What Is a Mikrorachunek? Poland's Individual Tax Payment Account Explained

Go to podatki.gov.pl, enter your PESEL or NIP, and save the 26-digit number you get back. That is your mikrorachunek podatkowy, the single permanent account you use to pay PIT, CIT, and VAT to the Polish tax authority ^[1]. It never changes, regardless of where you live, who employs you, or which tax office handles your file. One number, every tax payment, for life.

This guide covers how the number is structured, which taxes it applies to, and how to verify one before sending money to it. If someone sent you a mikrorachunek and you want to confirm it is legitimate, paste it into our Mikrorachunek Checker.

How the Mikrorachunek Replaced the Old System

Before 2020, each urząd skarbowy (tax office) maintained its own bank accounts, one per tax type. You paid PIT to one account, VAT to another, and both changed if you moved cities. Payments landed in the wrong office constantly. Accountants tracked dozens of accounts across jurisdictions.

The Ministry of Finance scrapped that system on January 1, 2020 ^[1]. Now a single virtual account number, held at the National Bank of Poland (NBP), is generated automatically from your tax identifier. You never apply for it, activate it, or maintain it. If you have a PESEL or NIP, the account already exists.

What the 26-Digit Number Means

A mikrorachunek is a Polish IBAN. It always has 26 digits and follows a fixed structure defined in the Tax Ordinance Act ^{[1] [2]}:

XX 1010 0071 222 Y ZZZZZZZZZZZZ

XX (positions 1–2): IBAN check digits, calculated with the standard modulo-97 algorithm. These catch typos. Change any single digit elsewhere and the check digits invalidate the whole number. Your bank should reject the transfer.

1010 0071 222 (positions 3–13): A constant segment present in every mikrorachunek. 10100071 is the NBP sort code (numer rozliczeniowy) and 222 is a fixed supplementary number (numer uzupełniający) ^[1]. If a number claiming to be a mikrorachunek does not contain 10100071222 in these positions, it is fake.

Y (position 14): Type indicator. 1 means the number encodes a PESEL, 2 means a NIP ^[1].

ZZZZZZZZZZZZ (positions 15–26): Your PESEL or NIP followed by trailing zeros. A PESEL has 11 digits and gets one trailing zero. A NIP has 10 digits and gets two.

This structure means anyone who sees your mikrorachunek can extract your PESEL or NIP from it. The number is not secret, but treat it the way you treat your tax ID: do not post it publicly.

To decode a mikrorachunek and see which identifier is embedded, paste it into our Mikrorachunek Checker.

PESEL or NIP: Which One Is in Your Mikrorachunek?

Individuals (employees, retirees, anyone paying PIT from employment income) use a PESEL-based mikrorachunek ^[1]. If you work in Poland on an umowa o pracę, this is you.

VAT-registered businesses use a NIP-based mikrorachunek ^[1]. If you run a sole proprietorship (jednoosobowa działalność gospodarcza, commonly called JDG) and are registered for VAT, your VAT payments go through the NIP-based number.

If you hold both a PESEL and a NIP, you may have two mikrorachunek numbers: one per identifier, used for different tax types. In practice, most employed foreigners only ever use the PESEL-based one.

Sole proprietors not registered for VAT sometimes fall into a grey area. If you run a JDG but are VAT-exempt, you may use your PESEL-based mikrorachunek for PIT. Ask your accountant which applies to you rather than guessing.

How to Find Your Mikrorachunek Number

The fastest method: the official generator on podatki.gov.pl ^[1]. Enter your PESEL or NIP, get your number instantly. Save it somewhere permanent. You will reuse it for years.

Your annual PIT settlement through Twój e-PIT also displays it if you owe money. Your accountant or employer's payroll department may include it on tax documents too, but the generator is the definitive source.

How to Pay Taxes Through Your Mikrorachunek

You make a standard bank transfer to your 26-digit number. The critical detail: use your bank's dedicated tax transfer form (przelew podatkowy), not a regular domestic transfer. Polish banks have a specific transfer type for tax payments with extra fields. If you use a regular transfer, the payment may arrive but get misclassified, which creates delays or penalties.

Transfer Fields

Recipient name: "Urząd Skarbowy." Some banks auto-fill this when you select the tax transfer type.

Recipient account number: Your 26-digit mikrorachunek. Verify it before sending if you have any doubt.

Transfer title (tytuł przelewu): Follows a required format encoding the tax form symbol, period, and year. For a PIT-37 payment covering 2024, the title looks like: /TI/PESEL/OKR/24R/SFP/PIT-37. Your bank's tax transfer form will walk you through these fields rather than making you type the string manually.

Amount: The exact sum you owe, down to the grosz.

Say you filed your annual PIT-37 and the settlement shows you owe 1,847.00 PLN. You open your banking app, select przelew podatkowy, enter your mikrorachunek as the recipient, fill in the tax form fields, and transfer 1,847.00 PLN. That is the entire process.

Common Mistakes

Sending money to the wrong type of mikrorachunek is the one that bites people. If you use your PESEL-based number when you should be using the NIP-based one for VAT, the tax office will eventually sort it out, but you will spend time writing letters or visiting the urząd skarbowy in person to untangle it. Double-check the identifier type before you pay.

Which Taxes Go Through Your Mikrorachunek?

Not all of them. This distinction catches people off guard.

Paid through mikrorachunek: PIT (all forms), CIT, VAT, ryczałt (flat-rate tax for rental income and certain small businesses), the solidarity surcharge (DSF), tax on gaming (POG), and several smaller levies ^[1]. Since October 2025, the list also covers VAT-KU (deposit-system VAT) and global minimum tax surcharges ^[3].

Not paid through mikrorachunek: PCC (podatek od czynności cywilnoprawnych, tax on civil law transactions), property tax (podatek od nieruchomości), and local fees ^[1]. PCC goes to your tax office's dedicated PCC account. Property tax goes to your gmina (municipality).

If you just bought a used car for 37,500 PLN and need to pay 2% PCC, do not send 750 PLN to your mikrorachunek. It will end up in the wrong place. PCC has a separate account.

Mikrorachunek for Foreigners

The system does not distinguish between Polish citizens and foreigners. If you have the identifier, you have the account.

If you have a PESEL: Your mikrorachunek already exists. Use the generator, enter the PESEL, done.

If you do not have a PESEL yet: You need one before the mikrorachunek system is relevant to you. Most foreigners get a PESEL automatically when registering residence (zameldowanie) at the gmina office. If you are not registering residence but need a PESEL for tax purposes, you can apply at any urząd skarbowy.

If you run a business: Your NIP generates a separate mikrorachunek for business taxes. You obtain a NIP through the tax office or through CEIDG (Centralna Ewidencja i Informacja o Działalności Gospodarczej), Poland's sole proprietorship registry.

How to Verify a Mikrorachunek Number

Verify before you transfer. Scams involving fake tax account numbers exist: a message arrives claiming to be from the tax office, containing a different account number, hoping you will redirect your tax payment.

Two verification methods:

1. Enter your own PESEL or NIP into the official generator on podatki.gov.pl. Compare the result with the number you received. If they match, it is real.
2. Paste the number into our Mikrorachunek Checker. The tool validates the IBAN structure, confirms the constant NBP segment, extracts the embedded identifier, and tells you whether the number is legitimate.

If the number fails either check, do not transfer money to it.

Common Questions

Can I receive a tax refund to my mikrorachunek?

No. It is a one-way payment channel. Refunds go to the personal bank account you specify in your PIT filing ^[1].

Do I need a separate mikrorachunek for each type of tax?

No. PIT, CIT, and VAT all go to the same number. The tax office identifies which tax the payment covers based on the transfer title, not the account number.

What happens if I overpay or misclassify a payment?

The money is not lost. It sits in the system under your identifier. Contact your urząd skarbowy to request a reallocation to the correct tax type or a refund of the overpayment.

How much tax do you pay in Poland?

PIT on employment income is 12% up to 120,000 PLN/year and 32% above that threshold ^[4]. Ryczałt on rental income is 8.5% up to 100,000 PLN and 12.5% above ^[4]. CIT is 9% for small taxpayers and 19% otherwise ^[5]. Standard VAT is 23% ^[4].

References

1. Mikrorachunek Podatkowy — Official Guide — Ministry of Finance — podatki.gov.pl
2. Tax Ordinance Act (Consolidated Text, Dz.U. 2025 poz. 111) — eli.gov.pl
3. Regulation on Mikrorachunek Payments (Dz.U. 2025 poz. 1305) — isap.sejm.gov.pl
4. PIT, Ryczałt, and VAT Rates — PWC Worldwide Tax Summaries — taxsummaries.pwc.com
5. CIT Tax Rates (English) — Ministry of Finance — podatki.gov.pl