Suspended sole proprietorship under ryczałt: tax payments and annual PIT-28

How formal suspension of a sole proprietorship affects ryczałt payments, revenue from permitted acts and annual PIT-28 reporting. Conditions and examples.

Formal suspension of a sole proprietorship (JDG) does not automatically mean that every event during that period is tax-free or that no annual PIT-28 return is required. Three issues must be considered separately: permitted acts during suspension, recognition of revenue for tax purposes and the deadline for paying ryczałt, and the obligation to file the annual return.

The examples below assume a legally effective suspension under the applicable provisions and continued status as a ryczałt taxpayer. They do not determine the revenue-recognition date solely from receipt of money.

Suspension is not closure of the business

Suspension and subsequent resumption are separate events provided for in the Entrepreneurs’ Law. They must not be equated with permanent termination of the business. Article 26 separately establishes the consequence of removing an individual entrepreneur from the register: from that moment, the entrepreneur may not conduct business activity. This distinction is grounded in Articles 22–26 of the Entrepreneurs’ Law.

During suspension, an entrepreneur may not conduct business activity or earn current revenue from non-agricultural business activity. Article 25 nevertheless provides specific rights and duties:

The entrepreneur may collect receivables that arose before the suspension date.
The entrepreneur must settle liabilities that arose before the suspension date. This is not merely permission, nor does it mean that suspension itself makes all such liabilities immediately payable.
The entrepreneur may perform acts necessary to preserve or secure the source of revenue, including terminating contracts entered into previously.
The entrepreneur may dispose of their own fixed assets and equipment.
The entrepreneur may earn financial revenue, including revenue from activity conducted before suspension.
The entrepreneur must perform all duties imposed by law.

These are selected rules from Article 25 of the Entrepreneurs’ Law, not permission to continue ordinary sales during suspension.

If you are considering permanent termination rather than suspension, see the separate guide: how to close a sole proprietorship step by step. This is a contextual link, not evidence for the tax rules explained here.

Receiving money does not establish new revenue

Permission to collect an earlier receivable does not mean that new taxable revenue always arises on the payment date. Article 6(1) of the ryczałt statute refers to revenue defined in the PIT Act; paragraph 1g also permits election of the cash method under the conditions in the referenced PIT Act provision.

Before assigning a receipt to the suspension period, the revenue-recognition rules applicable to the taxpayer and the facts concerning the receivable must therefore be checked. A bank transfer alone is insufficient. This distinction is grounded in Article 6 of the Act on Lump-Sum Income Tax.

Example: payment of an old invoice

During suspension, an entrepreneur receives payment for a service performed before suspension began. Assume, as a separately verified fact, that the revenue from this receivable was already recognized before suspension and that no event requires a correction or increase in the tax calculation. The later payment does not recognize the same revenue again.

If, instead, checking the applicable provisions and facts establishes that taxable revenue was recognized only during suspension, the payment deadline for the corresponding ryczałt must be determined under Article 21(1g)–(1k). In both scenarios, revenue recognition is a verified assumption, not a conclusion drawn solely from receipt of money.

Ryczałt applies to revenue, not net income or profit

Under ryczałt, revenue is not reduced by ordinary expenses incurred to earn it. This is not taxation of profit after expenses. That does not exclude separate deductions provided for by statute.

Both of the following categories are excluded when calculating the tax:

revenue exempt from taxation,
revenue for which tax collection has been waived.

Both exclusions are stated in the official Ministry of Finance guidance on reporting revenue taxed under ryczałt. The absence of ordinary sales therefore does not establish that no tax is due: permitted acts and their tax consequences must also be checked.

What Article 21(1d) provides exactly

A taxpayer who suspended business activity under the provisions governing suspension is relieved — in relation to that business and for the period covered by suspension — from the monthly or quarterly duties to calculate and pay ryczałt under Article 21(1) or (1a).

This does not exempt all revenue of that period from tax. Ryczałt attributable to the suspension period must be calculated and paid under the special rules in paragraphs 1g–1k. Nor should this relief from ongoing duties be equated with postponement of the payment deadline for an amount already overdue before suspension.

Example of an earlier overdue amount: assume that the payment deadline for ryczałt attributable to a period before suspension has already expired and the tax remains unpaid. Subsequent suspension does not turn that amount into ryczałt for the suspension period or move it to the payment deadlines following resumption.

The authority is Article 21(1), (1a), (1d) and (1g)–(1k) of the ryczałt statute.

Resumption in the same year: when to calculate and pay tax

For ryczałt attributable to the suspension period in a given year, Article 21(1g)–(1h) provides the following rules:

Monthly taxpayer: must calculate and pay ryczałt by the 20th day of the month following the month of resumption.
Quarterly taxpayer applying Article 21(1a): must calculate and pay ryczałt by the 20th day of the month following the quarter of resumption.
Resumption in the final month of the tax year: the statutory deadline is 20 January of the following tax year.
Quarterly taxpayer resuming in the final quarter of the tax year: must likewise calculate and pay ryczałt by 20 January of the following tax year.

Resumption in the final quarter does not give every monthly taxpayer that deadline. For monthly settlement and resumption in October or November, the rule is the 20th day of the following month; the January deadline applies to resumption in December. Source: Article 21(1g)–(1h).

Example: sale of the entrepreneur’s own fixed asset during suspension

Assume that an entrepreneur sold their own fixed asset during suspension. Assume, as verified facts, that revenue from the sale was recognized during suspension and is taxable under ryczałt — it is neither exempt nor covered by a waiver of tax collection.

If the business is resumed in November of the same year:

a monthly taxpayer must calculate and pay ryczałt under the statutory rule: by the 20th day of the month following the month of resumption;
a quarterly taxpayer applying Article 21(1a) must do so by 20 January of the following tax year, because resumption occurred in the final quarter.

This example illustrates the distinction between monthly and quarterly taxpayers. It does not establish a specific, calendar-adjusted deadline for a particular year.

Suspension covering more than one year

The deadlines also depend on the year of resumption. Article 21(1i)–(1k) treats the individual years of suspension separately:

Resumption in the year following the year in which suspension began — paragraph 1i: ryczałt attributable to the portion of suspension falling in the suspension-start year must be calculated and paid by 20 January of the following tax year. The portion falling in the resumption year is governed by paragraphs 1g–1h.
Resumption in the year falling two years after the suspension-start year — paragraph 1j: ryczałt for the suspension-start year and the next year must be calculated and paid, for each of those years, by 20 January of the following tax year. The portion falling in the resumption year is governed by paragraphs 1g–1h.
Still later resumption — paragraph 1k: paragraphs 1g–1j apply correspondingly.

In each case, the distinction must be retained for the portion falling in the resumption year: a monthly taxpayer applies the deadline following the month of resumption, and a quarterly taxpayer the deadline following the quarter of resumption. The 20 January deadline applies to resumption in the final month of the year and also to a quarterly taxpayer resuming in the final quarter; it does not apply to a monthly taxpayer merely because the business was resumed in October or November.

Example: suspension from 2026, resumption in May 2027

Assume that suspension began in September 2026 and the business was resumed in May 2027. A separate verification established that taxable revenue was recognized in both portions of the suspension period.

For the portion falling in 2026, the statutory payment rule is 20 January of the following tax year.
For the portion falling in 2027, a monthly taxpayer must calculate and pay ryczałt by the 20th day of the month following the month of resumption.
A quarterly taxpayer applying Article 21(1a) must calculate and pay that portion by the 20th day of the month following the second quarter, in which resumption occurred.

These are statutory formulas. The example does not present the nominal 20th day as a verified final calendar deadline or introduce an undocumented rule for adjusting deadlines.

PIT-28: the annual return is a separate obligation

Relief from ongoing duties for the suspension period does not remove the annual filing obligation under Article 21(2)(2). A person who remains a ryczałt taxpayer must file PIT-28 for the relevant year within the statutory filing period from 15 February through 30 April of the following year. A return submitted before that period begins is treated as filed on 15 February.

The authority is Article 21(2)(2) of the statute and the Ministry of Finance guidance.

The Ministry of Finance also explains that amounts of ryczałt due for individual months or quarters must be shown in PIT-28 even if they were not paid during the year. The filing deadline therefore does not replace the payment deadlines for the suspension period, and the payment rules following resumption do not postpone the annual reporting obligation.

Example: an entire year without taxable revenue

Assume all of the following concerning the entrepreneur:

the business remained formally suspended throughout the year;
the entrepreneur remained a ryczałt taxpayer;
no taxable business revenue was recognized, including from permitted acts;
there was no other revenue covered by this return;
no corrections, increases, additions or other events created ryczałt due.

Under these circumstances, PIT-28 must still be filed, but taxable revenue and ryczałt due are zero. The conclusion depends on all these assumptions, not merely on the absence of ordinary sales. It does not determine eligibility for joint or preferential taxation, which has separate conditions.

Special rule for a partner in a general partnership

Article 21(1e) covers an individual taxpayer who is a partner in a general partnership (spółka jawna), if the partnership itself suspended business activity under the provisions governing suspension. Relief from ongoing duties applies to that business and the suspension period.

Article 21(1f) requires precisely the taxpayers identified in paragraph 1e to report the suspension period in the tax year in their annual return. This special duty must not automatically be attributed to every person independently operating a sole proprietorship. The general annual filing obligation remains a separate matter. Source: Article 21(1e)–(1f) and (2)(2).

Checklist before settlement

As an organizational recommendation, check:

The formal suspension period and resumption date.
Whether the event fell within acts permitted during suspension.
Whether and when revenue was recognized for tax purposes — independently of the payment date alone.
Whether the revenue was taxable, exempt or covered by a waiver of tax collection.
Whether the amount relates to the suspension period or an earlier liability whose payment deadline has already expired.
Monthly or quarterly settlement and the applicable year, month or quarter of resumption.
Amounts to report in annual PIT-28, including amounts not paid during the year.

General information about the form is available in the separate guide: PIT-28 and ryczałt in 2026. This link is for navigation; the rules presented in this article are supported by the official materials below.