How to begin your career as an IT contractor in Poland?

Setting up a business in Poland is possible for everyone, even in the absence of Polish citizenship. Are you an IT employee? Are you wondering how to embark on a career as an IT contractor? Regardless of whether you have already run your own business outside of Poland or are considering registering a business in Poland, this article will help you to begin your career as an IT contractor in Poland!

What criteria must be met?

Registering a business in Poland is fairly straightforward. The ease of this process means that many IT employees choose a B2B form of cooperation. Did you know, however, that you do not have to be a Polish citizen in order to set up such an activity.

The legislation distinguishes two groups of foreigners who can set up a business:

citizens of European Union countries and European Free Trade Association countries,
citizens of other countries.

Persons with the citizenship of a European Union country or a country covered by a free trade agreement may set up a business on the same terms as a Polish citizen. It is worth emphasizing that citizens of the United States and Switzerland may operate in Poland without restrictions following the conclusion of an international agreement.
In the case of foreigners from outside the EU or countries covered by a free trade agreement, they must meet at least one of the criteria before engaging in the company registration process:

be in possession of a residence permit,
have established a limited partnership, limited joint-stock partnership, limited liability, simple joint-stock company or joint-stock company in Poland,
have joined a limited partnership, limited joint-stock partnership, limited liability company, simple joint-stock company and joint-stock company, and/or acquired shares or stocks in these companies,
have established the branch of a foreign enterprise in Poland.

To set up a sole proprietorship, the first step is to complete and submit the CEIDG-1 application. For this you will need to apply for an obligatory PESEL number and/or residence card.

IT contractor in Poland: how to start your own business step by step

Submitting an application for entry onto the CEIDG-1 register entails no cost and is automatically combined with registration with ZUS (Social Contributions Institution. NIP and REGON numbers will be assigned once you have submitted this form, so you do not have to apply for them separately! It should also be remembered that within 7 days of the date of the commencement of your business activity, entrepreneurs must submit an application for social insurance to ZUS using the ZUS ZUA form.

Running a business outside of Poland, and IT Contracting

To embark on your career as an IT contractor in Poland, you do not need to run a sole proprietorship in the territory of the Republic of Poland. In your contractor’s cooperation with Devire, the only obstacle to concluding a B2B contract is your activity in an EU country, or potentially another country seen as so-called tax havens.

Do you want to learn more about the benefits of IT Contracting? Check out the following publications:

What should you remember when establishing cooperation with a recruitment or outsourcing agency?

Contractors are obliged to send a tax residence certificate confirming the country in which their income taxes are settled within 30 days of the date of the establishment of cooperation. The original certificate or a notarized copy and information on whether a given person is a VAT payer will be verified against the EU VIES database.

Invoices sent to Devire must be bilingual (Polish / English), but if required the contractor’s native language may also be on the invoice. If the invoice is issued in EUR or USD, the document must contain information about the conversion based on the exchange rate of the National Bank of Poland. When issuing an invoice, the contractor should pay attention to when the currency conversion rate was established. It must be the last business day preceding the date of the service.

How to begin your career as an IT contractor in Poland? What do you need to remember?

Before registering a host business in Poland, it is worth considering the benefits of choosing such a solution. If it is more advantageous for the contractor to operate in another country, it should be noted whether the recruitment and outsourcing agency offers the possibility of cooperation with foreigners living and operating outside Poland.

However, in the case of people living in Poland, it is worth looking at the income tax implications. The law clearly stipulates that when formally registering a business activity abroad, it will be necessary to pay taxes on this activity, provided that the contractor’s place of residence is Poland. Moreover, it is illegal to register a company in another country in order to reduce tax costs when performing business operations in Poland.

About the author

Aneta Stolarska-Rogala – HR & Administration Manager at Devire responsible for outsourcing personnel administration. He has over 7 years of experience in the area of personnel outsourcing and IT Contracting.

“How to begin your career as an IT contractor in Poland?” is another article in our series “IT Contracting – a modern form of cooperation”. Find out more about the opportunities offered by IT Contracting.