Unregistered business activity (działalność nierejestrowana) and a specific-task contract (umowa o dzieło) allow you to earn without setting up a firm, but shift the duties to different people. Under a specific-task contract, part of the formalities (tax advance, information to ZUS) usually falls on the principal, and tax is calculated on revenue reduced by flat-rate costs of 20% or 50%. Under unregistered activity you handle everything yourself, but you can deduct the actually incurred expenses and serve many clients without signing separate contracts.
A result for one principal or ongoing sales
The easiest way to tell the two forms apart is by what is the subject of the earning. A specific-task contract (umowa o dzieło) concerns a specific, verifiable result: an illustration, a graphic design, a text, an application, a speech, a painting. The principal pays for the result, not for effort or the number of hours. We discuss this contract in detail in the article on the specific-task contract.
Unregistered activity, by contrast, is small, repetitive gainful activity carried out for one's own account: sales of self-made products, tutoring, serving a few regular clients. It does not require an entry in CEIDG as long as revenue in no quarter exceeds 225% of the minimum wage, i.e. in 2026 PLN 10,813.50. The conditions for using this form, including the requirement of no firm in the last 60 months, are described in the text Unregistered activity 2026 — limits, rules and for whom.
In practice the question is therefore: are you doing a one-off order for a firm, or are you running your own small-scale sales for many recipients? The first situation fits a specific-task contract, the second — unregistered activity.
Who calculates and pays the tax
Specific-task contract
If the principal is an entrepreneur or a company, they become the remitter: on the remuneration reduced by deductible costs they withhold an advance at the lowest tax-scale rate, i.e. 12%, and pay it to the tax office. The costs are 20% of revenue, and where the result is a work and copyright is transferred or a licence is granted by the author — 50%. The increased costs have an annual limit equal to the upper boundary of the first tax-scale bracket, i.e. PLN 120,000.
It is different when the specific task is commissioned by a private person. A natural person not running a firm is not a remitter, so the contractor pays the advance themselves by the 20th day of the month following the month of receiving the money. Many people forget this, because they associate the specific-task contract exclusively with settlement "through the principal".
For very small contracts, up to PLN 200, concluded with a person who is not the remitter's employee, a flat-rate tax of 12% on revenue applies, with no costs.
Unregistered activity
No advances are paid during the year. Revenue and documented costs are reported only in the PIT-36 return, in the section for unregistered activity, filed by 30 April of the following year. Income is taxed on the scale. Costs can include real outlays: materials, software, listing fees, shipping.
ZUS and formalities on both sides
- A specific-task contract as a rule does not give rise to contributions. Exception: a specific-task contract concluded with one's own employer or performed for them is subject to contributions as if it were an employment.
- The principal (a firm or a natural person commissioning the specific task) must inform ZUS of every specific-task contract within 7 days of its conclusion, if the contractor is not their employee.
- Unregistered activity does not mean contributions from the activity itself. Watch out, however, for services rendered to a firm on the basis of a signed mandate contract (umowa zlecenie) or service agreement: the principal can then become the contribution remitter, even if the contractor considers this cooperation part of their unregistered activity.
- Under unregistered activity, a simplified sales register must be kept and a bill or invoice issued when the buyer asks for one. For a specific-task contract, the document is the contract itself and its receipt.
Worked example: a PLN 4,000 project
A graphic designer gets an offer to design a visual identity for a small firm for PLN 4,000. To do the job she will spend PLN 250 on a font licence and test prints. The comparison concerns only this order, in 2026:
| Option | Tax base | 12% tax | When payable |
|---|---|---|---|
| Specific-task contract with copyright transfer (50% costs) | PLN 2,000 | PLN 240 | advance withheld by the firm on payment |
| Specific-task contract without copyright (20% costs) | PLN 3,200 | PLN 384 | advance withheld by the firm on payment |
| Unregistered activity (actual costs PLN 250) | PLN 3,750 | PLN 450 | in the annual return, by 30 April |
The amounts show only the impact of one job. The final tax depends on all income settled on the scale in a given year, because the tax-reducing amount (PLN 3,600) applies once, in the annual return. Conclusion from the example: for creative work with transfer of copyright, a specific-task contract usually gives a lower tax, while unregistered activity starts to win where real outlays are high, e.g. in handicraft with expensive materials.
When each form works
A specific-task contract is sensible when:
- the principal is a firm which will take over the advance settlement,
- the result is a work, and the transfer of copyright allows the 50% costs to be applied,
- it is about single orders, not ongoing service.
Unregistered activity fits better when:
- the clients are private persons who will not sign a contract or withhold tax,
- you sell goods or small services to many recipients,
- work-related expenses are significant and worth deducting,
- revenue is safely within the quarterly limit.
Both forms can be combined. Revenue from a specific-task contract is a separate source and is not counted towards the unregistered-activity limit. You must, however, be careful not to call "specific task" activities that are ongoing provision of services — such a contract is easily reclassified as a mandate, with contribution consequences for the principal.
Most common mistakes
- A specific-task contract for repetitive activities without a specific result (e.g. monthly running of a firm's profile).
- Failing to pay the advance oneself for a specific task commissioned by a private person.
- Not counting revenue due under unregistered activity and exceeding the quarterly limit without registering a firm within 7 days.
- Omitting costs in PIT-36 — under unregistered activity they are only deducted if documented.
How Good Balance can help
We help assess which form will be more favourable for specific orders, and when revenue grows — we guide you through registering and running a sole proprietorship. We also prepare and review specific-task and licence contracts, so that the description of the result and the copyright clause can stand up to any inspection.