Returning to your home country after years spent abroad is undoubtedly a big life change. On the one hand, it is connected with many positive emotions – settling back in Poland, new opportunities for work and development, being close to family and friends again. On the other hand, it also involves dealing with paperwork, closing various matters abroad and starting new ones in Poland, which can be quite challenging for someone who has only just changed their place of residence.
Return Tax Relief – relief for the returning taxpayers – what is it?
Returning to Poland permanently can be a great opportunity for many reasons, including tax-related ones. The return relief is a tax preference that allows for a personal income tax exemption for people who moved their place of residence to the territory of the Republic of Poland after 31 December 2021. The purpose is to encourage people to transfer their tax residency to Poland.
Who can benefit from that tax relief?
This tax relief is available to individuals who lived and worked abroad for some time and then decided to return to Poland and become Polish tax residents again. It does not apply to people who stayed abroad but were still treated as Polish tax residents for tax purposes. In practice, this means the relief is only available to those who actually changed their tax residency, paid taxes outside Poland and later moved back.
For the return relief, a taxpayer must meet all of the following conditions:
- They moved their place of residence to the territory of the Republic of Poland after 31 December 2021 and are subject to unlimited tax liability in Poland.
- They did not live in Poland for three full calendar years before the year of return, and from the beginning of the year in which the return took place until the day before the actual move to Poland. In other words, they must have lived continuously outside Poland for at least three years.
Example:
If someone returned to Poland in 2025, they must not have been a Polish tax resident in 2022, 2023 or 2024, nor from 1 January 2025 until the day before their return.
3. They meet one of the following conditions:
- they hold Polish citizenship,
- they hold a Polish Card (Karta Polaka),
- they are a citizen of an EU Member State, a country belonging to the European Economic Area (EEA), or Switzerland,
- or they lived for at least three years in one of the following countries: an EU or EEA Member State, Switzerland, Australia, Chile, Israel, Japan, Canada, Mexico, New Zealand, South Korea, the United Kingdom, or the United States.
4. They have a certificate of tax residence or another document confirming where their place of residence for tax purposes was during the period required to qualify for the relief.
5. They have not previously used the return relief.
What types of income can be included?
The relief may apply to various types of income earned by the taxpayer abroad, including:
- Employment income – this includes different forms of employment, such as an employment contract, service relationship, outwork, or a cooperative employment relationship.
- Income from contracts concluded outside a business activity (legal basis: Article 13(8) of the Personal Income Tax Act).
- Maternity allowance income.
- Income from non-agricultural business activity, taxed under the general tax scale, the 19% flat tax, the 5% rate, or lump-sum taxation.
What types of income cannot be included?
The relief does not apply to certain types of income, such as:
- Sick pay
- Contract for specific task agreements (umowy o dzieło)
- Copyright income from non-employment work
- Travel allowances or reimbursements
What is the maximum income for the Return Relief?
The maximum amount of income in a tax year that can qualify for the return relief is PLN 85,528.
Tax Procedure – how to apply for the relief for the returning taxpayers?
You must submit a written declaration if you want to use the return relief.
- If you work on an employment contract or contract of mandate, give the document to your employer. This way, they will not take income tax advances while the relief applies.
- If you run your own business, the relief is applied when you do your annual PIT tax return.
How to Prepare a declaration for the tax office?
There is no official template for this type of document, so you can make it yourself. It should include a few key points:
- A declaration that you meet the conditions for the relief.
- The year when the relief starts and ends.
- A clause confirming that you understand the legal responsibility for giving false information.
Which foreign documents are needed and how to prove living abroad?
It is important to show proof of living outside Poland. Most often, people use a residency certificate, but other documents can also work, for example:
- a foreign employment contract (work history abroad)
- a rental agreement for an apartment or house abroad
- a foreign certificate of registration or residence
- documents showing payment of taxes or social security contributions in the foreign country
These documents help prove that you really lived abroad and are entitled to use the return relief.
You can then give this statement to your employer, or include it in your annual PIT tax return if you run your own business.
Will certified translations be required?
Yes. If your documents proving your place of residence are in a foreign language, they must be translated into Polish. Most often, certified (sworn) translations are required.
Certified translations can only be done by a sworn translator, who is a person listed by the Ministry of Justice who has passed a state exam (written and oral part).
A certified translation includes:
- a clause indicating which sworn translator did the translation
- the translator’s stamp and the original signature.
Such a translation will certainly be accepted by the Polish authorities.
How to find a good sworn translator for your documents?
Of course, we invite you to our translation office. For nearly 10 years, we have been providing translations (sworn and non-sworn) in over 40 foreign languages. All you need to do is contact us and send the package of documents that need translating.
You can reach us:
– by mail: bok@polyland.pl
– by phone: +48 609 853 852
– via our free quote form: LINK
If you live in Kraków, we also encourage you to visit our office at: ul. Królewska 65a/1, 30-081 Kraków (the doors with “Loftmill” stickers).
Our office hours are Monday to Friday, from 9:00 AM to 4:00 PM.
Please remember to bring all the documents you want to translate. For an additional fee, we can also ship the completed translations within Poland or abroad.
Translation of the documents for the Tax Office
If you need translations of any documents, even from multiple languages, you can entrust them to us.
Our office provides both standard (non-sworn) and certified (sworn) translations to and from over 40 foreign languages. We have experience with almost every type of document, and even highly complex texts are not a challenge for us. For years, we have worked exclusively with experienced sworn translators in various languages.
Check out our translation OFFER – LINK
and our pricing for written translations (both sworn and standard) – LINK
How to order the sworn translation of the documents for the Return Relief?
It’s very simple! Just follow these steps:
- Prepare your package of foreign-language documents for the tax office (paper copies, scans, or electronic versions, including those with a qualified electronic signature).
- Send us the documents that need translation (by email, via our form, or during an in-person visit to our office).
- You will receive a quote by email.
- Pay for the order (payment details are always provided in the email with your quote).
- Collect your completed translation – we will notify you by email when it is ready, or for an additional fee, we can send it by post or courier to the address you provide in Poland or abroad.
Sources:
Przewodnik dla podatnika „Ulga na powrót” (Taxpayer Guide “Return Relief”):
Legal Basis:
Ustawa z dnia 26 lipca 1991 r. o podatku dochodowym od osób fizycznych (Personal Income Tax Act of 26 July 1991)