How much does an accountant cost for a Polish JDG?

"300 zł for an accountant versus 29 zł for software" is a dishonest comparison in both directions. Dishonest to the accounting office, because those 300 zł buy work no software performs. Dishonest to you, because 29 zł buys neither your annual tax return, nor anyone's liability, nor an answer to "can I deduct this?"

The question is live right now. KSeF — Poland's national e-invoicing system — has been mandatory for most businesses since 1 April 2026, and from 1 January 2027 it also covers the smallest businesses (Ministry of Finance rollout schedule). Under the current act, penalties under Article 106ni of the VAT Act apply from 1 January 2027 — up to 100% of the VAT on an invoice issued outside the system. On 16 September 2026 the Ministry of Finance announced it will move them to 1 January 2028; that is a bill not yet passed, and it moves only the penalties, not the obligation to use KSeF. Contracts with accounting offices renew in January, which makes autumn the month this bill gets recalculated.

Here is the breakdown: four line items on the accountant's side, three on the software side, and the point where one stops paying off.

An accounting office bill has four line items, not one

A quick vocabulary note, because the terms matter for pricing: JDG is a sole proprietorship, biuro rachunkowe is an accounting office, ryczałt is a flat-rate tax on revenue with no deductible costs, and KPiR is the simplified revenue-and-expense ledger used under the progressive or flat 19% regimes.

Item 1 — the monthly retainer. The only number that appears in an offer. Market ranges for a JDG (net, per month):

Figures from a 2026 survey of Polish accounting-office pricing. Location shifts the whole table: in Warsaw the same service is often 25–35% more expensive than in a town of under 50,000 people. Service in English is usually priced above the Polish-language rate — ask for that number explicitly before you sign.

Item 2 — surcharges. Documents above the contractual limit, payroll (60–150 zł per employee per month), foreign and foreign-currency transactions, intra-EU acquisitions and imported services, e-commerce with OSS. These are what turn "250 zł" in the offer into 420 zł on the November invoice.

Item 3 — the annual return. The line item most comparisons forget. Sometimes bundled, sometimes billed separately from 250 zł upwards, usually near the lower end for a simple JDG. Check the contract — the difference is roughly one monthly retainer.

Item 4 — one-offs. Corrections for past periods, certificates for banks, re-bookings after a change of tax regime, representation before the tax office or ZUS. Not monthly, but real in an annual total.

Where 300–600 zł comes from, and who actually pays it

That range is not invented — it describes one specific profile: KPiR, active VAT, 30–50 documents a month, large city. A Warsaw office may charge 250 zł net for as few as 0–5 documents on KPiR with VAT, and counts upwards from there.

If you are a contractor on 12% ryczałt with no VAT and two invoices a month, your real market price is closer to 130–200 zł. Telling yourself that "an accountant costs 500 zł" is exactly the same stretch as claiming software handles everything for 29 zł.

What 29–59 zł buys, and what it doesn't

Self-accounting software in Poland starts at around 10 zł net and reaches about 60 zł for fuller tiers (September 2026). Biurko's paid plans cost 29–59 zł net per month (SOLO 29 zł, PRO 59 zł; 20% cheaper when paid annually) — we are not the cheapest shelf and we don't pretend to be. The FREE plan costs nothing.

What the price includes (the FREE plan at 0 zł covers issuing invoices and sending them to KSeF with no limit, while SOLO and PRO add the accounting): issuing and receiving invoices through KSeF with the official confirmation (UPO), VAT registers, ryczałt calculated as the month goes with the revenue register, ZUS social contributions with deadlines (for a JDG on ryczałt) and a KEDU file with the DRA declaration. You can download JPK_V7 from the SOLO plan and file it with the tax office, with the UPO, from the PRO plan.

What no software on this market includes:

• liability — an accounting office carries professional indemnity insurance and a contract; software carries terms of service;

• interpretation — "is this trip deductible?" is a question for a person, not a form;

• payroll and HR — hire someone and you need an accountant or a separate system;

• representation — a tax-office audit is handled by a proxy, not an app.

The third line item: your time

This is where most comparisons lie by omission. Software doesn't cost 29 zł; it costs 29 zł plus your hours. But an accounting office doesn't cost the retainer alone either: collecting documents, scanning, and answering your accountant's questions typically eat 15–30 minutes a month.

So what matters is the difference in time, not total time. For a flat-rate contractor with two invoices, that difference is roughly 30 minutes a month. For KPiR with 40 documents and VAT, it is realistically 2–3 hours.

The rest is arithmetic: annual saving divided by extra hours gives you a break-even hourly rate. Above it, the accountant is cheaper.

Two annual bills

Case A — IT contractor, 12% ryczałt, no VAT, two invoices a month

• Accounting office: 150 zł × 12 = 1,800 zł + annual return ~200 zł = 2,000 zł

• Software: 29 zł × 12 = 348 zł

• Difference: 1,652 zł a year for about 6 extra hours of your work → break-even ≈ 275 zł/hour

At this profile software wins almost every time. The bookkeeping is repetitive and fits on one screen. The annual PIT-28 you file outside Biurko — count it in your extra hours.

Case B — services with goods, KPiR, active VAT, 40 documents, one employee

• Accounting office: 400 zł × 12 = 4,800 zł + payroll 100 zł × 12 = 1,200 zł + annual return 400 zł = 6,400 zł

• Software: 60 zł × 12 = 720 zł (the top shelf of the market), and still no payroll

• Difference: 5,680 zł for about 36 extra hours → break-even ≈ 158 zł/hour

If your hour is worth more than 158 zł, the accounting office is the cheaper option. That is the honest answer, not a marketing line. Biurko does not keep a KPiR, so for this profile you would price software with a ledger from another provider.

What Biurko does not do today

If the bill is meant to be honest, that includes our side of it:

• Ryczałt we run month by month: invoices, KSeF, registers, advances and the revenue register, and ZUS contributions (from the SOLO plan). If you are VAT-registered, you can download JPK_V7 from SOLO and file it with the UPO from PRO. Biurko does not prepare the annual PIT-28 — you file it outside Biurko.

• KPiR — we handle invoices, KSeF, VAT registers and JPK_V7, but not the ledger itself, the annual PIT or the scale and flat-tax settlement, and we calculate ZUS contributions only for a JDG on ryczałt. That is not in the product.

• ZUS DRA we prepare as a KEDU file; you submit it yourself through PUE ZUS. Competitors can send it; we can't yet.

• The annual return is a separate line in your budget today. Plan for it.

• Your accountant doesn't disappear. They join your company in Biurko as a free guest — one seat in every company, on every plan, the free one included, so "software plus an accountant once a quarter" is a normal setup, not a failure.

Work out your own bill in 15 minutes

1. Open your contract and find the document limit and the rate for anything above it.

2. Check whether the annual return is inside the retainer or outside it.

3. Add up every invoice from the accounting office over the last 12 months, one-offs included. That is your baseline — not the number in the offer.

4. Measure how many minutes a month the office costs you today.

5. Estimate the same for software: issuing invoices, describing costs, clicking the JPK submission.

6. Divide the annual cost difference by the annual hour difference. Compare that rate to yours.

7. Subtract what software won't do — payroll, cross-border transactions, a dispute with the tax office. If any apply, price the hybrid option instead.

In short

The real bill is not "300 versus 29". It is retainer plus surcharges plus annual return on one side, and subscription plus your hours plus gaps on the other. For simple flat-rate activity the gap is usually 1,500–2,000 zł a year and software wins. For KPiR with an employee, work out the break-even rate before you change anything.

To check your own case: invoicing and KSeF in Biurko are free with no document limit, and every new company gets 14 days of the TEAM plan without a card at biurko.io, then moves to the free plan (FREE).

3. FAQ

How much does an accountant cost for a sole trader in Poland? Between 120 and 250 zł net per month for flat-rate activity with a dozen or so documents and no VAT. Active VAT status pushes it to roughly 200–350 zł, and a large city adds another 25–35%. The annual return may be billed separately.

Can accounting software replace an accounting office in Poland? For simple, repetitive activity, yes — thousands of sole traders run this way. With employees, cross-border transactions, a tax-office dispute or unusual expenses it isn't enough: you need someone who takes responsibility for the interpretation.

Do I need an accountant because of KSeF? No. The obligation covers issuing and receiving invoices in the system, not how you keep your books. You can issue KSeF invoices from the Ministry's free Taxpayer App, from a free software plan, or through an accounting office.

Can I run a Polish JDG in English? The obligations are the same, but your tools and your accountant's language are not. Filings go to Polish authorities in Polish structures, so choose software with a real English interface and confirm the surcharge before signing with an English-speaking office.

Who is liable for a mistake — the software or me? The taxpayer is liable for the tax due, whatever tool produced the numbers. An accounting office is contractually liable to you and carries mandatory indemnity insurance, so a claim is possible. Software gives you correct calculations and proof of filing, not indemnity.