Sold Something Within Six Months of Buying It? Poland's PIT-36 Case

When the six-month rule applies

The rule covers the sale of movable personal items — clothes, electronics, furniture, sports equipment, or anything else you originally bought for personal use. You count six months from the end of the month in which the item became yours. If you sell before that six-month period ends, the income is taxable.

This applies only to personal selling. If you regularly buy items specifically to resell them at a profit, that activity usually falls under unregistered business activity (działalność nierejestrowana), which has different rules and a different tax treatment. The distinction matters: occasional cleaning out of your closet is personal selling; systematically sourcing inventory to resell is a business activity. For more on the unregistered activity rules, see our guide to reselling in Poland.

The key date is when the item became yours — the purchase date, not when you received it or when you paid for it. The period ends on the last day of that sixth month. Selling on or after that date means the transaction is no longer covered by the rule.

Income, cost, and calculating the result

Taxable income is the sale price minus your costs. Your costs include the original purchase price and any related outlays — for example, repair costs, cleaning fees, or shipping costs to send the item to the buyer. You need receipts or other proof of these costs. For guidance on tracking these costs, see our reseller bookkeeping guide.

If you sell for more than your costs, the difference is taxable income. If you sell for less than your costs, you have a loss — and you must still report it. The loss can offset other income in your annual tax return.

For example, say you bought an item for 1,000 zł, spent 30 zł on repairs, and sold it for 1,200 zł. Your taxable income is 1,200 − 1,030 = 170 zł.

In a loss scenario: for example, say you bought a phone for 1,000 zł and sold it for 800 zł. Your result is −200 zł. This loss must be entered on your tax return. It can reduce your overall tax burden for the year if you have other taxable income. The concept of costs in this calculation is similar to COGS (cost of goods sold in business accounting.

Where it goes on PIT-36

Report the transaction in Part E of the PIT-36 form, under the row labelled:

Odpłatne zbycie rzeczy określonych w art. 10 ust. 1 pkt 8 lit. d

This is the exact Polish label for taxable disposal of movable personal property. The form is filed annually — you do not report each sale separately as it happens.

Enter your total income (or loss) from all such sales in this section. Include the sale price, your costs, and the net result. If you have multiple items sold within six months, sum them together.

Deadline and tax rates

You file PIT-36 for the previous calendar year between 15 February and 30 April of the current year. For example, if you sold an item in 2026, you file the return between 15 February and 30 April 2027.

The tax is calculated on the tax scale (skala podatkowa):

• 12% on income up to 120,000 zł, minus a 3,600 zł reducing amount (kwota zmniejszająca podatek)
• 32% on income above 120,000 zł

This is the same scale used for employment income. The 3,600 zł reduction is applied automatically if you file through tax software or a tax office — it represents the tax-free amount built into the system.

DAC7 reports are not a tax bill

Since 1 July 2024, digital marketplaces (Vinted, OLX, Allegro, and others) report sellers to the tax office under EU DAC7 rules. They report sellers who made 30 or more sales or earned more than €2,000 in a calendar year. For a detailed explanation of DAC7, see our DAC7 for resellers page.

This is not a new tax. The directive only requires platforms to share information about your selling activity. Being reported does not mean you owe tax or will be audited. It simply means the tax office knows you sold items — exactly as they would know if you reported the income yourself.

If you sold personal items within six months and earned income from them, you report that income yourself on PIT-36. The DAC7 report is separate and does not affect your tax calculation.

When this is really reselling, not personal selling

The six-month rule applies to personal items you bought to use, not to items you bought to resell. Signals that point to business activity include: buying items in bulk, consistently reselling at a profit, advertising items as a seller, or treating resale as a regular source of income. If you are a foreign resident selling in Poland, see our selling in Poland as a foreigner guide. If this describes your activity, you likely fall under unregistered business activity (działalność nierejestrowana) rules, which have their own thresholds and reporting requirements. You would file PIT-36 differently — as business income, not under the personal disposal section. For more details on when you need to register as a business, see our unregistered business in Poland page.