Courses, training recordings and paid webinars can be sold without setting up a firm — under unregistered business activity (działalność nierejestrowana) — as long as revenue in any quarter does not exceed PLN 10,813.50 in 2026. The course creator must, however, watch a few things that are easily missed in digital sales: the moment when a sale counts towards the limit, consumer rights for digital content, the cash register and seasonal sales "peaks" around a course launch.
Does an online course fit within unregistered activity
Unregistered business activity may be run by an individual who has not run a business in the last 60 months and whose planned pursuit does not fall under regulated or licensed activities. Selling your own educational materials in principle meets these conditions. We describe the full rules of this form in the article Unregistered business activity 2026 — limits, rules and who it is for.
In practice, the quarterly limit translates into a number of accesses sold:
| Course price | Maximum number of sales per quarter (2026) |
|---|---|
| PLN 99 | 109 |
| PLN 297 | 36 |
| PLN 590 | 18 |
| PLN 1,200 | 9 |
The limit counts the revenue due, which also covers sales for which the money has not yet come in — e.g. when the sales platform pays out funds once a month. What decides on exceeding the limit is the date of sale, not the date of payout from the platform.
Course launch — the biggest risk
Course sales rarely spread evenly over time. A launch campaign, a pre-sale period or a holiday-themed promotion can bring in more over a few days than usual over half a year.
Example. Ms Karolina sells a culinary photography course for PLN 297. For most of the year, she sells 15–20 accesses per quarter. In March 2026 she organises the launch of a new edition and sells 45 accesses in a week. Revenue from Q1 exceeds PLN 13,000 — from the day the limit is exceeded she has 7 days to register in CEIDG, and sales above the limit will already count as business revenue.
There are two solutions: plan the campaign to stay within the limit (e.g. a limited number of seats), or register a firm before the launch and use the start-up relief in ZUS. The decision is worth making before sales start, not during them.
Consumer rights for digital content
A person running unregistered business activity must respect consumer rights just like an entrepreneur. A customer buying online has, as a rule, 14 days to withdraw from the contract without giving a reason. For a recorded course, this right expires only when all of the following apply:
- the customer has given express consent to receive the content before the withdrawal period ends,
- they have been informed that after the start of performance they will lose the right of withdrawal, and have acknowledged this,
- they have received confirmation of conclusion of the contract on a durable medium (e.g. in an e-mail).
If any of these elements is missing, the customer may resign and demand a refund even after watching part of the materials. For this reason, the order form should contain a separate consent box and should trigger an automatic confirmation.
Cash register and receipts
Sales to private individuals are, in principle, recorded on a cash register, but there is an exemption for sellers whose such turnover did not exceed PLN 20,000 in the previous year (in the year of starting — proportionally to the sales period). In unregistered activity, annual turnover may exceed this amount, so it should not be assumed that a cash register will never be needed.
Regardless of the limit, services provided to private individuals are exempt from the cash register if the full payment reaches the seller's bank account (or by post), and the records and payment evidence clearly show what the payment was for. For payments through payment intermediaries and course platforms it is necessary to check whether this condition is met. We write more on cash-register exemptions in the article Who needs a cash register.
At the buyer's request, a receipt or an invoice has to be issued, and each sale has to be entered in the simplified sales register.
VAT and clients from other countries
With revenue from unregistered activity, the seller uses the turnover-based VAT exemption, whose annual limit in 2026 is PLN 240,000. Watch out, however, for private clients from other EU countries: if the total value of such electronic services and distance sales to consumers from other EU countries exceeds EUR 10,000 (PLN 42,000) in a year, VAT is settled under the rules of the customer's country. With the limits of unregistered activity, such a scenario is unlikely, but it is worth knowing before expanding into foreign markets.
Income tax and creator's costs
Income is settled once a year on PIT-36, in the part concerning unregistered activity, under the tax scale (12% up to PLN 120,000 of income). For the tax, amounts actually received count, and the income is the revenue reduced by documented costs, e.g.:
- commissions of the sales platform and the payment operator,
- subscriptions for the course-hosting or webinar tool,
- ads on social media,
- microphone, lighting, software for editing recordings,
- licences for music or photos used in the materials.
With unregistered activity, there are no advance tax payments or ZUS contributions during the year, but there is also no insurance built up on this basis.
Checklist before starting sales
- Check whether a business was not run in the last 60 months.
- Prepare terms with information about the right of withdrawal and a consent box for immediate access.
- Set up a sales register and count quarterly revenue after every transaction.
- Verify whether payments meet the conditions for the cash-register exemption.
- Plan the launch with the limit in mind, or register a firm earlier.
How Good Balance can help
We help creators assess whether course sales will fit within unregistered activity, and when revenue grows — we carry out registration and run a sole proprietorship (JDG) with a form of taxation matched to educational services.