Polish tax regulations determine when suspending a business operating under a flat-rate tax regime impacts the ability to file jointly with a spouse.
Joint Tax Filing Benefits
Joint tax filing can lead to tax savings, allowing taxpayers to utilize a doubled tax-free allowance (30,000 zł x 2), even if one spouse has no income. A higher-earning spouse (with a tax base exceeding 120,000 zł annually) may also avoid the 32% PIT rate if their spouse earns significantly less.
Calculating Tax Liability
To determine the tax due, spouses first calculate their individual incomes, deducting applicable preferences like ZUS contributions, income-generating costs, and tax reliefs. These amounts are then summed, divided by two, and multiplied by the appropriate tax rate (12% or 32%). The resulting tax is then doubled.
Eligibility for Joint Filing – Article 6 Requirements
Spouses can jointly file their income taxes if they are married and remain in a joint property regime for the entire tax year, or from the date of marriage to the end of the tax year if the marriage occurred during the year.
Additional requirements include being Polish tax residents, not utilizing the 19% flat tax or tonnage tax regulations, and not being subject to the Act on Activation of the Shipbuilding and Complementary Industries.
Suspended Activity and Joint Filing
A business owner who has suspended a flat-rate taxed activity can still file jointly if, during the tax year, they had no income, incurred no income-generating costs, were not obligated to increase or decrease their tax base or income, and did not make any other deductions or allowances.
This essentially means filing a “zero” PIT return. An individual interpretation by the National Fiscal Information Board on March 27, 2026 (ref. 0113-KDIPT2-1.4011.77.2026.2.KD) confirms that having a registered, but suspended, business (reporting zero income and costs on PIT-36L) does not disqualify a taxpayer from joint filing under Article 6 of the PIT Act.
Loss of Preference – Non-Zero PIT-36L
However, selling a fixed asset or paying an accounting invoice would result in the loss of this preference. Similarly, failing to file a “zero” PIT-36L when a suspended flat-rate taxed business has no activity also disqualifies the taxpayer from joint filing, as confirmed by an interpretation dated June 28, 2024 (0114-KDIP3-2.4011.305.2024.3.JK3).
Obligation to File Even with No Income
The National Fiscal Information Board clarified that the obligation to file tax returns remains even if no income is generated from the business activity. The board stated that even during formal suspension, income may result from previous actions. Therefore, failure to file a zero PIT-36L prevents joint filing with a spouse.
