Let's get started

USA
Andorra
Argentina
Australia
Austria
Bangladesh
Belarus
Belgium
Bosnia & Herzegovina
Brazil
Bulgaria
Canada
Central African Republic
Chad
Colombia
Croatia
Cyprus
Czech Republic
Denmark
Ecuador
Egypt
Equatorial Guinea
Estonia
Ethiopia
Finland
France
Gabon
Germany
Ghana
Greece
Hong Kong
Hungary
India
Indonesia
Ireland
Israel
Italy
Ivory Coast
Kenya
Latvia
Lebanon
Lithuania
Luxembourg
Malta
Mexico
Moldova
Montenegro
Morocco
Netherlands
New Zealand
Nigeria
Norway
Pakistan
Peru
Philippines
Poland
Portugal
Republic of the Congo
Romania
Senegal
Serbia
Singapore
Slovak Republic
South Africa
Spain
Sweden
Switzerland
Turkey
UAE
Ukraine
United Kingdom
Uruguay
Thank you! Your submission has been received!
Oops! Something went wrong while submitting the form.

Granting equity in 

the 

Poland

 

Get to know everything about your taxation and reporting obligations in 

the 

Poland

Looking to offer equity to team members in 
Poland
?
Try Easop

Introduction

You can definitely grant non-qualified stock options (NSO) to local residents in Poland. It’s a good way to incentivize your team members without too much hassle!

There will be no taxation before the time of exercise of the stock options.

Regular employee

NSO

At the time of exercise of the stock options, the tax treatment of the gain made upon exercise of the stock options is not entirely clear, as the spread (i.e. the difference between the fair market value (FMV) of the shares at the time of exercise and the exercise price paid by the grantee) could either be taxed as “other sources of revenue” or as employment income.

  • If the spread is taxed as “other sources of revenue”, then no social security would apply, and there would be no withholding obligation for the local subsidiary, so the grantee will be responsible for reporting the taxes. No social security contributions would apply.
    ‍
  • If the spread is taxed as employment income, taxes must be withheld by the local subsidiary, like it would do with any salary income. Social security contributions would apply.

At the time of sale, the gains will be subject to capital gains tax at a rate of 19% without any social security charges.

Employee via EoR

NSO

You can grant non-qualified stock options (NSOs) to local residents employed via EoR in Poland.

At the time of exercise of the stock options, the tax treatment of the gain made upon exercise of the stock options is not entirely clear, as the spread (i.e. the difference between the fair market value (FMV) of the shares at the time of exercise and the exercise price paid by the grantee) could either be taxed as “other sources of revenue” or as employment income.
‍

  • If the spread is taxed as “other sources of revenue”, then no social security would apply, and there would be no withholding obligation for the Employer of Record (EoR), so the grantee will be responsible for reporting the taxes.
    ‍
  • If the spread is taxed as employment income, then the EoR will have to withhold taxes, like it would do with any salary income. Social security contributions would apply.
    ‍

At the time of sale, the gains will be subject to capital gains tax at a rate of 19% without any social security charges.

Contractor

NSO

You can grant non-qualified stock options (NSOs) to local residents employed as contractors in Poland.

Since the grantee is a contractor, he/she will be responsible for all tax payments and declarations so the company won’t legally have anything to do during the entire lifecycle of the stock options.

The tax treatment of the gain made upon exercise of the stock options is not entirely clear, and could depend on the type of agreement that the company has with the contractor (and the entity the contractor works for):

  • If the contractor works under a B2B contract: there is normally a taxation at the time of exercise, even though there are some arguments to state that taxation should only occur at the time of sale (but that’s something the grantee should check with his/her personal tax advisor at the time of exercise)
  • If the contractor works under a civil law contract: there’s a legally foreseen tax-favored scheme potentially postponing the taxation to the time of sale of the shares which may be available!

If the contractor works under a B2B contract, or if the contractor works under a civil law contract but that the tax-favored scheme doesn’t apply, then chances are that there will be a taxation at the time of exercise of the stock options. What would happen then is that the spread (i.e. the difference between the fair market value of the shares at the time of exercise and the exercise price paid by the grantee) would likely be taxed as “other sources of revenue”.

At the time of sale, the gains will be subject to capital gains tax at a rate of 19% without any social security charges.

Want to know more about equity in 

the 

Poland

?

Discover everything you need to know about taxation and reporting obligations for you and your team in 

the 

Poland

Get in touch