For a business that keeps the revenue and expense ledger (podatkowa księga przychodów i rozchodów, KPiR), the end of the year means not only summarising revenue and costs but also carrying out a physical stocktake, known in Poland as „spis z natury” or informally „remanent”. It involves counting and valuing everything left in the warehouse, on the shelves or in the workshop on 31 December. Many people treat it as a chore to tick off, yet the value of the stocktake determines the income on which you pay tax for the whole year. It is therefore worth preparing in advance — especially as new rules on keeping the KPiR have applied since 2026.
Who must prepare a stocktake
The obligation applies to entrepreneurs taxed under the general rules (tax scale) or the flat tax who keep the KPiR. A stocktake is prepared as at 1 January, at the end of each tax year, on the day the business starts during the year, and also if the right to the lump-sum tax (ryczałt) is lost during the year, when a partner changes, when the partners' shares change and when the business is liquidated. If you carried out a stocktake on 31 December, you do not need to repeat it on 1 January — the year-end stocktake also serves as the opening stocktake for the following year.
Lump-sum taxpayers (ryczałt) do not keep a KPiR, so they do not prepare an annual stocktake for income tax purposes. They may, however, need one when liquidating the business if they are active VAT payers — in that case the remaining goods for which input VAT was deducted are subject to VAT.
What the stocktake covers
The stocktake covers trade goods, basic and auxiliary materials (raw materials), semi-finished products, work in progress, finished products, rejects and waste. It does not include fixed assets, equipment or cash on hand. In practice, for a trading business this will mainly be goods in the warehouse and shop, while for a manufacturing or construction business it will be materials, semi-finished products and unfinished goods.
What about service businesses that do not buy goods? If at the end of the year you have no items subject to the stocktake, it is recommended in practice to prepare a so-called zero stocktake with a note that the business held no goods or materials. Such a document is simple to prepare and clearly confirms the year-end position in the event of an inspection.
How to prepare and value the stocktake
The stocktake should contain at least: the business owner's first and last name, the date it was prepared, consecutive item numbers, the name of each item with a description that allows it to be identified, the unit of measure, the quantity counted, the unit price, the value obtained by multiplying quantity by price and the total value of the stocktake. It is most convenient to prepare it in a spreadsheet or accounting software based on an actual count — simply copying data from the inventory system does not replace a physical stocktake.
Trade goods and materials are generally valued at purchase or acquisition prices. If their market price on the day of the stocktake is lower — for example due to damage, loss of usefulness or going out of fashion — that lower price may be used. Finished products, semi-finished products and work in progress are valued at production cost. Accurate valuation matters, because overstating or understating the stocktake value translates directly into the amount of tax.
Changes from 2026 — fewer formalities
Since 1 January 2026, a new regulation on keeping the revenue and expense ledger has been in force. The occasions for a stocktake and the valuation rules have not changed, but two simplifications have been introduced. First, the stocktake is now signed only by the business owner (or the partners) — the signatures of the people who physically counted the goods are no longer required. Second, only the total value of the stocktake is entered in the ledger, while the detailed list is kept together with the records.
The new rules are also linked to the digitalisation of ledgers. Entrepreneurs who settle VAT monthly have kept the KPiR electronically since 2026 and will submit the data in the JPK_PKPIR structure for the first time in 2027. Everyone else, including quarterly VAT filers and VAT-exempt businesses, will be covered from 1 January 2027. This means that ledger data, including the recorded stocktake value, will be easier for the tax office to analyse — all the more reason to make sure it is correct.
How the stocktake affects income
Business income in the KPiR is calculated taking into account the difference between the stocktake value at the beginning and at the end of the year. If the closing stocktake is higher than the opening one, the difference increases income — purchases you booked as costs are still in the warehouse and have not yet been sold. If the closing stocktake is lower, the difference reduces income. That is why large purchases of goods at the end of the year bring no real tax benefit if the goods remain unsold and end up in the stocktake.
Good practice is to start preparing as early as November and December: tidy up the warehouse, remove damaged or expired goods with proper documentation and check that all purchase invoices have been booked. This way, the 31 December stocktake will take less time and reflect the actual position.