Getting the most from my hard earned money (transfer money from England to Poland)

I work for an english company, paid in GBP into an english bank account. With exchange rates fluctuating so much i never can be sure exactly how far (or not) my money will go. Is there a better way of getting my money from England to Poland? My bank tends to take 0.14 PLN off me to the live rate. So if live rate is 5 zloty i get 4.86ish zloty from my bank when i go to the cash machine. I have tried signing up to a company that does a no fees exchange but the rate is less than then bankbecause i dont want to transfer £50000 at a time. Throw into this my bank charges me £1.50 everytime i use my card over here and this company doesnt charge me but my polish bank does when the money arrives here im still no better off! I can transfer in a lump sum from my bank on internet but this costs £10 and works out i get less than taking it out from the cash machine (if taking out £1500 a month).

Any help or ideas welcome!

Why not open a GBP account here and get paid into that?

As for rates, you're getting a fairly reasonable one there but a good kantor will only take 3 points (0.03zl). You could take your cash out in GBP and then change it with the kantor before putting it back into a PLN account and using that account for your debit card and cash point card.

go in person, take as much as you can, bring it to Poland, sell at a exchange office, pay into Polish bank account - the more you can bring at a time the better off you should be - OK, it's probably not true that you will be better off - but still think it worth considering

or well - my brother used to work in northern Ireland but had an account in Bank of Ireland branch - I am not quite sure, but I guess it was automatically held as both EURO and Pound account at the same time - the thing is they perform free of charge Euro transfers to Poland (to Polish bank account nominated in Euro) - so establish a bank account in Bank of Ireland - establish a euro bank account in a Polish bank - draw the euro of your bank account (not using the ATM) - go to one of those 'kantors' (exchange offices) - you should be better off now

I do hope you're declaring the income to the Polish tax man.


I'll bet my left testicle that he's not paying taxes on the income.

(bit stupid to transfer money into a Polish bank account without declaring the source of the income, though)

the next time someone wants tax advice, advice if you think you might have overstayed your visa or done something a bit silly though not necessarily illegal

can you please think up an imaginative nom de plume or alter ego?

the guy who wanted tax advice yesterday had also mentioned the name of the town he was living in in Poland and it is just an invitation to get grassed up

why would i tell the polish tax man anything???? i pay tax in England still! i cant be taxed in 2 countries!! You are a really negative person. It makes me chuckle.

Now wheres that little testicle of yours my dog looks peckish!!!

Because you are a Polish resident for taxation purposes and so have tax liability in Poland.

Im not a perminant resident here though yet!?

Doesn't matter: from what you say, the Polish tax authorities will class you as a resident for tax purposes.

something to go ask the accountant about then! cheers for that did not know thought there were dual taxation laws in effect. has its uses on here!

if you reside in Poland more than 184 days per year you are a Polish tax resident PERIOD

you will pay tax in Poland, f*cking end of

what you are doing is committing tax fraud as the Polish rate of tax is higher than in the UK
you are compounding the problem by no doubt posting in your real name

rather than take the p!ss out of the few kind souls who would try and help, you might want to worry
about some of the less savoury members of our little virtual community who would no doubt delight in grassing you up

if it transpires that you live in the UK for more than six months of the year, don't worry about it

trying to save a couple of quid on your ATM bills ought to be the last of your worries

No real need to worry: as long as one reports oneself to the tax office and expresses active regret, there is no fine (but one does have to pay the tax owed).

Also, set up as a one-person company in Poland and the tax rate is only 19%, which is a lot less than I'd pay in the UK!

Mr D how many times do I have to tell you that if you have paid tax in GB and transfer money you cannot be taxed again, stop this nonsense about telling people to tell the polish tax authorities about money transfers....If the money was earned in Poland he would have to inform the tax authorities in the usial form....pls stop giving wrong information to people...

HE DONT NEED TO,if he is working for a UK firm who sent him for some time to work for them in poland,until he declares he is a resident of poland and is an representative of the company in poland.


legally do it better one is allowed to brink 15k euros without declaring,and or if the money is clean declare on airport as I have done it several times and they issue you a certificate of custom declaration.LoL,the custom officer will take you in a little booth inside the red zone and see it physically and not even touch and count it and will stamp the form you can pick as you enter the baggage area,even citibank handlowy you can negotiate the rate they are better then any kantor....if you have to use the kantor the one on marchukaulska in the building with sign ORACO,by arcadia is the best,you can negotiate the rate with them.


I dont know Uk but for dual american citizens one has to declare the income in both countries and get tax exemption if the money is tax paid in the other,then again dont take chances consult a legal tax accountant not some rinky dinky advisers you can get for 100pln

Why is it that people who know nothing seem to insist on making so much noise?


cfe-eutax.org/taxation/personal-income-tax/poland

If you are paying taxes in the UK, you most probably won't have to pay taxes in Poland but you need to tell the tax office that you are paying those taxes and you need to prove that the taxes are paid.

But with all this said, I have no idea why you don't just set yourself up as a dzielnosc gospodarcza in Poland, invoice your UK employer and then only pay 19% tax (with lots of deductibles!).

are you able to do that as I thought only Sp zoo s and SA s could invoice UK companies?
if this is the case then clearly the law has changed and this is great news

I've never had any issues invoicing people from all over the world with a dzialnosc gospodarcza. I even used to include both zloty and Euro amounts on the invoices, no questions asked.


What are you talking about? Poland has incredibly simple tax residency laws - if you're resident here for more than 185 days, you're considered a Polish resident for taxation purposes and must make the appropriate declarations.

Why so serious?

Why would you tell the Polish tax man? Because you're committing tax fraud in Poland as it stands - you're legally resident here for tax purposes and must pay your fair share of taxation to the Polish government. It's almost a certainty that you'll have a liability for some Polish taxes due to the UK allowing what, 7,000 pounds tax free - whereas Poland only allows a base of around 3000zl. So - go there, own up and pay what's owed.


Wrong. If you're resident for more than 185 days, you pay taxes to Poland. End of story.


From a quick check of the tax calculators, he'll definitely have some liability in Poland. Actually, could be more than "some" - could easily be in the region of 25,000zl a year (the difference between the UK and Polish tax free amounts).

thanks mate, you have made my day
I will check with the company accountant dweeb


I tried to explain it to him twice, then gave up.

I wonder where he got it from? As far as I'm aware, the only restrictions with one is that non-EU citizens (with the exception of some, such as Americans) cannot open one - but there's no restriction on where you invoice to.

In fact - I can tell you that a friend of mine regularly invoices both Ukraine and Serbia without any fuss at all (he imports from Ukraine, sells to Serbia).

Not sure you have that one right. As far as I know, money which is tax exempt in the UK can be brought to Poland by a Polish tax resident without the need to pay any tax. For example, I know somebody who recently inherited some money in the UK and was able to bring it to Poland without paying tax on it because the amount was under the UK death duties threshold and so exempt from tax.

I'm only thinking on the basis of how Poland works out tax residency - presumably, if you're resident here, you have the same 'base' as everyone else - you can't use foreign tax bases to reduce your liability. I mean - if this was so, you could open a freelance company in Germany, pay the same social insurance (about 200-250 euro a month) as in Poland, but take advantage of the massive tax free base there compared to Poland. Everyone would be doing it - but they aren't!

It could be that for the purpose of inheritance tax, the domicile of the deceased counts. I simply don't know though.

Either way, he should be declaring the income to the Polish tax office and letting them work out his liability.

I know how it works for Brits living in Poland. If your UK parents croak and want to leave you something, you are at the mercy of probate and the money goes to the UK tax man irrespective of where you are living, which is a real downer as I do not believe that there are death duties in Poland

The customs (and Police, anywhere in the UK) can confiscate anything over £1000 in cash if they think its the proceeds of crime. Bring a bank statement and withdrawal slips showing you had it in a bank account.

it's Marszałkowska

Either country could claim tax residency, the UK defines it as 65 days (or less if they can prove you have UK links such as golf club membership)

If the UK/Poland have a dual taxation agreement then, if you are paying UK taxes, Poland cannot demand the same tax again. But the following year they can force you to become resident in Poland and pay tax here.

Actually it is Aleje Jerozolimskie (corner with Chalubinskiego) and the sign says ORCO, not ORACO. And there is no kantor in that building anyway, just a branch of Polbank. Polbank give terrible exchange rates: just compare their rates with the rates of a decent kantor.

conti.waw.pl/cennik.html

For those too lazy to click: Polbank offer 2.99 / 3.29 for the USD and a decent kantor offers 3.13 and 3.16.

But if you really think taking financial advice from Deepak is a good idea, you deserve the ripping off which is coming your way.

Indeed. Yet just round the corner in the tunnel that leads from the LIM centre to Maccy D's there's quite a good one.

Also, the 24 hour one on Krucza sometimes has good rates. The best one I've found so far (for sterling) is visible to your left (sort of 10 o' clockish, just before the Spolem shop) if you're standing by the main entrance of Szpital na Solcu, where Solec and Dobra split, facing Skwer Czerwonego Krzyza. The entrance is from ul. Solec, near that upstairs bar (in itself quite fun sometimes).

I use kantor-polres.pl near the Sobieski Hotel, looks an even tighter spread than your one.

Looks the same. The difference is that the one you link to only gives those rates when you change EUR 1,000 while the one I link to will give you better rates than those listed if you change that much (or at least they do when I change more than a few thousand zloty).

hmm are you telling me if a person takes a large amount of money into Poland he has to pay tax on that amount??? don't think so, pull the other one!