Spain vs Poland: the same money under two tax systems (2026)

Every rule below is real and is left out on purpose. Modelling it would need information this form does not ask you for, or a mechanism we have not built yet. What matters is not that something is missing, but which way it moves your number, so that is what we tell you.

• May not apply to you: Poland: The 9% health insurance contribution is charged on gross pay minus your social security contributions, not on gross pay. Until the calculator applies that reduced base, the health contribution shown is slightly too high and the net take-home slightly too low. Your income tax is unaffected, because the health contribution is not deductible from it. Applies to: All employees (affects the net-pay figure, not the tax).
• Your real tax may be LOWER: Poland: Married couples and single parents may elect joint or single-parent taxation, which can lower total tax when incomes are unequal. We model a single taxpayer only. Applies to: Couples and single parents filing jointly.
• Your real tax may be LOWER: Poland: The child relief (ulga na dzieci) is a tax credit of at least PLN 1,112.04 per child, higher for a third and further child, and is partly refundable. We do not model it, so families pay less than shown. Applies to: Taxpayers with dependent children.
• Your real tax may be HIGHER: Poland: For a taxpayer under 26 earning above the PLN 85,528 exemption, the standard employee costs and social contributions attributable to the exempt income are not deductible in reality. We apply the full amounts to the remaining taxable income, so the tax just above the cap is slightly understated. Applies to: Under-26s earning more than PLN 85,528 who claim the relief for young.
• Your real tax may be HIGHER: Poland: The health insurance contribution is modelled as fully deductible under the flat 19% tax, but the law caps that deduction at PLN 14,100 per year (2026). A flat-tax freelancer with income above roughly PLN 288,000 deducts more here than the law allows, so their real tax is slightly higher than shown. Applies to: Flat-tax (podatek liniowy) freelancers with annual profit above ~PLN 288,000.
• Your real tax may be LOWER: Poland: Voluntary sickness insurance (ubezpieczenie chorobowe, 2.45%) is included in the ZUS total. A freelancer who does not opt into it pays about PLN 138 per month less than shown. Applies to: Anyone who declines voluntary sickness insurance.
• Your real tax may be LOWER: Poland: Start-up reliefs are not modelled: 'ulga na start' waives all social contributions (health only) for the first 6 months, and the preferential 'mały ZUS'/'mały ZUS plus' bases (from PLN 1,441.80/month) apply for up to the next few years. A new or low-income freelancer pays far less ZUS than the full 'duży ZUS' shown here. Applies to: Freelancers in their first months/years of activity, or with prior-year revenue below PLN 120,000 (mały ZUS plus).
• Your real tax may be LOWER: Poland: IP Box (a 5% rate on income from qualified intellectual property, e.g. copyright to software the freelancer creates in R&D) is not modelled under the scale and flat regimes. A software developer who qualifies pays less than shown on the part of income that is qualified IP. Applies to: Software and R&D freelancers on the general scale or flat tax who own qualifying IP.
• Your real tax may be HIGHER: Poland: The 9% rate also requires that revenues in the CURRENT tax year do not exceed the PLN equivalent of EUR 2,000,000. This calculator only checks last year's turnover, so a company that qualified as a small taxpayer last year but earns more than EUR 2,000,000 this year is shown 9% when it actually owes 19%. Applies to: Small taxpayers whose current-year revenue crosses EUR 2,000,000.
• Your real tax may be HIGHER: Poland: The reduced 9% rate never applies to income from capital gains (zyski kapitałowe), which is always taxed at 19%. This calculator applies the qualifying rate to the whole profit, so it understates tax on any capital-gains component. Applies to: Companies with capital-gains income (e.g. from selling shares) taxed at the 9% rate.
• Your real tax may be HIGHER: Poland: A minimum income tax of 10% on a deemed base (podatek minimalny, art. 24ca) can apply to companies that report a tax loss or a profitability ratio of 2% or less on ordinary activity. It is charged on an estimated base rather than on the profit figure this form uses, so it cannot be derived here and is not applied. Applies to: Loss-making or very-low-margin companies (profitability 2% or less).
• May not apply to you: Poland: Poland also offers the Estonian CIT (ryczałt od dochodów spółek), an optional regime where corporate tax is paid only when profits are distributed, at 10% for small or new companies and 20% otherwise. This calculator models the default classical CIT charged on annual profit, not the Estonian regime. Applies to: Companies that elect the Estonian CIT (ryczałt od dochodów spółek).

2 figures are applied in practice, but the text that fixes them for this tax year does not exist yet: either the statute has not been passed, or the body that sets the figure publishes it later than the year it applies to. We show them because leaving them out would give you a worse answer, not a safer one, and we show you exactly what each one rests on.

• Spain: regimes[0].reduced_contribution.amount_per_period (EUR 80/month, tarifa plana): EUR 80/month was fixed by law only for 2023-2025 (DT 5ª RDL 13/2022); from 2026 the amount must be set by the annual Budget Law, which has not been passed (budget rollover). No norm of statutory rank sets the 2026 figure. Seguridad Social nevertheless applies EUR 80 de facto and publishes the 2026 tables with it. Publishing it is less wrong than omitting the reduced cuota altogether, which would overstate a new freelancer's first-year cost by roughly EUR 1,400. (what we relied on) · we re-check after 2026-12-31
• Spain: regimes[0].reduced_contribution.surcharge_per_period (EUR 8.64/month, MEI on top of the reduced cuota): Derived from the total of EUR 88.64/month that Seguridad Social publishes for 2026 (88.64 - 80.00). It rests on the same unpassed Budget Law as the EUR 80 itself, and the MEI base used by the administration to reach 88.64 is not stated in any norm we could open. (what we relied on) · we re-check after 2026-12-31