One income, three contracts, three different netszlecenie
Poland settles pay through three materially different contract regimes, and the same gross amount lands as a different net on each. An employment contract carries the full stack of compulsory insurances; a mandate contract (umowa zlecenie) carries most of them, with sickness insurance left voluntary; and a specific-work contract as a rule carries no ZUS at all. This page is the mandate-contract tool — the calculator above walks a per-payment gross down to the take-home.
To compare the other two, see the specific-work contract page and the ZUS contributions overview, which sets the employee share against the full combined rate.
From income to net — step by step
On a mandate the payer withholds contributions and the PIT advance from the income before the money reaches you — you receive the net, and the contributions and tax have already been paid on your behalf. The calculator reproduces the same order:
- Social contributions (employee share). pension 9,76%, disability 1,5% and — if you enable it — sickness 2,45%. This is the insured person’s share, not the full rate; the employer’s part is paid alongside, outside your payment.
- Health contribution. 9% on income reduced by the social contributions; since 2022 it is no longer deductible from PIT.
- Tax-deductible costs (KUP). 20% of income after contributions — they lower the tax base before the tax is charged.
- PIT advance. on the scale, from 12% to 32%, with the tax-reducing amount; the under-26 relief can zero it until age 26.
Key and often confused: for the take-home the contributions are charged on the employee share (pension 9,76% — half the 19,52% full rate), not on the doubled full rate. Applying the full rate as an employee share would double the contribution and understate the net. The figures are the rates in force for 2026; the employee ZUS shares and the PIT scale rest on industry sources, so treat the result as an estimate.
Overlapping titles change what is compulsoryzbieg tytułów
Which insurances are compulsory on a mandate depends on what else you are insured under. The rules below are the ones ZUS states plainly, but the combinations are where a simple calculator has to stop and hedge:
- Pupil or student under 26. full exemption from social and health contributions — unless the mandate is with your own employer.
- Mandate with your own employer. treated as employment: all insurances are compulsory, sickness included.
- Another insurance title (e.g. a full-time job elsewhere). the mandate’s pension and disability may be voluntary, while health insurance stays compulsory.
The calculator models the standard, student, and under-26 cases; the finer overlap combinations are a caveat, not a settled number. If your situation is one of them, take the result as indicative only.
The under-26 relief on a mandate
People under 26 pay 0% PIT up to an annual income limit of 85 528 zł. The relief covers income from a mandate contract concluded with a business — so it applies here — but not a specific-work contract or self-employment.
The relief is on the tax, not the contributions: an under-26 mandate worker who is not a student still pays the ZUS shares, so their net is higher than a standard worker’s but not equal to the gross. A pupil or student under 26 is the exception, being exempt from the contributions as well.