What ZUS is in Poland and how much a business owner pays in 2026

A business owner pays several types of contributions for themselves. The law keeps the percentages the same from year to year, so the amounts change along with the base they are calculated on. Here is what ZUS consists of:

• pension (emerytalne), 19.52% of the base, which builds your future pension;
• disability (rentowe), 8%, which gives you the right to a disability pension;
• accident (wypadkowe), 1.67%;
• sickness (chorobowe), 2.45%. It is voluntary for a JDG, but without it there is no sickness or maternity benefit. The benefit is paid after 90 days of continuous sickness insurance;
• Fundusz Pracy and Fundusz Solidarnościowy (Labor Fund and Solidarity Fund), 2.45%. They are paid only if the base is not lower than the minimum wage (4,806 zł in 2026). That is why this contribution does not apply under ulga na start or the reduced contributions, under Mały ZUS Plus it appears once the base reaches 4,806 zł, and under full ZUS you pay it;
• the health contribution (składka zdrowotna) goes to the NFZ (National Health Fund) and gives you access to public healthcare. It is calculated separately, though, based on your form of taxation.

• A business owner on a JDG pays ZUS for themselves and registers with ZUS on their own.
• A wspólnik (partner) in a spółka cywilna (civil partnership) counts as a business owner under the law, so each partner pays ZUS for themselves the same way as a JDG, in the full amount (art. 8 ust. 6 pkt 1 of the ustawa o systemie ubezpieczeń społecznych, the Social Insurance System Act). The partner's share in the partnership does not affect the contributions.
• The sole wspólnik (shareholder) of a sp. z o.o. (limited liability company) pays ZUS for themselves from the date the company is entered in the KRS (National Court Register) for as long as they hold the shares, even if they do not work in the company themselves (art. 13 pkt 4a). The relief for new businesses does not apply to them. Partners in a spółka jawna, partnerska and komandytowa pay the same way.
• If a sp. z o.o. has two or more shareholders, simply holding shares does not create an obligation to pay ZUS. Contributions arise if a shareholder works in the company under an employment contract or umowa zlecenie, and they are paid on that contract.

If you also work under an employment contract (umowa o pracę) alongside your JDG and your gross salary there is at least the minimum wage, social security contributions from the JDG are not mandatory (art. 9 ust. 1 and 1a), although you can pay the pension and disability contributions voluntarily. The health contribution from the JDG is still due. If your salary under the employment contract is below the minimum wage, for example in a half-time job, social security contributions from the JDG are mandatory. Note that only an employment contract gives this exemption. An umowa zlecenie with another client does not work this way.

You don't have to open a JDG if you provide services to your own clients. There is another option: the Łatwy Start business incubator. You sign an umowa o dzieło or umowa zlecenie with it, and the incubator takes over invoicing your clients, bookkeeping and taxes. In this case you have no business of your own, so you do not register with ZUS as a business owner and do not pay business owner contributions.

The type of contract determines what happens with your insurance. Under an umowa o dzieło, neither social security nor health contributions are paid, so this contract gives you no sick pay, no pension credit and no NFZ health insurance. Under an umowa zlecenie, contributions are usually due: the incubator registers you with ZUS and pays them itself, and the time you work counts toward your length of service. This setup is not available in every field, so we agree on your type of activity with you in advance. What matters is how you actually work, not what the contract is called. We explain how the contracts differ in our article Employment contracts in Poland.

In 2026, full ZUS is calculated on a base of 5,652 zł a month, which is 60% of the projected average salary (9,420 zł). You can declare a higher base, and then your contributions go up.

On top of these amounts comes the health contribution. Together with full ZUS and the sickness contribution, a JDG pays at least 2,359.30 zł a month in 2026. Under ryczałt (lump-sum tax) the maximum is 3,421.80 zł, while under the tax scale and the flat tax the amount grows with your income.

Every JDG pays the health contribution, including during the first relief months, and its amount depends on your form of taxation.

The 432.54 zł floor applies from February 2026 through January 2027. The health contribution is not reduced for a partial month: you pay it in full even if your business operated for only a few days. Once a year, by May 20, the contribution is recalculated based on the previous year's results, and you pay any difference. We explain how the form of taxation affects the tax itself in our article Taxes for individual entrepreneurs in Poland.

A new business that qualifies for relief goes through several stages, and the social security contributions differ at each one. The health contribution is paid at every stage.

Ulga na start is provided for in art. 18 of the Prawo przedsiębiorców (Entrepreneurs' Law). During this time you pay no social security contributions, but you also have no right to sickness or maternity benefits, and these months do not count toward your pension. If you open your business in the middle of a month, the 6 months are counted from the following month, and no social security contributions are due for the first partial month either. You can give up the relief early and move straight to the reduced contributions. They are calculated on a base of 1,441.80 zł, which is 30% of the minimum wage (art. 18a).

Ulga na start and the reduced contributions are available to someone starting a business for the first time or who has not run a business for five years. But if you work through your JDG for a former employer and do for them what you did under an employment contract in the current or previous year, you get no relief. Only a JDG and partners in a spółka cywilna get the relief, while the sole shareholder of a jednoosobowa sp. z o.o. (single-member limited liability company) pays full ZUS from the start.

How does Mały ZUS Plus work?

Under art. 18c, Mały ZUS Plus is available if your JDG's revenue for the previous year was no more than 120,000 zł and the business operated for at least 60 days that year. The threshold is based on revenue (przychód), while the base is based on income (dochód), and people often mix up these two amounts. Contributions are calculated on half of your average monthly income for the previous year, but in 2026 the base is no lower than 1,441.80 zł and no higher than 5,652 zł. You can use Mały ZUS Plus for up to 36 months in any 60-month period. It does not apply during the 24 months of reduced contributions.

For example, a JDG's income for the whole of 2025 was 60,000 zł. The average monthly income is 4,931.51 zł, the base is half of that, 2,465.76 zł, and social security contributions come to 780.17 zł a month with the sickness contribution or 719.76 zł without it. The health contribution is paid separately, based on your form of taxation.

Once a year, a JDG can take wakacje składkowe: skip the ZUS social security contributions for one chosen month, and the state budget pays them for you (art. 17a). To take such a month, you need to meet four conditions and have room left in your de minimis aid limit.

• in the month before you apply, no more than 10 people, including you, were registered with ZUS through your business;
• your revenue in at least one of the two previous years was no more than 2 million euros;
• you do not work for a former employer doing the same job;
• you already pay social security contributions, so you cannot take such a month while on ulga na start.

The RWS application is filed through PUE ZUS in advance, in the month before the chosen one. The health contribution for that month is paid as usual. The exemption counts as de minimis aid, so it reduces your limit for such aid.

Every month, by the 20th, a JDG files the ZUS DRA declaration for the previous month with ZUS and pays the contributions into its individual ZUS account (one account number for all contributions). If you have no employees, the DRA alone is enough. You still have to file it every month (art. 47 ust. 2), and you calculate the amount yourself; ZUS will not calculate it for you. With employees, reports for each of them are added to the DRA, with the same deadline.

If your business opened or closed in the middle of a month, social security contributions for that month are prorated by days (art. 18 ust. 9). To do this, the minimum base is divided by the number of days in the month and multiplied by the days you operated. The health contribution, however, is paid for the whole month.

1. Register your business in CEIDG, provided you have the right to run a JDG in Poland.
2. Within 7 days of the date you start your business, file the ZUS ZUA form with ZUS if you pay social security contributions, or ZUS ZZA if you pay only the health contribution, for example under ulga na start.
3. If you want the voluntary sickness contribution from day one, also file within these 7 days. Later, the insurance will only start from the date you submit the form.

The obligation to pay contributions starts on the date you begin your business activity. If you do not register on time, you will build up contribution arrears for the past months.

ZUS charges late-payment interest the same way as on tax arrears, and since March 5, 2026 the rate is 10.5% a year. If the interest comes to no more than 48.06 zł (1% of the minimum wage), it is not charged. ZUS can also impose an additional fee of up to 100% of the unpaid contributions (art. 24 ust. 1a). After a written reminder, ZUS can collect the debt itself from your bank account, salary or benefits, and it hands enforcement against your property over to the tax office or a court bailiff. You can spread the debt into installments. To do this, you sign an agreement with ZUS.

Being late does not cancel your insurance. It does affect benefits, though: if on the day you become entitled to a sickness or maternity benefit you owe more than 48.06 zł in social security contributions, ZUS will not pay the benefit until you have paid off the debt in full (art. 2a of the ustawa zasiłkowa, the Benefits Act). If you do not pay it off within 6 months, you lose the right to that benefit. And one more rule. While on sick leave you may not do paid work, including running your own business, or you lose the benefit for the entire sick leave. Since April 13, 2026, the law states explicitly that paid work means any activity done to earn money, whatever contract it is under. The only exception is for one-off tasks required by important circumstances.

When a JDG hires people under an employment contract, as the employer it pays 20.48% in contributions on top of the gross salary. For a gross salary of 6,000 zł, that comes to 1,228.80 zł, and the total cost of the employee is 7,228.80 zł a month. From the employee's salary, 13.71% in contributions and the 9% health contribution are withheld, leaving 4,420.43 zł in take-home pay. Read more about contributions for employees in our article Payroll taxes in Poland, and you can work out your own figure with our salary calculator.