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

What this calculator does not model

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).
• Your real tax may be LOWER: Portugal: Tax credits for documented expenses (health, education, rent, and the general family expenses credit) are not modelled, and neither is the income-dependent cap on them. The tax shown is therefore an upper bound: it is what you would pay if you claimed nothing. This also means a small tax is shown at incomes just above the minimum-existence threshold, where the general family expenses credit would in practice cancel it. Applies to: Residents who file receipts, which is nearly everyone.
• Your real tax may be LOWER: Portugal: Married couples and civil partners may elect to be taxed jointly, which splits the income between two taxpayers and usually lowers the total tax when one partner earns much more than the other. We model a single taxpayer only. Applies to: Couples filing jointly, especially where incomes are unequal.
• Your real tax may be LOWER: Portugal: Madeira and the Azores replace the national IRS scale with their own, lower one. Select your region in the form and the calculator applies it. Two island details stay approximate: the mínimo de existência (the low-income abatement) is applied with the national parameters, because no citable regional norm settles how the islands adjust it; and the Azores scale's average-rate column is derived from the statutory 30% reduction formula, since no official table of it exists, so the tax authority's own software could round a step differently, a cents-level effect. Applies to: Residents of Madeira or the Azores, though the abatement point only matters on low salaries.
• Your real tax may be LOWER: Portugal: The dependant credit is higher for a second and further child aged up to six, and the ascendant credit is higher when only one ascendant lives with you. We apply the base amounts only. Applies to: Families with more than one young child, or with a single ascendant in the household.
• Your real tax may be LOWER: Portugal: The specific deduction can be raised above the fixed amount for fees paid to a professional order, when membership is required for the job. We apply the standard amount. Applies to: Employees who must belong to a professional order: lawyers, doctors, engineers, architects.
• Your real tax may be LOWER: Portugal: In the first two years of activity the deemed-cost coefficients for services are cut (by half in the opening year, by a quarter in the next), and social security contributions are not due at all for the first twelve months. Neither relief is applied here. Applies to: Anyone who has just registered as self-employed, which is most people arriving in Portugal.
• Your real tax may be HIGHER: Portugal: Part of the deemed expense allowance has to be backed by real, documented expenses: if you cannot show them, the taxable base is increased. We do not model that add-back, so a freelancer with few real expenses is shown a lower tax than the law would charge. Applies to: Freelancers on the simplified regime with few documented expenses or contributions.
• May not apply to you: Portugal: Contributions are really assessed quarterly on the previous quarter's income, and you may adjust the assessed base up or down by up to 25%. We compute an annual figure from the income you enter, so your monthly bills will not match this line exactly even when the yearly total is close. Applies to: Everyone paying social security as a self-employed worker.
• Your real tax may be LOWER: Portugal: Tax credits for health, education, rent and general family expenses are not modelled (see the income tax calculator for the same limitation). The tax shown is before them. Applies to: Residents who file receipts, which is nearly everyone.
• Your real tax may be LOWER: Portugal: Most councils charge no municipal surcharge at all on companies whose prior-year turnover was EUR 150,000 or less (Porto and Vila Nova de Gaia charge a reduced rate instead). The calculator applies the full municipal rate to everyone, so it shows a surcharge you may not owe. Applies to: Companies with prior-year turnover of EUR 150,000 or less, which is most founders in their first year.
• Your real tax may be LOWER: Portugal: The reduced 15% band is granted by a headcount test (fewer than 250 staff, or fewer than 500 for a small mid cap), not purely by turnover. We approximate it with the EUR 50,000,000 turnover limit, so a small mid cap above that turnover is denied the band here even though the law may grant it. Applies to: Companies above EUR 50,000,000 turnover with fewer than 500 staff.
• Your real tax may be HIGHER: Portugal: Autonomous taxation (tributacoes autonomas) is a real corporate charge, but it falls on certain expenses (company cars, entertainment, undocumented spending) rather than on profit, so it cannot be derived from the numbers this form asks for. Applies to: Companies that run cars or incur entertainment expenses.
• Your real tax may be HIGHER: Portugal: The reduced 15% band is granted here to every company at or below the turnover limit, but the law also demands a headcount test and a commercial, industrial or agricultural main activity. A company under the turnover limit that fails either test would not get the band. Applies to: Companies below the turnover limit with 500 or more staff, or whose main activity is not commercial, industrial or agricultural.
• May not apply to you: Portugal: Corporate tax is charged on the taxable base after carried-forward losses and tax benefits, while both surcharges are charged on taxable profit before them. This calculator uses one profit figure for all three, so the numbers diverge once you carry losses forward. Applies to: Companies carrying losses forward or claiming tax benefits.
• Your real tax may be HIGHER: Portugal: Aggregation (englobamento) is not a per-dividend choice: electing it drags every item of your investment income for the year (other dividends, bank interest, bond coupons) onto the scale as well, and those enter in full, while only company profits enter at 50%. This page compares the two routes for one dividend in isolation, so it understates what aggregation really costs you. Applies to: Anyone with investment income beyond this dividend who is considering aggregation.