Contemplating moving to Poland with the intention of buying a property out-right and living there

So I am spending a lot of time in Warsaw and I can easily see myself buying a place here one day but we will see.

One question regarding tax. I am a resident of the UK and I pay tax to the UK through my UK company. Judging by the horror stories I have hard about the Polish tax authorities it is ESSENTIAL that I don't eff up here. So Jon, and other wonderful contributors to this thread:

If you rent an apartment in Poland it is no problem as far as tax is concerned assuming I am always out of Poland more than 183 days in a year? So if for example I rented a place for a year (the situation I inevitably have to face until I have enough money for buying an apartment) I would need to ensure that I am offshore for at least 6 months (and of course spend time in the UK or elsewhere if I am getting edgy)? Is this the kind of thing I will need to see an accountant about or is it reasonably straight-forward?

Do what smart people do all over the world.
Rent for a time and then decide where you want to live.
Poland is no great shakes as a country really, nothing special about it.
I actually don't mind Warsaw but most cities have nothing attractive about them.

Hi Max,

I'm living in Spain and doing remote work for Irish company (where I'm hired & paying taxes) Don't worry about 183 days in a year and tax resident. Nobody will really check you, even if how can they do it? By stamp in the passport? As a EU citizen travelling between EU countries authorities at the border are not allowed to stamp your passport. Somebody will say "plane ticket" ok, if I travel by car? In May I'm going to move to contract role in the same company and setup a company in poland while I'll be still living in Spain. Tax is much lower and I don't have to pay all social crap there. You can find some accountants companies (actually a lot of them on the market) specialising in poland. This country is considered as a "quiet" tax heaven in europe.

P.

Hello!
I have decided this is the year for making the big decision although I've had to rethink many things.
I'm strongly considering a place in central Warsaw only I won't buy outright. I will buy a place with a £20-25k deposit so there will be a mortgage to pay off. This is because it will be another 2 years to earn the money to buy a place outright and when I do I'd be out of pocket.

The plan would be to rent one of the rooms Air B and B style to help offset the mortgage payments every month.

I am still working offshore which means that I am outside both the UK and Poland 183 days a year (and I keep a strict log to prove this continuously). However, because I am essentially going to be living in Poland (and I don't plan to work offshore for much longer anyway) I think it is plausible to become a tax resident here so that when I do quit offshore and end up staying more than 183 days there will be no troubles. I want to do everything 100% legal no questions asked. Eventually I am going to change career and become an English teacher (or something else) at least for a few years (I'll go back to offshore eventually). Someone told me that teaching English in Poland is tax free for the first 2 years but I can't any source to verify this.

So my question is - what would be the proper procedure for doing this? I am of course paid into a British bank account and taxed in the UK (my UK based company deals with the tax). I am guessing I would need to hire a really good accountant in the UK to deal with transferring my tax paying over to Poland? Would I need to have a Polish bank account? I am guessing there isn't much choice because I'd have to keep transferring my money over from my British account to my Polish and getting currency charges (although i do have a 0% charge halifax credit card which I use abroad? Someone told me that I would need a bank account to buy a property anyway.

As for buying a property - I'd need to find a good bilingual lawyer to do the deed and buy the place right but after I've dealt with all the tax stuff?

A lot of things to consider but you can open a sterling account in quite a lot of banks, which means you can transfer funds online. The benefit here is that you can then order the pounds and withdraw them and go straight to a foreign exchange which tends to give you a better exchange rate than banks do. Of course you may find a person willing to buy the pounds off you and you'll get an even better rate.

Once you sign a contract to teach here you will have to either do it through a company based in Poland or as a normal employee of the school which will make subject to taxes and health insurance.

That would help. Most banks now offer accounts in GBP, some are free (such as ING Bank Slaski).


Not strictly. There are reliable on line exchange sites (such as walutomat.pl) that do this at a fraction of the cost the banks charge (0.2% max).