The health contribution on ryczałt in 2026

Of everything a one-person company pays in Poland, the health contribution (składka zdrowotna) under ryczałt is the least intuitive: it is not a percentage of what you invoice. The amount is derived from the average wage in the enterprise sector published by the statistics office; revenue does one job only — it says which of three brackets you end the year in (art. 81 ust. 2e-2i ustawy zdrowotnej).

Three brackets, three fixed amounts

• Annual revenue up to 60,000 zł — 498.35 zł a month.
• Above that line but no higher than 300,000 zł — 830.58 zł a month.
• Beyond 300,000 zł — 1,495.04 zł a month.

Inside a bracket the figure does not move at all: two contractors whose revenue differs twofold pay the same every month, as long as they finish on the same side of the line.

What the bracket is measured against — the part that trips people up

The bracket is not read off the raw total in your revenue ledger. You first take the social security contributions you have actually paid off your revenue, and that figure is what gets compared. On full ZUS this is no rounding detail: it can move a business down a whole bracket.

Four contributions belong in that subtraction: pension, disability, sickness and accident. Fundusz Pracy (the labour fund) is not one of them. You pay it in the same transfer to ZUS, yet it lowers neither the health bracket nor your tax base — and bundled in with the others, it is easily miscounted. The same four come back when you work out the tax, so one mistake corrupts two calculations. It does not work the other way round: half of the health contribution paid reduces the ryczałt tax base only, never the health bracket.

Crossing a threshold mid-year

Revenue counts as a running total, so the bracket can change partway through the year. When it does, the higher contribution is due for the very month the threshold was crossed, not for the one after it; earlier months are not repriced straight away. The difference between the monthly payments and the full-year figure is squared up in the annual settlement: you either top it up or get the overpayment back.

There is a second route: if you traded all of the previous year, you may set the basis for the whole contribution year from that year's revenue — then the bracket is fixed up front and does not move mid-year.

Half of what you pay comes back in the tax base

Under ryczałt the contribution is not deducted from the tax itself, but 50% of what you have actually paid reduces the revenue your ryczałt is calculated from. What counts is money that has left your account, not an amount merely due: a contribution paid late enters the calculation in the month it was settled. Which rate applies to that revenue is a separate question, covered in ryczałt rates.

Skala and liniowy work on a different principle entirely

• Skala podatkowa — 9% of income, deductible from nothing at all.
• Podatek liniowy — 4.9% of income, and up to 14,100 zł of it comes off your income each year.
• Both carry a floor: never less than 432.54 zł a month.

The gap is often wider than the headline tax rates suggest: there the contribution climbs with every extra złoty, while on ryczałt it sits still until a threshold. The B2B calculator puts four paths side by side — ryczałt, liniowy, the scale and an IP Box column — contributions included.

Why 2026 still runs on the old rules

The act meant to cut the contribution for sole traders was vetoed and the veto was not overturned, so everything above carries on unchanged. One thing did move: the lowest basis is no longer calculated from a fraction of the minimum wage, which puts the minimum monthly contribution at 432.54 zł.

What you work out outside the app

In Biurko you keep the revenue ledger and see the tax advance calculated from it, but the app does not track your ZUS contributions: it neither knows the amounts you transfer nor takes them off the advance base. The social contributions and 50% of the health contribution you paid come off that base outside the app, on your own or with your accountant. The rest of the month is laid out in the JDG basics and on the B2B accounting page.

What you owe depends on your form of taxation, your social security basis and when you settle each contribution. This article is informational and no substitute for a conversation with an accountant or a tax adviser.