What are the costs of starting a company and running a business?

Running your own business in Poland can be rewarding and give you a lot of independence, but it comes with specific costs that need to be taken into account when planning your business. Although setting up a business – especially a sole proprietorship – can be inexpensive, running a business on a daily basis generates fixed costs that many start-up entrepreneurs are unaware of. Social security contributions, accounting costs, rent, possible administrative fees, and taxes—all of this adds up to a monthly burden that the company must bear regardless of its revenue.

In this article, we present the costs you need to take into account at the start and during the course of your business, what you can legally include in your tax-deductible expenses, and how to optimize your expenses, including by registering your company in a virtual office. If you are planning to start a business and want to realistically assess how much it will cost, this guide will help you avoid financial surprises.

BUSINESS COSTS

There are many factors that affect the cost of running a business, including those that depend on the industry in which you want to operate it. There are also the costs of setting up such a business, which depend on the legal form in which the company will operate. And finally, there are the fixed costs resulting from the very fact of running a business.

It is impossible to discuss in a short text the differences in business costs depending on the industry. For that you would have to be a specialist in a particular field, and a book could be written on any industry. It makes no sense, especially since the law in Poland can be changed overnight.

START-UP COSTS - BASIC FEES

Let's start by answering the question of what the costs of setting up a business are. A sole proprietorship can be set up at almost no cost, and, as some claim, even in a single day.

Bardziej zaawansowana forma działalności, czyli spółka z ograniczona odpowiedzialnością wymaga już trochę nakładów. Rejestracja spółki wymaga kapitału zakładowego w wysokości minimum pięciu tysięcy złotych. Szerzej omawiamy wady i zalety założenia spółki z o.o. w osobnym poradniku. Dodam, że kapitał zakładowy to nie są pieniądze, które muszą leżeć na jakimś koncie. Po powołaniu spółki można nimi obracać.

The second expense that is better to incur in order to avoid unpleasant surprises later on is a notary. With the help of a professional, you can be sure that the formal start of your business has been carried out in accordance with the law.

Starting a business requires a specific address where it will be registered. This requires premises to which the person registering the company has the right. It does not have to be their own premises. It can be rented, but the owner must give their consent.

It is impossible to calculate in advance how much it costs to own a business. Among other things, it depends on what industry and scale is involved. It may turn out that some administrative and tax fees or permits and licenses are necessary. For example, if you exceed a certain sales value, it becomes necessary to register for VAT, which means a stamp duty of 170 zlotys.

TOTAL START-UP COSTS - MANDATORY ZUS CONTRIBUTIONS

The cost of maintaining a company in Poland is seriously increased by ZUS premiums. The premiums have to be paid regardless of whether the company is doing something, making money or not. These are fixed costs of maintaining a company. That is, lawmakers don't care where you get the money to pay the ZUS costs.

Social security contribution rates increased in 2024 and again in 2025. The minimum social security contribution depends on the average salary in the national economy. The average salary for 2025 is forecast to be PLN 8,673. According to the law, 60% of this amount is the basis for calculating social security contributions for companies. In 2025, this amounts to PLN 5,203.80. This gives the following minimum contributions:

• pension – 19.52% of the calculation basis – PLN 1,015.78;

• pension – 8% of the assessment basis – PLN 416.30;

• accident – 1.67% of the assessment basis – (the contribution amount varies depending on the degree of risk and the number of insured persons);

• sick pay (voluntary) – 2.45% of the assessment basis – PLN 127.49;

• Labor Fund – 2.45% of the assessment basis – PLN 127.49.

In total, basic social security costs (excluding health insurance contributions, including voluntary sickness insurance contributions) will amount to PLN 1,773.96 per month in 2025.

A maximum social security contribution rate is also envisaged. It was introduced because, in theory, an entrepreneur could want to pay an unimaginably high social security contribution and then demand exorbitant benefits from the state. The monthly contribution base cannot exceed 250% of the projected average salary in the economy. The annual contribution base for pension and disability insurance in 2025 cannot exceed PLN 260,190.

There is also preferential social security (ZUS). This benefit is available to people planning to start a business who have not run a business for the last 60 calendar months. The basis for calculating social security contributions for these people in 2025 cannot be lower than PLN 1,399.80 (30% of the minimum wage).

Neither can those who plan to set up a sole proprietorship in order to perform the same duties for the company in which they worked as a full-time employee count on preferential Social Security.

Preferential Social Security contributions are, like full Social Security contributions, calculated on the basis of projected earnings in the economy.

ACCOUNTING COSTS

When running a business, it is also necessary to have accounting services. You can have online accounting for a few dozen zlotys a month. There are offers where the accounting costs are zero zlotys. But of course, nothing is free. Such companies charge fees for other types of services that are inseparable from accounting services.

Entrusting bookkeeping to an individually selected office, you have to pay more than in a network. However, experience teaches that sometimes it is better to pay more for accounting and have individualized services. The owner of one company, while shopping in the market, was asked by his wife to buy sanitary pads. He took one from the shelf, threw it in the cart and forgot it. The tax office sent an inquiry as to what the sanitary pads were doing on the VAT invoice. The conscious accountant wrote an explanation that there was antique furniture in the office, and the sanitary pads were best for polishing it.

Of course, accounting services can be included in business expenses and deducted from income tax.

COST OF RENTING THE PREMISES

The ongoing costs of running a business are further increased by the necessary expense of renting premises in many cases. Of course, you can register in your apartment, but this is a poor idea, for many reasons.

So, you need to find and rent suitable premises. Assuming that 10 square meters is enough for a small office business, in Warsaw you have to pay from 1000 zlotys upwards. In Lublin it is about half as cheap.

THE COST OF RUNNING A BUSINESS COMPARED TO A FULL-TIME JOB

Running a business and working as an employee are two different worlds. Working as a salaried employee means that the issue of costs can be ignored. You don't actually have any influence on it anyway. Practically speaking, no significant costs can be written off.

It is a little different with remote work. A large part of the workforce started working remotely overnight because of the pandemic. At the time, there were no laws regulating such work. However, the government was in no hurry to pass an amendment to the Labor Code, and the new law did not come into force until 2023. A remote worker can't count on much. The idea that when working remotely an employee should be entitled to a subsidy for part of the rent fell through. Another idea to reimburse the cost of water or heating didn't pass either. As a result, the cost of hiring employees who perform tasks remotely has increased slightly.

The amended Labor Code only stipulates that the employer must provide the employee with the tools and materials necessary for the work and ensure their maintenance. It is also to reimburse the employee for the cost of electricity used for remote work and the cost of necessary telecommunications services.

These are not large privileges, but the cost of hiring workers in Poland is still rated as very high compared to other countries.

WHAT CAN BE INCLUDED IN COSTS?

The case is a little different if you have a business. Here you are entitled to deductions. What business expenses are deductible?

You deduct and, in fact, enter as an expense everything that is necessary to run the business. So the means of transportation: car, bicycle, electric scooter - you can put all this as a business expense.

With a car and fuel for it the matter is a little more complicated, but still usually a large part manages to be thrown into costs. You can also put a drill or a hammer, for example, into costs. No one can force you to pay someone to drill a hole in the wall. Even if such a need arises once a year.

The fact that you put your purchases into expenses means that you don't pay tax on the money you spend on them. It pays for an entrepreneur to have high business expenses. A salaried person is in the opposite situation.

VIRTUAL OFFICE WILL HELP SAVE MONEY

Registering a company in a virtual office can save money. Companies that operate from a computer and telephone usually do not need physical premises to work. Owners often work in cafes or on suburban plots of land. They need a place to register their business. It must also be possible to receive correspondence and notify the entrepreneur about it. There is no need to rent premises specifically for yourself and possibly a secretary. Everything you need can be found in a rented virtual office.