Poland has signed bilateral agreements about avoiding double taxation of foreigners living in the country. In order to determine where the alien actually resides and should pay taxes, it is necessary to get a residency certificate. The same goes for legal entities with established offices in Poland.

The Personal Income Tax (PIT) Act defines the residency certificate as a confirmation of a person’s residence address for taxation purposes. Having the certificate allows to classify and calculate the taxpayer's income properly.

If you are a resident of Poland, in the sense that you either spend here 183 days of the tax year or consider Poland to be the center of your personal and economic interest, then your tax residency should be based in Poland as well. In such circumstances, all your income needs to taxed according to Polish regulations, even if it was earned outside Poland.

By the way, how does one obtain a Polish residency permit?

The certificate is necessary to obtain for tax bearers (e.g. the company you work for in Poland), but taxpayers also profit from its proper obtainment. How does one get it, then? It can be issued by your appropriate tax office after filing one of the forms:

• CFR-1 for legal entities (seven-day waiting period),
• CFR-2 for natural persons (sixty-day waiting period).

Both certificates cost PLN 17. The certificate is valid for as long as the circumstances described in it remain unchanged.

If your tax residency remains in some other country, feel free to provide your certificate to avoid double taxation. From mid-2017 on, it is possible to present also electronic certificates. Have you ever had to get your residency certificate, either in Poland or abroad?