ZUS contributions – social and old-age pension insurance and contributions on preferential terms

by Anna Kościelny

5 May 2025

Are you a sole proprietor looking for up-to-date information on social insurance contributions? Find out how much contributions sole proprietors have to pay in 2025, which ones are compulsory and when they must pay them.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

How much is the health insurance contribution in 2025?
How much are the basic social insurance (ZUS) contributions for sole proprietorships in 2025?
Old-age and disability pension insurance in 2025
Sickness and work accident insurance
Preferential social insurance (ZUS) contributions for sole proprietors in 2025
Which insurance is compulsory?
ZUS contributions payable when hiring employees. How much are the ZUS contributions payable by the employee? How much are the ZUS contributions to be paid for an employee?
What is the deadline for payment of ZUS contributions? Contribution payment deadlines in 2025

How much is the health insurance contribution in 2025?

The amount of the health insurance contribution payable by sole proprietors varies depending on the taxation regime.

For those who pay income tax according to general rules, the health insurance contribution is calculated on the basis of income earned in the previous month. The contribution rate is 9% for sole proprietors using tax brackets and 4.9% for taxpayers paying flat tax. However, there has been a minimum assessment base for the contribution since February 2025. The health insurance contribution may not be lower than 9% of 75% of the minimum wage. This means that the minimum health insurance contribution will be 314.96 zloty until the end of 2025. Nonetheless, if the sole proprietor’s gross income is higher than the minimum wage, the health insurance contribution will be accordingly higher.
For sole proprietors using the tax deduction card regime, the base for assessment of the health insurance contribution payable in a given calendar year is 9% of 75% of the minimum wage. This means that the 2025 health insurance contribution for this group of sole proprietors will be 314.96 zloty, regardless of income earned.
For sole proprietors paying flat tax on gross income the health insurance contribution is calculated on the basis of the average monthly salary in the enterprise sector (8,549.18 zloty).

The contribution amount depends on the gross income earned:

the monthly health insurance contribution for sole proprietors earning annually up to 60,000 zloty is 9% of the assessment base being 60% of the average salary – meaning that the contribution will amount to 461.66 zloty,
the monthly health insurance contribution for sole proprietors earning more than 60,000 zloty, but no more than 300,000 zloty, is 9% of the assessment base being 100% of the average salary – in which case the contribution will amount to 769.43 zloty,
the monthly health insurance contribution for sole proprietors earning annually more than 300,000 zloty is 9% of the assessment base being 180% of the average salary – then the contribution will amount to 1,384.97 zloty.

How much are the basic social insurance (ZUS) contributions for sole proprietorships in 2025?

In 2025, the base for assessment of standard (i.e. non-preferential) ZUS contributions, payable by sole proprietors who are not entitled to reliefs, is no less than 60% of the projected average monthly salary. With a contribution assessment base of 5,203.80 zloty, sole proprietors are obliged to pay the standard contributions of 1,773.96 zloty per month (if they are using voluntary sickness insurance) or 1,646.47 zloty (if they give up voluntary sickness insurance).

Old-age and disability pension insurance in 2025

An old-age pension insurance contribution payable by sole proprietors is 19.52% of the assessment base. The minimum amount of the standard contribution is 1,015.78 zloty, and 273.24 zloty in the case of preferential base.

The disability pension insurance contribution is, in turn, 8% of the assessment base. For sole proprietors not entitled to reliefs, the minimum disability pension insurance contribution is 416.30 zloty, and for those entitled to the relief called ‘Mały ZUS Plus’ (preferential ZUS plus) it is 111.98 zloty.

Sickness and work accident insurance

Sole proprietors pay ZUS contributions for sickness insurance at 2.45% of the assessment base.

The work accident insurance contribution rates range from 0.67% to 3.33% depending on the number of the insured and the industry in which the business operates. If a sole proprietor does not have to be entered in the REGON register, or has to be entered in the REGON register but registers no more than 9 persons for the insurance, he is subject to a flat rate contribution of 1.67% of the assessment base.

Sole proprietors who are not eligible for reliefs and who pay ZUS contributions on the assessment base not lower than 60% of the projected average monthly salary must also pay contributions to the Labour Fund and Solidarity Fund at 2.45% of the assessment base.

Preferential social insurance (ZUS) contributions for sole proprietors in 2025

Relief for starting a business

The relief for starting a business exempts the sole proprietor from paying social insurance contributions for a certain period. Importantly, however, during this period, the sole proprietor is not entitled to benefits in the event of an accident at work or occupational disease (sickness benefit, rehabilitation benefit) which are paid from work accident insurance.

Preferential ZUS

For sole proprietors who benefit from ‘Mały ZUS Plus’ (preferential ZUS plus) relief in 2025, the contribution assessment base is 30% of the minimum wage. As the minimum wage in 2025 amounts to 4,666 zloty gross, the contribution assessment base is 1,399.80 zloty. The sum of social insurance contributions for those paying preferential ZUS contributions but not using voluntary sickness insurance is 408,60 zloty per month. The preferential ZUS contributions for those who choose voluntary sickness insurance amounts to 442.90 zloty.

Which insurance is compulsory?

Sole proprietors are subject to compulsory old-age pension and disability pension insurance. They must also pay work accident insurance contributions. Sickness insurance contributions are, however, voluntary. Sole proprietors paying preferential ZUS contributions are not obliged to pay contributions to the Labour Fund and the Solidarity Fund.

The Relief for starting a business exempts the sole proprietor from the obligation to pay ZUS contributions for:

old-age pension insurance,
disability pension insurance,
work accident insurance,
sickness insurance.

However, it is possible to opt out of the relief for starting a business. In such a case, the contribution assessment base must not be lower than 30% of the minimum wage. If you are thinking of opting out of the relief for starting a business but you have a lot of doubts, consider consulting a tax adviser, who will give you clear guidance and help reduce the burden.

ZUS contributions payable when hiring employees. How much are the ZUS contributions payable by the employee? How much are the ZUS contributions to be paid for an employee?

If a sole proprietor hires an employee under a contract of employment, ZUS contributions are paid by both parties to the relationship.

If an employee is paid the minimum wage, which is 4,666 zloty gross in 2025, the following ZUS contributions are deducted from their wage:

old-age pension insurance contribution at 9.76% of the monthly pay (455.40 zloty),
disability pension insurance contribution at 1.5% of the monthly pay (69.99 zloty),
sickness insurance contribution at 2.45% of the monthly pay (114.32 zloty),
health insurance contribution of 362.37 zloty.

The total amount of ZUS contributions payable by an employee earning the minimum wage in 2025 is 1,002.08 zloty.

The sole proprietor who is an employer is also obliged to pay the relevant ZUS contributions on the wages of each employee (in the case of the minimum wage):

old-age pension insurance contribution at 9.76% of the monthly pay (455.40 zloty),
disability pension insurance contribution at 6.5% of the monthly pay (303.29 zloty),
work accident insurance contribution at 1.67% of the monthly pay (77.92 zloty),
contributions to the Labour Fund (including the Solidarity Fund) at 2.45% of the monthly pay (114.32 zloty),
contributions to the Guaranteed Employee Benefits Fund at 0.1% of the monthly pay (4.67 zloty).

So the total amount of social insurance contributions payable monthly by the employer in the case of the minimum wage is 955.60 zloty.

This means that the total ZUS contributions payable by both the employer and the employee in the case of the minimum wage add up to 1,957.68 zloty.

What is the deadline for payment of ZUS contributions? Contribution payment deadlines in 2025

There are three different deadlines for payment of ZUS contributions in 2025, depending on the type of activity:

state and local government budget units are required to pay the contributions and submit the payment documents by the 5th of the following month,
taxpayers who have legal personality (such as joint-stock companies, limited liability companies, co-operatives and foundations) are required to pay ZUS contributions by the 15th of the following month,
when it comes to other contribution payers (including sole proprietors), the deadline for payment of ZUS contributions is the 20th of the following month.