Mikrofirma: what counts as a micro business in Poland, and the limits for 2026

In Polish law a mikrofirma, officially a mikroprzedsiębiorca (micro entrepreneur), is a business that employs fewer than 10 people on average and has net turnover or a balance sheet total of no more than 2 million euro, in at least one of its last two financial years. Almost every JDG run by one person passes that test. The catch is that the status changes little on its own, and the tax and accounting rules that sound similar use their own tests and their own amounts.

The legal definition

The definition is in article 7 of Prawo przedsiębiorców (the Entrepreneurs’ Law, the act that sets the basic rules for running a business in Poland). You are a micro business if, in at least one of the last two financial years, you met both of these conditions:

• you employed fewer than 10 employees on average over the year, and
• your net turnover from selling goods, products and services and from financial operations was no more than 2 million euro, or the total assets on your balance sheet at the end of that year were no more than 2 million euro.

Three details matter in practice:

• Employees are counted in full-time equivalents. People on maternity, paternity, parental or childcare leave, and people employed for vocational training, are left out. You are not an employee of your own JDG, so a one-person business counts zero.
• One year over is not enough to lose the status. Because one of the last two years is enough, you stop being a micro business only after going over in two years in a row.
• A business younger than a year uses its expected turnover and employment, worked out from the last period it has records for.

The same article defines the next two sizes. A business that is not micro but stays under the “small” limits is small, and so on.

How the euro amount becomes złoty

The act converts the euro amounts at the NBP average rate on the last day of the financial year you use to determine your status. For a JDG the financial year is normally the calendar year. Worked out from NBP table A:

Watch out: the tax limits below also say “2 million euro”, but convert it at the rate of 1 October of the previous year and round to 1,000 PLN. That is why you will see several different złoty figures for what looks like the same limit.

Is a typical JDG a micro business?

Yes, in nearly every case. A sole trader working alone or with a few staff, with sales far below 8 million PLN, meets the test. So does a typical small sp. z o.o. If you are not sure which form you have, see what is a JDG.

Micro status is not registered anywhere. There is no application, no field in CEIDG and no certificate. You meet the conditions or you do not, and when someone asks, you state it yourself.

For grants and large clients: EU aid and the late-payment rules below use the EU definition of an SME. It has the same headline ceilings (fewer than 10 staff, turnover or balance sheet up to 2 million euro), but a business that is part of a larger group may have to add the group’s figures. A large client’s form asking for your “MŚP status” usually means this definition.

What micro status actually changes

Less than the word suggests. These are the rules that look at it:

• Shorter inspections. All inspections by one authority in a calendar year may last at most 6 working days for a micro business, against 18 for a small one, 24 for a medium one and 48 for the rest (Prawo przedsiębiorców art. 55, 6 days since 13 July 2025). The act lists exceptions, such as checks before a VAT refund or to prevent a crime, and allows longer inspections in some cases, for example when tax was understated by more than 10%.
• An ombudsman. The Rzecznik Małych i Średnich Przedsiębiorców (Small and Medium Enterprises Ombudsman) is there to protect the rights of micro, small and medium businesses.
• A 60-day cap when a large company pays you. Under the Late Payments Act (ustawa o przeciwdziałaniu nadmiernym opóźnieniom w transakcjach handlowych), when a large company pays a micro, small or medium business, the agreed payment term may not be longer than 60 days from the day the invoice reaches it. If the contract says more, you are entitled to late-payment interest from day 61. A large company must also declare that it is one, at the latest when you make your first deal with it.

Everything else, including VAT, income tax, ZUS and KSeF, ignores micro status and uses its own tests.

Mały podatnik: the tax test people confuse with micro

A mały podatnik (small taxpayer) is defined in the VAT Act, and the income tax acts use the same idea. The test is one number: your sales in the previous year, including VAT, were no more than 2 million euro. Employees do not count, and only last year matters.

The 2027 figure is our calculation from the official rule and the NBP rate. What small taxpayer status gives you:

• VAT: you may file the quarterly return JPK_V7K instead of the monthly JPK_V7M. The records are still sent every month, and you cannot switch in the first 12 months after registering for VAT. You may also choose the cash method (metoda kasowa), where VAT is due when your client pays, after telling the tax office by the end of the month before.
• Income tax: you may pay quarterly advances, and claim a one-off depreciation of up to 50,000 euro a year (213,000 PLN in 2026) on equipment such as computers.
• CIT 9% for companies: a sp. z o.o. pays 9% instead of 19% on income other than capital gains if it is a small taxpayer and its revenue in the current year stays under 2 million euro (8,431,000 PLN in 2026). A JDG pays PIT, which has no 9% rate. See JDG or sp. z o.o..

Small taxpayer status is not the same as the VAT exemption either: that limit is 240,000 PLN a year (see the VAT exemption limit).

Jednostka mikro: the accounting test

The Accounting Act has its own small size, the jednostka mikro (micro entity). An entity qualifies if, in the financial year and the year before, it did not exceed at least two of three amounts: 2,000,000 PLN of total assets, 4,000,000 PLN of net revenue, and 10 people employed on average in full-time equivalents. These amounts are in złoty, not euro, and apply from the 2024 statements.

A micro entity may prepare a simplified balance sheet and profit and loss account and skip most notes. This only matters if you keep full accounting books: every sp. z o.o. does, a JDG only from the year after its sales reach 2.5 million euro (10,646,500 PLN for 2026). A JDG on the tax book (KPiR) or the revenue register for ryczałt prepares no financial statements, so the test does not apply to it.

Two things that sound micro but are not

• The KSeF relief. Until 31 December 2026 you may still issue invoices outside KSeF, the national e-invoicing system, while the invoices you must issue in KSeF total no more than 10,000 PLN gross in a month. This depends only on the month’s invoices, not on your size: a micro business that invoices 15,000 PLN in one month must use KSeF from that invoice on, for good. From 1 January 2027 the relief ends. See KSeF explained.
• e-mikrofirma. This is the name of the Ministry of Finance’s free app in e-Urząd Skarbowy for sole traders: it issues invoices (KSeF included), keeps VAT records and prepares the JPK_VAT file. It is a tool, not a status, and the ministry itself says it is not an accounting program.

Unregistered activity (działalność nierejestrowana) is something else again: it is not a business at all, and has its own quarterly limit (see unregistered activity).

Mikrofirma in each law

What to do next

• Check your own numbers for the last two years: average employees and net turnover. If both are low, you are a micro business and need to do nothing about it.
• Read the payment terms in contracts with large clients. A term longer than 60 days does not bind you, and interest runs from day 61.
• Each January, check small taxpayer status for the year: last year’s gross sales against 8,517,000 PLN (for 2026) or 8,754,000 PLN (for 2027). Ask your accountant whether quarterly VAT or advances would suit you.
• Plan for KSeF before 1 January 2027, whatever your size.
• For a sp. z o.o., ask your accountant whether the company is a micro entity for its statements and whether it qualifies for 9% CIT. The Polish terms are in the glossary.