Revenue limit for ryczałt in 2026: how to check PLN 8,517,200

Revenue limit for ryczałt in 2026

For an entrepreneur continuing an existing business, the upper limit on 2025 revenue for meeting the revenue criterion for ryczałt tax on recorded revenue in 2026 is EUR 2,000,000, equivalent to PLN 8,517,200. The Ministry of Finance gives this amount in its official PIT rates and limits listing.

The limit includes revenue of exactly PLN 8,517,200. The statutory wording “not exceeding” means that only a higher amount fails the test. Passing this test does not, however, establish eligibility for ryczałt: a valid election of this tax regime and the other conditions and exclusions must still be checked.

Which year and which business activity to check

When assessing ryczałt eligibility in 2026 for a continuing business, check revenue earned in 2025, the year preceding the tax year. The legal basis is Article 6(4) of the Act on Lump-Sum Income Tax.

First establish whether, in the preceding year, the business was operated exclusively as a sole proprietorship, exclusively through a partnership covered by these provisions, or through both forms simultaneously. This determines which revenue must be compared with the limit.

PLN 8,517,200 applies to 2025 revenue and the test for 2026. Do not automatically use it to assess ryczałt eligibility in 2027. For the following year, check the official limit applicable to that year.

Business operated exclusively as a sole proprietorship

If the business was operated exclusively as a sole proprietorship in 2025, compare revenue from that business with the limit. This follows from Article 6(4)(1)(a).

The following examples are entirely hypothetical. The amounts represent revenue relevant to the statutory test, calculated in accordance with the applicable rules, rather than a complete assessment of ryczałt eligibility.

• Example — exactly at the boundary: revenue from the sole proprietorship for 2025 was PLN 8,517,200. The revenue test for 2026 is satisfied. The other conditions and exclusions still need to be checked.
• Example — one grosz above the boundary: revenue from the sole proprietorship for 2025 was PLN 8,517,200.01. The continuing business fails the revenue test for 2026.

Business operated exclusively through a partnership

For a business operated exclusively through a partnership covered by the ryczałt provisions, Article 6(4)(1)(b) applies the limit to the aggregate revenue of the partnership’s partners from that business. Checking only the revenue attributed to one partner is not sufficient.

• Hypothetical example — partnership at the boundary: the partners’ aggregate revenue from the partnership’s business for 2025 was PLN 8,517,200. The revenue test for 2026 is satisfied; this does not determine whether the other conditions are met.
• Hypothetical example — a partner’s share does not reduce the aggregate: the partners’ aggregate revenue for 2025 was PLN 9,000,000, and one partner has a 20% share in profits. For this test, the comparison with the limit is not restricted to 20% of the revenue. The aggregate exceeds the limit for 2026.

A sole proprietorship and a partnership interest at the same time

If the taxpayer operated both a sole proprietorship and a business through a partnership in 2025, Article 6(5) provides for separate checks of the condition:

• for the sole proprietorship — based on its revenue;
• for the partnership’s business — based on the partners’ aggregate revenue from that business.

This is not a single test that adds sole-proprietorship revenue to the taxpayer’s personal share of partnership revenue. Meeting the condition for one form does not compensate for failing it for the other.

Hypothetical example — different results: sole-proprietorship revenue for 2025 was PLN 8,400,000, while the partners’ aggregate revenue from the partnership’s business was PLN 8,600,000. The revenue test for 2026 is satisfied for the sole proprietorship but not for the partnership’s business. This does not yet mean that the sole proprietorship meets all the other ryczałt conditions.

Genuinely starting a business in 2026

A separate branch of Article 6(4)(2) applies to a taxpayer starting a business in the tax year who does not use tax-card taxation (karta podatkowa). Under this branch, the amount of revenue is not a restriction in the year the business starts. This does not remove the requirement to make a valid ryczałt election or the other exclusions.

This rule must be read together with Article 7. Paragraph 1 concerns taxpayers starting a business who did not operate a business in the preceding tax year: ryczałt applies from the date the first revenue is earned. For a newly formed partnership, the start date is the date on which the partnership earns its first revenue.

The following do not constitute starting a business:

• a complete or partial change of industry or business activity;
• a change to the partnership agreement or a change of partner;
• the creation of an enterprise in succession (przedsiębiorstwo w spadku).

Hypothetical example — a new sole proprietorship: a person did not operate a business in 2025, starts a sole proprietorship in 2026 and does not use tax-card taxation. If the person makes a valid ryczałt election and no other disqualifying conditions apply, the new-business branch applies, without a revenue ceiling in the year the business starts.

Hypothetical example — merely changing industry: an entrepreneur operated a business in 2025 and completely changed its activity in 2026. A change of industry alone does not allow the preceding-year revenue test to be replaced by the rule for taxpayers starting a business.

The special case following tax-card taxation

Article 6(6) covers taxpayers who operated a business as a sole proprietorship or through a partnership in the preceding year, with revenue taxed:

• exclusively under tax-card taxation; or
• under tax-card taxation for part of the year and under the general income-tax rules for part of the year.

The condition is that total revenue for the preceding year did not exceed EUR 2,000,000. For the 2026 test, this is equivalent to PLN 8,517,200. In this case, revenue for the tax-card period must be calculated exclusively on the basis of issued invoices or bills. Paragraphs 4 and 5 also apply accordingly, including the relevant rules for sole proprietorships and partnerships. The other ryczałt conditions continue to apply.

What Article 6(7)–(8) adds

Article 6(7) requires the tests in paragraphs 4 and 5 to be applied accordingly to the revenue specified in paragraph 1d. This also covers revenue earned through joint ownership, joint possession, joint use of crops, breeding or animal rearing, or a joint undertaking.

Article 6(8), in turn, identifies specific amounts that are disregarded when calculating the limit under paragraphs 4–6. These are increases or decreases:

• in revenue under Article 11(4), (5), (8) and (9) of the ryczałt Act;
• in the tax calculation base under Article 26i of the PIT Act.

This is not a rule allowing all revenue adjustments to be disregarded. When preparing the calculation, it is useful to identify separately the amounts covered by this specific provision.

Do not confuse three different limits

The official Ministry of Finance listing distinguishes the following limits for 2026:

• Annual revenue test for ryczałt eligibility: 2025 revenue of up to EUR 2,000,000, equivalent to PLN 8,517,200.
• Revenue limit allowing quarterly ryczałt settlement: EUR 200,000 for 2025, equivalent to PLN 851,720. This concerns settlement frequency, not annual ryczałt eligibility itself.
• Small-taxpayer limit for one-off depreciation and quarterly advance payments: EUR 2,000,000, but rounded to the nearest PLN 1,000 — PLN 8,517,000.

The same amount in euros does not mean the same test or an identical amount in złoty. Do not substitute the PLN 8,517,000 small-taxpayer threshold for the PLN 8,517,200 ryczałt eligibility limit.

Does exceeding the ceiling during 2026 mean immediate loss of ryczałt eligibility

Not on the basis of the test in Article 6(4)(1) alone. That test concerns revenue from the preceding year. Merely exceeding the ceiling with revenue earned during 2026 is not, under this provision, an event that automatically and immediately removes ryczałt eligibility in 2026.

Revenue earned in 2026 will be relevant when assessing the revenue criterion for the following year. That assessment must use the limit applicable to 2027, rather than automatically using PLN 8,517,200.

This does not protect against losing ryczałt eligibility for other reasons. Article 8 of the Act provides for separate exclusions and events causing loss of eligibility.

Meeting the limit is not enough

The Ministry of Finance states that taxing business revenue under ryczałt requires an election of this tax regime. The result of a revenue comparison does not itself make that election. Information is available on the official page Taxation under ryczałt on recorded revenue.

For business activity, the exclusions in Article 8 must also be checked. They include, among others:

• paying tax under tax-card taxation;
• benefiting from a temporary income-tax exemption under separate provisions;
• earning even part of revenue from operating pharmacies, buying and selling foreign-exchange assets, or trading in parts and accessories for motor vehicles;
• manufacturing products subject to excise duty, except generating electricity from renewable energy sources;
• specified changes in business activity: from a sole proprietorship to a partnership with a spouse, from a partnership with a spouse to a sole proprietorship operated by one or each spouse, or from one spouse’s sole proprietorship to the other spouse’s sole proprietorship — if, before the change, the spouse or spouses paid tax on that business under the general income-tax rules.

Article 8(2) establishes a separate disqualifying condition. A taxpayer who has elected ryczałt and operates a business as a sole proprietorship or through a partnership loses eligibility for this regime from the date revenue is earned from selling trading goods or products, or providing services, to a former or current employer, if these correspond to duties performed by the taxpayer or at least one partner under an employment relationship or a cooperative employment relationship in the preceding or current tax year. From that date until the end of the year, the general income-tax rules apply.

Article 8(3) also provides for loss of eligibility from the date revenue is earned from the types of activity specified in paragraph 1, points 3 and 4, if the taxpayer did not earn such revenue in the preceding year. These events must not be confused with exceeding the annual revenue ceiling.

Document checklist

The following list is an organizational recommendation, not an exhaustive statutory list of documents. Prepare the following, as relevant to your situation:

• an annual statement of business revenue for 2025 and the revenue records or accounting books supporting it;
• the annual tax return, if one was filed, and a reconciliation of its figures with the revenue-limit calculation;
• invoices, bills and adjustment documents needed to substantiate revenue;
• a separate summary of amounts covered by Article 6(8), which are disregarded when calculating the limit;
• for a partnership interest — information substantiating the partners’ full aggregate revenue from the partnership’s business, the partnership agreement and information about participation in the partnership;
• for a sole proprietorship and partnership operated simultaneously — two separate calculations for the separate tests;
• following tax-card taxation — issued invoices and bills on which the calculation of revenue for the tax-card period is based under Article 6(6);
• when relying on the new-business branch — documents substantiating the start of business and the absence of business activity in the preceding year;
• documents enabling verification of a valid ryczałt election;
• a description of the activities actually performed, contracts and documents needed to assess exclusions, especially dealings with a former or current employer.

If the result is close to PLN 8,517,200, it is useful to reconcile revenue with the underlying records down to the last grosz and document how each adjustment has been treated. The result of this comparison determines only whether the revenue criterion is met — not which tax regime is most advantageous for a particular person. This article is not a guide to ryczałt tax rates.