How Do I Pay Tax on a Property Sale in Poland?

You have just signed the notarial deed, the buyer’s money has landed in your account, and suddenly a friend asks whether you have “sorted the PIT-39 yet.” Many expats selling a Polish flat have no idea that the tax bill arrives months later, on a form they have never heard of. This guide explains when a property sale is taxed in Poland, how the amount is calculated, and exactly how to file and pay it.

I sold my first Warsaw apartment a few years after buying it, and I remember the mix of relief and dread: relief that the sale was done, dread because nobody at the notary’s office had said a word about income tax. The notary collects the buyer’s taxes at the signing, not yours. Your obligation sits quietly in the background until the following spring, and if you miss it, the Urząd Skarbowy will not send you a friendly reminder first. So let us walk through it calmly, step by step.

When a Property Sale in Poland Is Taxable

The single most important question is not how much you sold for. It is when you bought. Polish income tax on the sale of real estate only applies if you sell before a specific holding period has ended. Get past that point and the sale is simply outside the scope of personal income tax, no matter how large your profit is.

The Five-Year Rule and How the Clock Really Works

Under the Polish PIT Act, income from selling real estate, a cooperative ownership right to a flat (spółdzielcze własnościowe prawo do lokalu), or a perpetual usufruct right to land is taxable if the sale happens before the end of five years. The trap is in how those five years are counted. They do not run from the date on your deed. They run from the end of the calendar year in which you acquired the property.

Here is what that means in practice. If you bought your flat in Kraków on 15 March 2021, the five-year period starts on 31 December 2021 and ends on 31 December 2026. Any sale signed up to and including that day is taxable. A sale on 2 January 2027 is not. If you bought on 28 December 2021 instead, the end date is exactly the same, which is why buyers who complete in late December effectively gain almost a full year.

I have seen expats lose real money by miscounting this. One acquaintance in Wrocław sold in November, convinced that “five years since I bought it” meant he was safe. He had bought in the summer five years earlier, so the five-year window still had more than a month to run. Waiting a few extra weeks would have made the entire gain tax-free.

Inherited Property, Gifts and Divorce Settlements

How you came to own the property changes the starting point of the clock, and this is where many expats get confused.

For inherited property, the five years are counted from the end of the year in which the deceased person acquired it, not from the year you inherited it. So if your Polish grandmother bought her flat in Gdańsk decades ago and you inherit it, you can usually sell straight away without income tax, because her holding period has long expired. You will still need to have dealt with inheritance tax and the formal acquisition of the estate first. The rules on that side are covered in Understanding Inheritance and Gift Tax (Podatek od Spadków) in Poland.

For gifted property, the clock normally starts at the end of the year in which you received the gift. A parent who hands you a flat in 2024 has not passed on their own holding period, so a sale before the end of 2029 would be taxable.

Divorce settlements and the division of joint marital property can be more nuanced, because the date the property was originally bought into the marriage often matters more than the date of the court split. If this applies to you, it is worth getting a qualified opinion before you list the flat.

What Counts as Real Estate for This Rule

The same rules apply to an apartment, a house, a plot of land, a garage space held as a separate unit, and the cooperative right to a flat. Commercial premises you own privately are also covered. If you sell property that was used in your sole proprietorship (JDG) and recorded as a business asset, different rules can apply, because the sale may count as business income instead of private income. That situation sits outside this guide and is worth discussing with an accountant.

How the Tax Is Calculated

If your sale falls inside the five-year window, the rate is a flat 19 percent. It is not added to your salary or freelance income, and it does not use the progressive tax scale. Crucially, the 19 percent is charged on your income from the sale, not on the full price. That makes your documentation the most valuable thing you own after the keys.

Revenue, Costs and Taxable Income

The calculation has three parts, and the Polish terms are worth knowing because they appear on the form.

1. Revenue (przychód) is the price stated in the notarial deed, reduced by the costs of the sale itself, such as the estate agent’s commission and any notary fees you paid as seller.
2. Costs of acquisition (koszty uzyskania przychodu) are what you paid to get the property and improve it: the purchase price, the PCC tax or VAT you paid when buying, notary and court fees from your purchase, and documented spending that increased the property’s value, such as a renovation.
3. Income (dochód) is revenue minus those costs. The 19 percent applies to this figure.

If costs exceed revenue, you have a loss. Unfortunately, a loss on a property sale cannot be offset against your salary or other income, and it cannot be carried forward. It simply means no tax is due on that particular sale.

On the cost side, keep everything. The tax office expects invoices issued to you, ideally with your name and the property address. A shoebox of receipts from a hardware store with no name on them is much harder to defend than proper VAT invoices from a contractor. If you bought the flat in the first place recently, you may still have the original deed and payment confirmations from the purchase, which is exactly what you need. For a refresher on what you paid at the time, see Understanding the Buyer’s Costs and Taxes When Purchasing in Poland and How Much Are Notary Fees When Buying Property in Poland?.

A Worked Example in Złoty

Let us follow a realistic expat scenario. Anna, a British software tester living in Poznań, bought a two-bedroom flat in 2023 and sells it two years later. All figures are in Polish złoty.

Item	Amount in PLN
Sale price in the notarial deed	650,000
Estate agent commission paid by Anna	15,000
Revenue after sale costs	635,000
Original purchase price	500,000
PCC paid at purchase, 2 percent	10,000
Notary and court fees at purchase	4,000
Documented renovation invoices	20,000
Total acquisition costs	534,000
Income, revenue minus costs	101,000
Tax at 19 percent	19,190

Without any relief, Anna owes 19,190 PLN, payable by 30 April of the year after the sale. Notice how much the documented renovation helped: without those 20,000 PLN of invoices, her income would have been 121,000 PLN and her tax 22,990 PLN.

The Housing Relief That Can Wipe Out the Bill

The good news is that Poland offers a major exemption, often called the ulga mieszkaniowa or housing relief. Income from the sale is exempt in proportion to the amount you spend on your own housing needs (własne cele mieszkaniowe) within three years from the end of the tax year in which you sold.

Qualifying spending generally includes buying another apartment or house to live in, buying land for building your home, building or extending your own residence, and repaying a mortgage taken out for your own housing before the sale. The property must be for you to live in, not an investment or rental. Property bought in another EU or EEA country or Switzerland can also qualify, which matters if you are moving back home.

The exempt share is calculated with a simple proportion: exempt income equals your income multiplied by the housing spending, divided by your revenue.

Back to Anna. Suppose she spends 300,000 PLN of the proceeds on a new flat in Poznań where she lives. Her exempt income is 101,000 multiplied by 300,000, divided by 635,000, which gives roughly 47,717 PLN. Her taxable income drops to about 53,283 PLN, and her tax falls to roughly 10,124 PLN. If she had put the full 635,000 PLN into her new home, the entire income would be exempt and her tax would be zero.

Two practical points matter here. First, you declare your intention to use the relief in the PIT-39 for the year of sale, and you do not need to have spent the money yet. Second, if you do not spend it within the deadline, you must file a correction and pay the tax with interest. That is why a vague “I might buy something later” plan is risky.

Filing and Paying: The PIT-39 Step by Step

Here is where the practical frustration usually starts. Unlike the buyer’s PCC tax, which the notary collects on the spot, your income tax is entirely self-assessed. Nobody calculates it for you, and nobody collects it automatically.

The Steps From Sale to Payment

1. Confirm whether your sale falls within the five-year window by checking the acquisition year in your deed, or in the deceased person’s documents if you inherited.
2. Gather every document: the purchase deed, the sale deed, payment confirmations, invoices for improvements, the agent’s invoice and any notary invoices.
3. Calculate revenue, costs and income, and decide whether you will claim the housing relief.
4. Complete the PIT-39 form for the tax year in which you signed the sale deed. If you are claiming the relief, enter the exempt income in the section of the form provided for it.
5. Submit the return by 30 April of the following year. You can do this online through e-Urząd Skarbowy or the e-Deklaracje system, or on paper at your local tax office.
6. Pay any tax due by the same 30 April deadline to your individual tax micro-account (mikrorachunek podatkowy).
7. Keep all documents for at least five years from the end of the year in which the filing deadline fell, because the tax office can ask questions within that period.

Note that the PIT-39 is separate from your usual employee return. If you are on a contract of employment, you will file your PIT-37 as normal and the PIT-39 alongside it. There is no joint filing with a spouse on the PIT-39, so if you and your partner co-own the flat, each of you files your own form covering your share of the revenue and costs.

Using the Online Tax Portal

Filing online is far less painful than it sounds. You log in to e-Urząd Skarbowy with a trusted profile (profil zaufany), your online banking login or an e-ID, and the PIT-39 form is available there. The interface is mostly in Polish, so keep a translation tool handy, or have a Polish-speaking friend sit with you for twenty minutes. For a walkthrough of logging in and navigating the system, see Understanding the e-Urząd Skarbowy Online Tax Portal in Poland.

You do need a PESEL or a NIP number to file. Most residents already have a PESEL, while non-residents who sold Polish property without one may need to obtain a NIP first, which takes time. Start early rather than discovering this in April.

Paying the Tax and Your Micro-Account

Every taxpayer in Poland has an individual micro-account for PIT payments, generated from your PESEL or NIP. You can find your number on the government’s micro-account generator or inside e-Urząd Skarbowy, and the portal also lets you pay directly by bank transfer. Double-check that the transfer title references PIT-39 and the correct tax year.

If you are no longer living in Poland or your money is now held in another currency, you will need to send złoty to that micro-account. Many expats use Wise for this, because it lets you convert from pounds, euros or dollars and pay a Polish account number without needing to keep a full Polish bank account open. Compare the exchange rate and fee shown on the provider’s own page before you send, and leave a few days of buffer before the deadline. More options are discussed in How to Transfer Money Internationally from a Polish Account.

What Happens If You Miss the Deadline

If you file late or pay late, interest accrues on the unpaid tax from the day after the deadline, and you may also face a fine under the fiscal penal code. The tax office often learns about property sales directly, because notaries report transactions, so assuming a sale went unnoticed is a poor bet. If you realise you have missed the deadline, the best route is usually to file the return and pay immediately, together with a voluntary disclosure called a czynny żal, which can protect you from penalties. For the details on interest and fines, read What Is the Penalty for Late Tax Payment in Poland?.

Special Situations for Expats and Non-Residents

The basic rules apply to everyone, but being a foreigner adds a few extra wrinkles.

Selling After You Have Left Poland

Many people sell their Polish flat after moving abroad. In that case, Poland still has the right to tax the gain, because almost every double tax treaty gives the country where the property sits the right to tax income from its sale. You still file the PIT-39 in Poland and pay there.

Your home country may also want to tax the same gain, depending on its own rules. Treaties usually prevent double taxation either by exempting the Polish income or by giving you a credit for the Polish tax you paid. Keep the Polish return and payment confirmation, because your home tax authority will want to see them. For an overview of how the treaties work, see How Do I Avoid Double Taxation Between Poland and My Home Country? and, if you are unsure whether you are still resident in Poland, Tax Residency in Poland: A Definitive Guide for Expats (2027).

Non-residents can generally claim the housing relief too, provided the new home is in the EU, the EEA or Switzerland, or in a country with which Poland has a treaty allowing exchange of tax information. Check this carefully before relying on it.

Selling Below Market Value

It is tempting to agree a lower price on paper to reduce tax, sometimes with the rest paid “informally.” Please do not. The tax office can challenge a price that differs significantly from market value without a good reason and can assess the tax on the market value instead. On top of that, understating the price exposes both buyer and seller to fiscal penalties. If you genuinely sold below market because of a defect or a family arrangement, document the reason clearly.

Getting Professional Help in English

If your situation includes inherited property, co-ownership, foreign income, a mortgage repayment claim under the relief, or a move abroad, paying for professional help is often worth it. A local biuro rachunkowe (accounting office) handles PIT-39 returns routinely and many in Warsaw, Kraków and Wrocław work in English. If you also need to file in your home country, an international service such as Taxes for Expats can look at both sides together, which is helpful for US citizens who must report worldwide income regardless of where they live. Check the provider’s own site for what is included and how they price it. For local options, see How Do I Get Help Filing My Polish PIT Return in English?.

Quick Checklist Before You Sign the Sale Deed

1. Check whether waiting a few weeks or months would take you past the end of the five-year window.
2. Find your original purchase deed and every renovation invoice issued in your name.
3. Ask the agent for an invoice for their commission, since it reduces your revenue.
4. Decide whether you will reinvest in your own home within three years and keep a paper trail for that spending.
5. Make sure you have a PESEL or NIP and access to e-Urząd Skarbowy.
6. Put 30 April of next year in your calendar, and if you are leaving Poland, arrange a way to pay Polish tax from abroad, for example through Wise or a Polish account you keep open.

Selling property in Poland is not complicated once you know the rules, but the system assumes you already know them. Count the five years correctly, keep every document, and decide early about the housing relief. For the wider picture of how property is taxed from purchase through ownership to sale, read The Complete Guide to Property and Transaction Taxes in Poland (2027).

Disclaimer

This article is for general informational purposes only and does not constitute professional advice. Laws, prices and regulations vary by location and change over time. Consult a qualified professional for guidance on your specific situation.