Ryczałt 2026 for a designer: standalone design work, advertising services and official PKWiU classification

How to separate and document standalone design services from advertising services under Poland's lump-sum tax on registered revenues, and how to obtain an official PKWiU classification when the rate is not obvious.

Preliminary note: there is no single lump-sum rate (“ryczałt”) attached to the occupation of graphic designer. Whether 15%, 14% or 8.5% applies depends on the type of service actually provided, and for service activity the correct rate is determined, as a rule, on the basis of the PKWiU symbol of that service. Below: the conditions of the Polish lump-sum tax on registered revenues (ryczałt od przychodów ewidencjonowanych), the rates that matter for design work, how to keep standalone design work separate from advertising services in your records, and how to obtain an official classification when a service description does not fit any listed item.

Conditions for choosing the regime and duties during the year

Declaration. You choose the lump-sum tax by filing a declaration with the competent head of the tax office or under the CEIDG rules — by the 20th day of the month following the month in which you earn your first revenue in the tax year, or by the end of the tax year if that first revenue falls in December (podatki.gov.pl).
Entry threshold. The regime is available if revenue from activity carried on alone, or the revenue of all partners of the company, in the year preceding the tax year did not exceed EUR 2,000,000. To convert the limits for 2026 the Ministry of Finance used the average euro rate of PLN 4.2586 announced by the National Bank of Poland for 1 October 2025 (rates and limits).
Duties during the year. You keep a revenue record and a schedule of fixed assets and intangible assets, and you pay the lump sum by the 20th day of each month for the previous month (for December — by 20 January) or quarterly by the 20th day of the month following the quarter.
Quarterly payments. Possible only if you are starting a business or your revenue (or the company's revenue) in the preceding year did not exceed the equivalent of EUR 200,000.
Tax base. Revenue is taxed; you do not reduce it by expenditure incurred to obtain it. Revenue includes, among other things, revenue from services performed, and where the sale is subject to VAT you reduce the revenue by the VAT due.
Watch out. Extending your business to include activities excluded from the lump-sum regime means you lose the right to this form of taxation.

Rates that may apply to design work

Rates depend on the type of business activity performed. The published list includes 17%, 15%, 14%, 12.5%, 12%, 10%, 8.5%, 5.5% and 3%. In the context of design work the Ministry of Finance material lists mainly:

| Rate | Scope named in the list | | --- | --- | | 15% | selected intangible services, including advertising services and photographic services | | 14% | among others architectural and engineering services and services in the field of specialised design | | 8.5% | service activity for which no other lump-sum rate is provided |

The correct rate for revenue from service activity is determined, as a rule, on the basis of the symbol of the Polish Classification of Goods and Services (PKWiU) of the given service. The list of rates has no separate “graphic design” item — so you cannot assume in advance that all of a designer's work falls under one rate.

Design work versus advertising services in your records

If revenue from your business is taxed at different rates, you calculate the lump sum at the rate proper to the revenue from each type of activity, and you keep the revenue record in a way that makes it possible to identify revenue from each type of activity. In practice this means separating, in the records, revenue from developing a visual identity from revenue from running advertising campaigns — each entry with a short description of the scope.

Build the service description from the same elements the Centre of Classification and Nomenclature (OKN) requires in a PKWiU classification application: what the service consists of and covers, on whose order and under which contract it is provided, and who owns the input material. If you provide a composite service — for example a design together with its implementation and campaign handling — indicate the activity that gives it its essential character. A classification and description is prepared for one service; several services are not combined in one description or in one application.

When you are unsure: official classification

Applications for PKWiU 2015 classification for purposes other than VAT and customs (for example for income tax purposes) go to the Centre of Classification and Nomenclature of the Statistical Office in Łódź, ul. Suwalska 29, 93-176 Łódź.
Applications for a binding rate information (WIS) for VAT and for binding excise, tariff and origin information form a separate category — the GUS page points to a dedicated link for details (gov.pl/web/kis).
Before applying you can look up the group yourself in the GUS classification search engine (PKD, PKWiU, KŚT, PKOB).
The form covers one classification and one activity or service; further questions require separate forms.
The legal basis of the procedure is the Act of 29 June 1995 on public statistics (Journal of Laws of 2024, item 1799).

Annual settlement

You file the annual return on form PIT-28 or PIT-28S with the relevant attachments, between 15 February and 30 April of the year following the tax year. You may file electronically (Twój e-PIT, the e-US mobile application, e-Deklaracje) or on paper.

Disclaimer

Informational material, not tax advice. Check the rates and limits for the year you are settling, and determine your service classification individually.