Forex from an Office or from Home — Polish Tax Deductions

The first question I hear from readers settling forex taxes in Poland is almost always the same: can I deduct Internet and electricity? On PIT-38 the answer is dry — no. Belka is a flat 19 percent on income, and deductible costs are limited to expenses directly tied to a trade: broker commission, platform fee, market data, NBP exchange-rate differences. Rent, utilities, and a desk stay outside the calculation. Things change only when you move to PIT-36L as a sole proprietor or to corporate income tax as a limited company. This article compares what it really costs to leave the home desk for a rented office.

Home plus PIT-38 — why utilities are off the table

Most Polish retail traders work from home and settle their gains on PIT-38 — the form for capital gains from stocks, crypto, and forex. Belka logic is simple: 19 percent on income, meaning revenue minus costs. The friction sits in what the tax office accepts as costs directly tied to capital income.

The Ministry of Finance consistently refuses to treat rent, electricity, and Internet as deductible on PIT-38, because these expenses are personal or mixed. The same Internet streams films in the evening, the same electricity runs the dishwasher. Without a clear separation, which PIT-38 does not provide, the office will not allow a proportional deduction. In practice the only deductible costs on PIT-38 are broker commissions, platform or market-data subscriptions invoiced to the trader by name, and exchange-rate differences from NBP conversions.

This is a deliberate design choice, not a flaw. Belka was meant to be a simple flat-rate charge on capital gains, not an income tax with a wide menu of business deductions. To write off utilities, you have to enter a different regime: a sole proprietorship or a company.

Sole proprietorship and company — when part of the apartment becomes a cost

Moving to a sole proprietorship (JDG) changes the rules. Forex run as a registered business is settled on PIT-36L (flat 19 percent) or on the progressive scale (12 and 32 percent), and the cost catalogue opens up: equipment, software, courses, part of the utilities. The price of entry is ZUS social-security contributions, a revenue-and-expense ledger, and the requirement to show that forex is performed “in an organised and continuous manner” — which does not always fit a retail scalping setup.

Article 22 of the Personal Income Tax Act allows a cost if it was incurred to earn revenue, unless it sits on the excluded list. For an apartment this means a proportional share of rent, utilities, and Internet can be deductible — but only if a clearly separated part is used exclusively for business. The tax office accepts a dedicated room with a desk and equipment, but not “a corner of the living room”.

In a Polish limited company (sp. z o.o.) the logic is similar, only the labels differ. The company needs a registered seat in the KRS court register, and there is no obstacle to placing it in your apartment if you have legal title or written consent from the owner. The corresponding part of the apartment then becomes the company’s place of business and its proportional running costs can be deducted at the corporate-tax level. For the registration mechanics see the piece on sole proprietorship versus company; for the broader record-keeping backdrop, see taxes and records on our sister site ForexMechanics.com.

A hypothetical example — Marek, 80 m² apartment in Warsaw

Take a hypothetical Marek. He lives in 80 m² on Warsaw’s Mokotów, four rooms, one of them (20 m², or 25 percent of the area) used only for forex. Monthly apartment costs: 1,200 PLN building fee, 300 PLN electricity, 500 PLN heating, 80 PLN fibre Internet — together 2,080 PLN per month, or 24,960 PLN per year. The 25 percent share assigned to trading: 6,240 PLN per year.

Three scenarios. On PIT-38 (Belka) Marek files as a private individual and the deduction from his 6,240 PLN of apartment costs is zero — the apartment is not in the deductible-cost catalogue. On a sole proprietorship at the flat 19 percent the 6,240 PLN enters costs and the tax saving lands at roughly 1,186 PLN per year, against the price of ZUS contributions and proper bookkeeping. In a limited company seated in the apartment the same amount reduces CIT, which at the small-taxpayer rate of 9 percent saves around 562 PLN; the company route, however, layers on dividend tax or salary with ZUS, so combined tax often ends up neutral or worse than a sole proprietorship. The trade-offs are covered in the piece on a limited company for traders.

Home office alone generates savings in the range of 500 to 1,200 PLN per year. Nice to have, but it does not change the shape of the tax bill.

A rented office — full cost, but a real net figure

Now assume Marek rents a 25 m² office in the same district. Market price for 2026 is roughly 1,500 PLN of rent, 200 PLN of utilities, 100 PLN of business Internet, and 50 PLN of building fee — together 1,850 PLN per month, or 22,200 PLN per year. If the office serves only the company or the sole proprietorship, the full amount is deductible; there is no 25 percent proportion, because there is no shared family area.

Under the flat 19 percent the tax saving on 22,200 PLN of annual cost lands at roughly 4,218 PLN. Net out-of-pocket after tax then comes to a bit under 18,000 PLN — materially more than any home scenario. A rented office starts to make sense only when it generates real intangible value (deeper focus, separation from family life, neutral ground for partner meetings) or when scale makes 18,000 PLN per year a comfortable operating cost.

Three caveats sit on top of the math. Renting an office does not by itself turn forex into a business activity — you still need to meet the substantive criteria in the Polish tax code. A limited company must also register a change of seat in the KRS court register if it previously sat at a home address. And a commercial lease typically requires a longer commitment of 12 to 36 months plus a deposit.

„Kosztami uzyskania przychodów są koszty poniesione w celu osiągnięcia przychodów lub zachowania albo zabezpieczenia źródła przychodów, z wyjątkiem kosztów wymienionych w art. 23.” — Personal Income Tax Act of Poland, art. 22(1), Sejm RP, 1991 (consolidated text).

What goes in and what stays out

On PIT-38 the deductible list is short: broker commissions, transaction fees, platform or market-data subscriptions invoiced to the trader, and exchange-rate differences from NBP conversions. Outside the list sit rent, utilities, Internet, computer equipment, trading courses, and accounting fees.

In a sole proprietorship or company the catalogue is much broader: office lease or a proportional share of apartment rent, utilities in the same proportion, business Internet, computer equipment under depreciation rules, trading software, courses and books, accounting fees, and the deductible portion of ZUS. Private expenses still stay out — a suit “for trading” or a solo seaside retreat dressed up as a workshop will not pass.

Your next step

1. Open a spreadsheet and write three columns: real monthly apartment costs, the proportional share assigned to your trading room, and the expected annual forex profit. This grid alone will tell you whether a sole proprietorship and an office are worth discussing, or whether staying on PIT-38 makes more sense for now.
2. Book a short call with a Polish accountant or tax adviser and ask directly whether your trading scale and execution pattern qualify forex as business activity under the Polish tax code. Without that status no utility deductions are available, regardless of how nicely your home desk looks.
3. If you already run a sole proprietorship or plan to register a company, measure the apartment and write a memo with the work-room area, the total floor area, and the resulting proportion. Attach photographs and a simple floor plan — that file is your defence if the tax office ever questions the deductions.
4. Do a brief market scan of two or three rented offices in your area, including coworking desks priced between 400 and 800 PLN per month. Compare the real net cost after tax with the productivity loss you absorb at home today, then see whether the numbers and your daily focus point the same way.
5. Read articles 22 and 23 of the Polish Personal Income Tax Act, or ask your accountant for a short memo on your situation — particularly the list of excluded costs in article 23. Keep every invoice and bank statement for five years, the standard limitation period for tax liabilities in Poland.