Taxes and prop firm agreements in Poland

The most boring, but most important lesson. A prop payout makes you happy for 10 minutes. Settling it the wrong way can cost you 30% plus interest two years later. Poland has no single interpretation for prop trading, so you have to build a defensive model.

Note: this lesson is educational, not tax or legal advice. Consult a tax adviser every time.

Lesson goal and what you will measure

After this lesson:

• You will tell apart 3 settlement models: private individual, sole proprietorship (JDG), foreign-company contract.
• You will understand what revenue, cost, personal income tax (PIT), VAT and residency are.
• You will build a document checklist for every payout.
• You will calculate the effective burden for the flat-rate tax, the progressive scale and the 19% linear tax.

Measures: number of documents per payout, effective tax %, risk of the model being challenged.

What do you sign with a prop firm?

You are not an employee. You are not the broker’s client. In 90% of firms you sign (by clicking accept):

• A services agreement / independent contractor agreement (umowa zlecenia) — for example FTMO, The5ers, FundedNext. You are a service provider delivering a trading service / “skill-based service”.
• A profit-sharing agreement — some firms.

Key clauses that affect your taxes:

• Who the payer is: a company from the UK, Czechia, the UAE, the UK, the US.
• Whether the firm issues an invoice, or you issue an invoice to them.
• Whether the payout is a profit split or payment for a service.
• Whether there is a W-8BEN, a W-9, or a certificate of tax residency (CFR).

For the Polish tax office (US): you receive a transfer from abroad for “services”. This is not a capital gain from the exchange (Article 30b of the PIT Act — 19%). It is not a dividend. It is income from business activity / from other sources.

3 settlement models in Poland (2024-2025 practice)

Model A: a private individual without a sole proprietorship (JDG) — “other sources” (PIT-36, 12%/32% scale)

Advocates say: “this is not a business, it is a one-off profit split”. You settle it as other sources, at the scale rate.

Risk: the tax office (US) may decide this is business activity carried out continuously, in an organised, profit-seeking way. With regular monthly payouts for a year plus advertising on IG, that argument is weak.

Documents: a bank statement, confirmation of the payout from the prop platform, the contract.

Revenue = gross payout amount in PLN at the NBP rate from the day before receipt
Cost = 0 or 20% (if you apply a lump-sum deduction, but for other sources only documented costs count)
Tax = (Revenue - Cost) * scale

Model B: sole proprietorship (JDG) — the most popular and the safest option with regular payouts

You register a sole proprietorship (PKD 66.19.Z — other activities auxiliary to financial services, or 70.22.Z — business consulting). You settle B2B.

Taxation options for a sole proprietorship:

Linear tax example:

Per month:
Revenue: 10,000 PLN (prop payouts)
Cost: 2,000 PLN (challenge, VPS, platform, accounting)
Income: 8,000
PIT 19%: 1,520
ZUS: ~1,600 (full) or the preferential ZUS 400
Take-home: ~4,880

Important: the challenge fee is a deductible cost if you buy it within your business. You must have an invoice or confirmation. Many firms issue one on request.

Flat rate: you will not deduct the challenge, but it is simpler. On 10k of revenue and a 12% flat rate = 1,200 PIT plus ZUS.

Which one to choose? Do the math:

If costs > 30% of revenue -> linear/scale beats the flat rate
If costs <20% -> the flat rate is often cheaper

Model C: settling as a 19% capital gain (rarely accepted)

Some accountants try to classify this under Article 30b as “income from financial instruments”. The tax office (US) almost always challenges it, because you are not trading your own capital and you do not own the instrument. Do not count on it.

VAT, W-8BEN, residency

• Most prop firms are outside the EU (UAE, UK) — an imported service. If you run a sole proprietorship and are VAT-registered, you may have to settle VAT as an import of services at 23%. If you are VAT-exempt (the subjective exemption up to 200k), you do not.
• W-8BEN: if a US firm pays out and asks for a W-8BEN, you state that you are a Polish resident covered by the double tax treaty. Without it, 30% will be withheld at source.
• Certificate of tax residency (CFR) — obtain it from the tax office (US); some UK/US firms require it.

Document checklist for every payout

Without this you cannot settle defensively:

1. The PDF of the prop contract / terms with a date.
2. A screenshot from the prop dashboard with the date and the payout amount.
3. Transfer confirmation / Wise / crypto -> a Polish bank.
4. The NBP rate from the day before the credit (the NBP table).
5. The challenge invoice linked to that payout (if you run a sole proprietorship).
6. A payout register: date, firm, gross amount, currency, rate, PLN, account number.

Register template:

Date | Firm | Gross USD | NBP rate | Gross PLN | Challenge fee PLN | Income | Settlement method
2025-03-15 | FTMO | 1200.00 | 3.9874 | 4784.88 | 2100.00 (invoice #123) | 2684.88 | Sole proprietorship, linear

Keep it for 5 years.

When the plan says do not trade (tax-wise)

• When you do not have a sole proprietorship and you take a third payout in a row, every month — those are already the marks of a business. Register a sole proprietorship before the tax office (US) finds you.
• When you cash out to Revolut/Wise without a transfer to Poland and “you do not settle it, because it is not in Poland” — Polish tax residency means you must settle your worldwide income.
• When the prop firm pays in crypto and you think the tax office (US) cannot see it — it sees it once you exchange it into PLN.
• When you have no documented challenge cost, because you paid by private card without an invoice.
• When you want to settle it as a 19% exchange gain without consulting anyone — a high risk of an additional assessment.

Mistakes that cost the most

1. No sole proprietorship with regular payouts. An additional assessment plus back ZUS plus interest. The cost is 2-3x higher than registering a sole proprietorship.
2. Payouts to a private account with no register. The tax office asks about 10 transfers from the UAE of 1,500 USD each. You have no documents — tax on the whole amount plus a 75% sanction for non-disclosure.
3. Flat rate without counting costs. You pay 12% of revenue, while your challenge costs are 40%. You lose 15-20% a year for nothing.
4. No separation between the challenge fee, education and VPS. Everything in one bucket. You need invoices assigned to revenue.
5. Ignoring the NBP rate. Converting at your bank’s or Revolut’s rate is a mistake. Tax law means the NBP rate from the day before.

Measurable exercise

Build an annual tax simulation

Assumptions: 12 payouts of 1000 USD = 12k USD a year = ~48k PLN. Challenge costs: 8 attempts * 540 EUR ~ 18k PLN.

Calculate 3 variants in a spreadsheet:

Variant A: private individual, scale — other sources Revenue 48k, cost 0, scale tax 12% = 5,760, ZUS 0.

Variant B: sole proprietorship, linear 19% + reduced ZUS Revenue 48k, cost 18k, income 30k, PIT 5,700, ZUS 6k, 11,700 in total.

Variant C: sole proprietorship, 12% flat rate Revenue 48k *12% = 5,760 + ZUS 6k = 11,760.

Compare the effective burden. Decide which model minimises the risk of being challenged at your payout frequency. Consult your accountant.

Check yourself

1. Why is a prop payout not automatically a 19% capital gain under Article 30b?
2. Explain the difference: scale vs linear vs flat rate when challenge costs are 40% of revenue.
3. What is the VAT import of services and when does it apply to a trader who runs a sole proprietorship?
4. Which 6 documents must you have for every payout to defend yourself before the tax office (US)?
5. Why the NBP rate from the previous day, and not the Revolut/bank rate?

Frequently asked questions

Do I need a sole proprietorship from the first payout? No, but after 2-3 regular payouts and monthly challenge purchases you meet the definition of a business. Safer to register one.

PKD codes for a prop trader? Most often: 66.19.Z, 66.30.Z, 70.22.Z, 85.59.B (training if you educate). Consult an adviser, the tax office (US) has different interpretations.

Can I deduct a computer, a monitor, the internet? Under a sole proprietorship — yes, in proportion to business use. Keep the invoices.

What about Deel, Wise, Payoneer as intermediaries? What counts is the moment the funds arrive in an account you own. Deel -> Wise -> mBank means income on the day it lands in Wise (if you are a Polish resident, you are liable). Document the whole chain.

Do I have to pay ZUS from prop if I am employed? If you run a sole proprietorship and your employment income is above the minimum wage, pension and disability ZUS may be voluntary and health mandatory. Consult an adviser.

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Educational material. Not legal or tax advice. Regulations change. Before choosing a form of taxation, consult a tax adviser and an accountant who knows cross-border settlements.

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