Tax residence in Poland for Indian taxpayers

Poland treats you as resident if your centre of personal or economic interests is in Poland, or if you stay there for more than 183 days in the calendar year — either is enough. India counts days over 1 April – 31 March. If both countries claim you, Art. 4(2) of the India–Poland DTAA decides; salary follows a 183-day rule over any twelve-month period (Art. 16(2)).

Check your status: India and Poland

Free, no sign-up, about 3 minutes. Conclusion under Indian income-tax law, compared with the law of Poland and the tax treaty.

When Poland treats you as a tax resident

In Poland the criteria are alternative: a personal or merely an economic centre in Poland, or a stay of more than 183 days, is enough.

Your centre of vital interests is in Poland — under art. 3 ust. 1a of the PIT Act you are a Polish tax resident, taxable on worldwide income.
Your centre of economic interests is in Poland — under Polish law this alone is enough, even if your family lives in India: you are a Polish tax resident.
You stayed in Poland for more than 183 days in the tax year — under art. 3 ust. 1a pkt 2 of the PIT Act you are a Polish tax resident; your visa or residence permit type does not matter.

When you are a nonresident

No centre of interests in Poland and a stay of 183 days or fewer — you are not a Polish tax resident. Polish-source income (including pay for work performed in Poland) is still taxable there.

Where the rules of Poland clash with Indian tax rules

Collision: centre of interests in Poland while resident in India. Poland treats you as resident because your personal or economic centre is in Poland — either one is enough — while India treats you as resident under its day tests. Art. 4(2) of the India–Poland DTAA decides: permanent home; with a home in both countries, centre of vital interests (personal and economic ties together); if that cannot be determined, or you have a permanent home in neither, habitual abode; then nationality; then mutual agreement.
Collision: more than 183 days in Poland while still resident in India. Poland treats you as resident because of the length of your stay alone. Because the Indian tax year starts on 1 April, you can at the same time be resident in India — for example with 182 days in India from April to September and the rest of the calendar year in Poland. Under Art. 4(2) of the DTAA a permanent home available only in India still makes you a resident of India for the treaty; Poland can then tax only Polish-source income, such as pay for work in Poland beyond the limits of Art. 16(2).

What else to know

Different tax years — and a rolling 12-month period for salary. India counts your days over its tax year (1 April – 31 March); Poland treats you as resident for its tax year (the calendar year) if your centre of personal or economic interests is in Poland, or you stay there for more than 183 days. The 183-day test for salary in Art. 16(2)(a) of the DTAA is different again: 183 days in any twelve-month period commencing or ending in the fiscal year concerned (for India, the financial year beginning on 1 April — Art. 3(1)(k)). Check every 12-month window that touches the year, not just the calendar year.
Exactly 183 days: not yet resident in Poland. The PIT Act requires more than 183 days in the tax year (from day 184). Poland counts every part of a day, including days of arrival and departure; the stay need not be continuous.
Working in Poland while resident in India: 183 days in any 12 months (Art. 16(2)). Pay for work physically performed in Poland — including remote work for an Indian employer — is Polish-source income. If India is your treaty residence, Poland does not tax it only if you are present in Poland for not more than 183 days in any twelve-month period commencing or ending in the fiscal year concerned and the other conditions of Art. 16(2) — on the employer and who bears the pay — are met. Otherwise Poland taxes the pay for Polish work days and India gives credit under Art. 24(1)(a).
How India and Poland relieve double taxation. If India is your state of residence, India deducts from Indian tax an amount equal to the tax paid in Poland, up to the Indian tax attributable to that income (Art. 24(1)(a)); claim it with Form No. 44 (rule 76 of the Income-tax Rules, 2026). If Poland is your state of residence, Poland deducts the income tax paid in India, up to the Polish tax attributable to that income (Art. 24(2)(a); proportional credit under art. 27 ust. 9 of the PIT Act).
Year of the move: Poland can split its year, India does not. Poland treats you as resident from the date your centre of interests moves (for example, when your family moves), so the Polish year can be split. India has no split year: your status is decided for the whole Indian tax year (1 April – 31 March). Where both countries treat you as resident for the same period, the DTAA decides for that period.
Ulga na powrót — only with Polish or EU citizenship or a Karta Polaka. Poland exempts employment and business income up to PLN 85,528 a year for four years for people who move their residence to Poland after three calendar years of non-residence and who previously lived in one of the listed countries for at least three years. It is available only to Polish citizens, Karta Polaka holders or EU/EEA/Swiss citizens — an Indian citizen qualifies only with such a second status. Check whether India is among the listed countries of prior residence before relying on the relief.
Social security: India–Poland agreement signed, not yet in force. The Ministry of External Affairs lists the India–Poland social security agreement as signed but not yet in force. Until it enters into force there is no certificate of coverage for Poland: an employee posted from India may owe Polish contributions on Polish work while EPF contributions continue in India. Check the MEA and EPFO lists before the posting starts.

How dual residence is resolved

If both countries treat you as a resident, Art. 4(2) of the treaty applies: Agreement for avoidance of double taxation and prevention of fiscal evasion between India and Poland — signed at Warsaw on 21 June 1989; amended by the Protocol signed at Warsaw on 29 January 2013. The tests are applied in order — permanent home, centre of vital interests, habitual abode, nationality, and finally mutual agreement between the tax authorities.

Terms you will come across in Poland

rezydent podatkowy: Polish tax resident, taxable on worldwide income
ośrodek interesów życiowych: centre of vital interests — personal or economic, each enough on its own
ustawa o PIT: the Polish Personal Income Tax Act
certyfikat rezydencji: certificate of tax residence used to claim treaty relief
ulga na powrót: 4-year relief for people moving back to Poland (citizenship conditions apply)
ZUS: the Polish Social Insurance Institution

Questions

Is 183 days in Poland enough to become resident?

No — Poland requires more than 183 days in the tax year (from day 184), counting every part of a day. A centre of personal or economic interests in Poland makes you resident regardless of days.

How are the 183 days for salary counted under the treaty?

Art. 16(2)(a) of the India–Poland DTAA counts days in any twelve-month period commencing or ending in the fiscal year concerned — a rolling period, not the calendar year.

Is there an India–Poland social security agreement?

It has been signed but, according to the Ministry of External Affairs, has not yet entered into force, so there is no certificate of coverage for Poland yet.

Sources

Legislation and official guidance

art. 3 ust. 1 ustawy o PIT — A person with a place of residence in Poland is taxed on all income regardless of where it arises (unlimited tax liability).
art. 3 ust. 1a ustawy o PIT — An individual resides in Poland if he or she has the centre of personal OR economic interests (centre of vital interests) in Poland, or stays in Poland for more than 183 days in the tax year. Any one condition is enough.
Objaśnienia podatkowe MF z 29.04.2021 (tax residence guidance of the Ministry of Finance) — Each condition (personal or economic centre) is assessed separately — either is enough. For the 183 days, every part of a day counts, including days of arrival and departure; the stay need not be continuous; residence can begin or end during the year.
art. 3 ust. 2a–2b ustawy o PIT — A non-resident is taxed only on Polish-source income, including pay for work performed in Poland regardless of where it is paid.
Income-tax Act, 2025, s. 6(1)–(2) — Residential status is determined for each tax year. An individual is resident in India in a tax year if in India for 182 days or more in that year, or for 60 days or more in that year and 365 days or more in the four years preceding it.
Art. 16(2) India–Poland DTAA (as replaced by the 2013 Protocol); Art. 3(1)(k) («fiscal year») — Pay of a resident of one State for employment exercised in the other State is taxable only in the State of residence if, among other conditions, the recipient is present in the other State for a period or periods not exceeding in the aggregate 183 days in any twelve-month period commencing or ending in the fiscal year concerned. «Fiscal year», in the case of India, means the financial year beginning on 1 April; for Poland it is not defined (Art. 3(2)).
Art. 4(2) India–Poland DTAA (1989) — Dual-resident individual: (a) resident of the State in which he has a permanent home available to him; if he has a permanent home in both States, of the State with which his personal and economic relations are closer (centre of vital interests); (b) if the centre of vital interests cannot be determined, or if he has not a permanent home available to him in either State, of the State in which he has an habitual abode; (c) habitual abode in both States or in neither — the State of which he is a national; (d) national of both or neither — the competent authorities settle the question by mutual agreement.
Art. 24 India–Poland DTAA (as replaced by the 2013 Protocol) — India (para. 1(a)): deduction from Indian tax of an amount equal to the tax paid in Poland, not exceeding the Indian tax attributable to the income that may be taxed in Poland; para. 1(b): exempt income may be taken into account in computing tax on the remaining income. Poland (para. 2(a)): deduction from Polish tax of an amount equal to the income tax paid in India, not exceeding the Polish tax attributable to the income that may be taxed in India; para. 2(b): income exempt in Poland may be taken into account in computing tax on the remaining income.
Income-tax Rules, 2026, rule 76; Forms No. 44 and 45 — A resident gets credit for foreign tax in the tax year in which the income is taxed in India; credit is the lower of the Indian tax on that income and the foreign tax, per source and per country; not against interest, fees or penalties; disputed foreign tax only after settlement (Form No. 45, within 6 months of the month of settlement). Form No. 44 with a certificate of income and tax and proof of payment, within 12 months from the end of the tax year if the return was filed on time; accountant verification if foreign tax is ₹1,00,000 or more. Conversion at the TT buying rate.
art. 27 ust. 8–9 ustawy o PIT — Foreign income is either exempt with progression or the foreign tax is credited proportionally, depending on the treaty; under the India–Poland DTAA (Art. 24(2)(a)) the credit applies.
Ulga na powrót (art. 21 ust. 1 pkt 152 ustawy o PIT) — podatki.gov.pl guide — For people who moved their residence to Poland after 31 Dec 2021: income from employment, certain contracts and business is exempt up to PLN 85,528 a year (a joint limit with other PIT reliefs) for four consecutive tax years, if they were not Polish residents in the three calendar years before the move, hold Polish citizenship, a Karta Polaka or EU/EEA/Swiss citizenship, and previously lived (among others) in the USA for at least three years.
Ministry of External Affairs — Social Security Agreements (status list) — Agreements listed as active include Hungary and the Czech Republic; the agreement with Poland is listed as «Signed and Yet to enter into force». Italy and Spain are not listed.
Art. 4(2)(a) India–Poland DTAA (1989) — Resident of the State in which he has a permanent home available to him; if he has a permanent home available to him in both States, resident of the State with which his personal and economic relations are closer (centre of vital interests).
Income-tax Act, 2025, s. 159 — The Central Government may enter into agreements for relief from double taxation and avoidance of double taxation; where an agreement applies, the Act applies only to the extent more beneficial to the assessee (s. 159(4)). A non-resident may claim treaty relief only with a certificate of residence from the other country's government and the prescribed documents and information (s. 159(8)).
Art. 4(2)(b) India–Poland DTAA (1989) — If the centre of vital interests cannot be determined, or if he has not a permanent home available to him in either State, the individual is deemed a resident of the State in which he has an habitual abode.
Art. 4(2)(c)–(d) India–Poland DTAA (1989) — Habitual abode in both States or in neither — resident of the State of which he is a national; national of both States or of neither — the competent authorities settle the question by mutual agreement.

Updated 04/11/2026. The result is for information only and is not tax or legal advice. Tax authorities and courts may interpret the rules differently, including because of circumstances not covered here, and the law changes. Consult a qualified adviser before making decisions.

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