When starting your own business, one of the key aspects is to understand how the social and health insurance (Social Security – ZUS) system works and what contributions you should pay.
ZUS contributions, together with income tax, are core legal contributions of entrepreneurs in Poland. About income tax we have already written here, and it is good to read about it before reading this article.
For many entrepreneurs, this is not only part of everyday reality, but also an area that can raise many questions and concerns. Do you know what types of Social Security contributions there are? What are the applicable rates? Let’s take a closer look.
Which entrepreneurs must?
Practically everyone, or more precisely, all “physical” entrepreneurs, i.e. sole proprietors and partners in partnerships. ZUS contributions are not paid by legal entities, i.e. capital companies (LLC, joint-stock, simple joint-stock) and their shareholders (except for companies with one shareholder only. Such shareholders must pay contributions for themselves).
ZUS contributions are divided into:
- social insurance, of which:
- pension, disability and accident insurance – are mandatory,
- sickness insurance – is voluntary,
- Labor Fund and Solidarity Fund,
- health insurance.
Certain exceptions allow some contributions to be avoided. When you have other incomes at the same time with an insurance base of at least the minimum wage, for example, from an employment, then you pay only the health insurance. If you take advantage of the 2-year preferential relief or the “Mały Zus Plus”, which we elaborate on later, and you have no other incomes, you do not pay Labor Fund and Solidarity Fund contributions.
If you do not use any reliefs, you are required to pay social security contributions calculated on a base amount of at least 60% of the projected average monthly wage.
The minimum contribution base for 2026 is: 5 652,00 PLN (60% × 9 420 PLN).
The amounts of individual social security contributions calculated from this minimum base are as follows:
- Retirement insurance – 19,52% of the base – 1 103,27 PLN
- Disability pension insurance – 8,00% of the base – 452,16 PLN
- Sickness insurance – 2,45% of the base – 138,47 PLN
- Accident insurance (companies up to 9 employees, 1,67%) – 94,39 PLN
Additionally, the contribution to the Labour Fund and the Solidarity Fund – 2,45% of the base – 138,47 PLN
Total:
- Full social security contributions (including sickness insurance, excluding health insurance): 1 926,76 PLN
- Without voluntary sickness insurance: 1 788,29 PLN
It is known how much, but is it known by when?
Entrepreneurs pay Social Security contributions until 20th day of the following month. They must also file a ZUS declaration detailing their contributions.
So, there are some reliefs, right?
Every entrepreneur can take advantage of two reliefs at the beginning of their business. The first of these is the “Start Relief”. It gives exemption for six full months after starting a business from social insurance contributions, as well as the Labor Fund and the Solidarity Fund. So, using it, you will pay only health insurance for first six full months.
Attention! Six full months count. This means that if you start a business during the month, not on the first day, that first month is not recognised as a full month. In this situation, only the next six full months are counted.
Therefore, in practice, it is possible to use this relief almost for seven months. All you have to do is set up your business on the second day of the month.
What’s next?
After using the start-up relief, you can move on to another one – the so-called preferential social security contributions. This relief is available for 24 months and means that the base for your social security contributions is 30% of the minimum wage, instead of 60% of the average wage. In simple terms, this results in significantly lower contributions.
The minimum wage in 2026 amounts to 4 806 PLN.
Preferential contribution base:
30% × 4 806 PLN = 1 441,80 PLN
The contributions calculated from this base are as follows:
- 281,43 PLN – retirement insurance (19.52%),
- 115,34 PLN – disability pension insurance (8.00%),
- 35,33 PLN – sickness insurance (2.45%),
- 24,07 PLN – accident insurance (1.67%).
Total: 456,17 PLN (excluding health insurance contribution)
Now a few words about “Mały ZUS Plus“
“Mały ZUS Plus”, translated literally as Small ZUS Plus, is another relief. This one is available to everyone, under certain conditions, not just to new entrepreneurs. It is a system of lower social insurance contributions, proportional to income, available to the smallest entrepreneurs.
Who can take advantage of that? Entrepreneurs, whose revenue in the previous year did not exceed 120 000 PLN, and who ran their business for at least 60 days in the previous year.
With “Mały ZUS Plus” contribution base:
- cannot be less than 30% of the amount of the minimum wage, as in the preferential contributions and
- cannot be higher than 60% of the projected average monthly salary, as in standard contributions.
This means that “Mały ZUS Plus”, is a relief between preferential and standard contributions.
Let’s finally talk about health insurance contributions
The amount of the health insurance contribution depends on the form of taxation and the level of income:
- Progressive tax scale (12% / 32%). If you settle personal income tax under the progressive tax scale, the health insurance contribution equals 9% of your business income.
- Flat tax (19%). If you choose the flat tax, the health insurance contribution amounts to 4.9% of your income.
Important to remember! If you are taxed under the progressive scale or the flat tax and your income in a given month is low or zero, the minimum health insurance contribution still applies, calculated based on 100% of the minimum wage.
The minimum wage in 2026 is 4 806 PLN, which means the minimum monthly health insurance contribution is: 432,54 PLN (4 806 PLN × 9%)
If you are taxed under the lump-sum scheme (lump-sum tax on recorded revenues), your monthly health insurance contribution depends on your annual revenue and is set in three thresholds (based on the average wage).
In 2026, the thresholds are as follows:
- below 60 000 PLN – 496,68 PLN
- from 60 000 PLN to 300 000 PLN – 827,80 PLN
- above 300 000 PLN – 1 490,04 PLN
You are obliged to settle the health contribution annually
The annual health insurance contribution base is the business income for the year. It is the difference between revenues and expenses, after deducting social insurance contributions, if they were not already included in expenses.
If after the annual settlement, it turns out that:
- during they year you paid more than the established annual health insurance contribution – you can apply for a refund of the overpayment,
- the amount of health insurance contributions you have paid is less than the annual contribution – you must pay the difference.
Quite a lot of it, but at the end
As you can see, it’s not all simple. It’s better to put such matters in the hands of professionals. They have experience and will ensure that everything is settled correctly.
That’s us! We are happy to assist in such matters, eager to take care of the stability of your business and beyond. Our experience helps provide peace of mind to our clients, who can focus on developing their businesses.
Need to start a business and don’t want to face it all alone? No problem, just contact us and you’ll find that you won’t have to worry about such things at all!
More about ZUS contributions you can read here.
Updated on 24/01/2025
