Poland's Ministry of Digital Affairs published a draft bill on 31 July 2026 introducing a 3% Compensatory Tax on Certain Services targeting online advertising, digital platforms, and user data sales, with liability triggered only above EUR 1 billion in global revenue and PLN 25 million in Polish revenue, set to take effect on 1 January 2027.
Poland’s Ministry of Digital Affairs has published a draft bill introducing a Compensatory Tax on Certain Services, effectively establishing a Digital Services Tax (DST) on 31 July 2026.
The tax applies to online targeted advertising, the operation of multi-sided digital interfaces, and the sale of user data generated through internet activity. This tax is scheduled to enter into force on 1 January 2027. The proposed flat tax rate is 3%.
Scope of taxable services (The three pillars)
The tax is levied on revenues derived from the provision of three specific categories of digital services within the territory of Poland:
- Targeted advertising: Placing targeted advertising on an internet interface directed at users of that interface. The service provider is defined as the entity placing the advertisement, regardless of whether they own the interface itself.
- Multi-sided intermediation platforms: Providing a multi-sided internet interface that allows users to interact with each other and may facilitate underlying transactions (supplies of goods or provision of services) directly between those users.
- Sale of user data: Transferring for a fee (via sale, license, or any other paid form) collected user data generated from user activities on internet interfaces.
Tax base calculation rules
Poland’s tax base covers revenue earned during the calendar year from taxable digital services provided in the country, excluding VAT. Location is established through IP addresses, MAC addresses, telecom network data, or other reliable technical methods, not self-reported user information.
- Targeted advertising: The tax base is the total ad revenue multiplied by the share of impressions served to users in Poland. Where a user’s location can’t be pinned down, the calculation falls back to a proportional split based on the users whose locations are known.
- Intermediation platforms: Flat fees, like subscriptions or account charges, are taxed in full when the user opened their account on a device located in Poland. Transaction-based commissions work on a sliding scale: the full commission is taxable if both parties to the transaction are in Poland, and half is taxable if only one party is.
- Sale of user data: Revenue is taxable when it’s tied directly to data collected from Poland-based users. For bundled datasets where individual records can’t be traced to a specific user, the tax base is the dataset’s total revenue multiplied by the percentage of users located in Poland, again falling back to known-location proportions when some users can’t be identified.
Liability thresholds
A company or corporate group only falls under this tax if it clears both thresholds in the prior calendar year; tax residence and seat don’t matter. First, worldwide revenue has to top EUR 1 billion, whether that’s a single entity or the consolidated group. Second, Polish taxable revenue has to exceed PLN 25 million. Miss either one and there’s no liability, regardless of how big the operation is elsewhere.
Critical exemptions and exclusions
The draft bill provides several notable exclusions where the 3% tax does not apply:
- Editorial exemption: entities whose primary activity is publishing editorial content (articles, columns, analyses, opinions) prepared in-house or on their behalf, excluding sponsored content. Primary activity is judged by headcount, working hours, revenue share, and physical space devoted to editorial work.
- Intragroup transactions: services between entities within the same consolidated group aren’t counted as taxable revenue.
- Direct e-commerce sales: exempt when an online interface exists solely or mainly to let a supplier sell directly, no intermediary involved, or to distribute its own or licensed digital content.
- Regulated financial services: supervised financial services, trading venue operations, systematic internalisation, and regulated crowdfunding or loan facilitation are exempt from both the platform and data transfer rules.
Compliance and administrative rules
Taxpayers without a registered office or a fixed place of business in the EU must appoint a tax representative in Poland. The representative must be a VAT-registered entity located in Poland, have no significant tax arrears, have no tax-crime convictions among its leadership, be a licensed tax advisor or accountant, carry civil liability insurance of at least PLN 10,000,000 and not be on national sanction lists. The representative is jointly and severally liable for the tax.
Every entity in a consolidated group is jointly and severally liable for the tax, though the group can name one Poland-based member to handle filings and payments on everyone’s behalf.
Returns are due electronically within 90 business days of the calendar year’s end, with payment in PLN following within 30 days of that filing deadline. The Head of the Second Tax Office Warszawa-ÅšródmieÅ›cie is the designated authority overseeing registration, filings, and collections.
Enforcement and penalties
If a tax shortfall is identified, the tax office will impose an additional tax liability of up to 200% of the unpaid tax. However, the office can scale that down if the taxpayer acted in good faith or showed due diligence, say, by sticking to a cooperative compliance agreement. Separately, failing to register a tax liability within 30 days of the first tax year’s end carries a fine of up to PLN 500,000.
