV is strong, the interview went well, and both sides want to work together. All that’s left is to sign the contract - and this is where the questions begin, questions that most foreign companies aren’t prepared for.
Which form of employment should you choose? Do you need to register a company in Poland? Who pays the social security (ZUS) contributions? Which tax returns must be filed, when and with which authorities? Is a single B2B contract with a Polish contractor enough?
None of these answers is simple. Poland has its own detailed legal and tax system, which requires specific actions from a foreign employer - regardless of whether it intends to open a branch here, set up a company, or hire directly from abroad.
This article breaks the subject down into its individual elements.
Three ways into the market. Each with its own set of obligations.
A foreign company that wants to hire an employee in Poland has three paths to choose from:
Limited liability company - sp. z o.o. (subsidiary) - a fully fledged Polish company with share capital starting at PLN 5,000. It has legal personality, its own management board, a tax identification number (NIP), a bank account and reporting obligations. Ideal when the company plans long-term, active commercial operations in Poland. It requires a notarial deed, registration in the National Court Register (KRS), and notification to the Central Register of Beneficial Owners (CRBR) within 14 business days.
Branch of a foreign enterprise - has no legal personality, but is formally registered in the KRS. It may operate only within the scope of the foreign company’s business activities. It requires appointing a representative in Poland and keeping separate accounting records in Polish. A branch is not the same as a permanent establishment for tax purposes - although both can exist at the same time.
Direct employment (without registering a company) - the foreign company, as the employer, enters into an employment contract or a contract of mandate with a Polish employee. Formally simpler at the outset, but it generates the full range of obligations of a contribution payer in Poland: registration with ZUS, monthly declarations, payroll and PIT forms. It is also possible to transfer the contribution payer’s obligation to the employee, but the company remains liable for debts to ZUS if the employee fails to pay.
What Poland expects of you (and where most companies get it wrong)
Regardless of the form you choose - if you employ someone in Poland, you face a set of obligations that is easy to underestimate at the planning stage.
Registration and identification. Even before hiring your first employee, you must obtain a Polish tax identification number (NIP) and submit the appropriate registration form (NIP-2 or NIP-8). If you plan to be a ZUS contribution payer, you have 7 days from the date of employment to register. Not weeks, not months. Seven days.
ZUS and insurance. Every employee must be registered for social security and health insurance (form ZUS ZUA). Each month, a DRA declaration with a detailed breakdown of contributions must be submitted electronically. The deadlines are strict - by the 15th of the following month. Changes and employee deregistrations must also be reported to ZUS, and the ZUS PŁATNIK system requires its own database.
Payroll and employee taxes. Calculating monthly pay is not just a bank transfer - it means calculating ZUS contributions on both the employee’s and the employer’s side, PIT advance payments, PPK (Employee Capital Plans) contributions, and sick pay. At year-end: a PIT-11 for each employee separately, the annual PIT-4R declaration, and PPK documentation.
HR documentation. Personnel files kept in accordance with the Labour Code, leave records, monitoring of deadlines for medical examinations and occupational health and safety (BHP) training, certificates of employment when employment ends - this is routine work with strict formal requirements.
Accounting and corporate taxes. A company or branch must keep full accounting records in Polish. The annual CIT-8 return, monthly or quarterly VAT returns in the JPK (SAF-T) format, reporting to the Statistical Office and - at a sufficient scale of transactions - to the National Bank of Poland.
This is not a list designed to scare you. It is the actual scope of obligations that falls on a foreign company choosing to operate independently.
The B2B trap: why “let’s just invoice each other” is not a plan
Many companies from Western Europe and Scandinavia start with a B2B contract with a Polish freelancer or entrepreneur. Simple, flexible, no bureaucratic headaches.
The problem is that the Polish tax authorities may determine that a regular B2B contractor represents the foreign company in Poland - and, on that basis, classify the company as having a permanent establishment in Poland. The consequence: an obligation to pay CIT in Poland on the business activities associated with that contractor.
This is not a theoretical scenario. A single long-term B2B relationship with a person who actually acts on behalf of the company rather than as an independent entity is enough to open this discussion with the tax office. And that discussion is usually not cheap.
What makes sense if you don’t plan to build Polish infrastructure
Setting up a company in Poland is an investment - in time, in legal and accounting resources, in management. It makes sense when the company plans active sales here, a larger team, a long-term presence.
If the goal is to hire one, three or five people - and to focus on the work rather than the administration - a sensible alternative is the Employer of Record (EOR) model in Poland / HR outsourcing. This means working with a local company that is formally the employer and handles the full range of obligations towards ZUS and the tax office and under labour law, while the foreign company manages the employees operationally.
No company registration. No ZUS declarations of your own. No permanent establishment risk. Employees have Polish contracts and full insurance coverage, all in accordance with the law.
For companies that want to hire talent in Poland quickly and legally - without building their own HR and payroll back office from scratch - it is simply the cheaper and faster solution.
Entering the Polish market is a good business decision. Poland has one of the strongest markets for skilled professionals in the CEE region, attractive operating costs and a large pool of qualified people in finance, IT and operations.
The question worth asking yourself before you start recruiting: do you want to run a company here too - with everything that entails - or do you want to employ people here?
These are two different projects. And they call for two different approaches.
Pomerico supports foreign companies in hiring employees in Poland legally and efficiently - without the need to set up their own structure. If you’re considering expansion, we’d be happy to tell you what it looks like in practice.
