How to open a beauty salon in Poland in 2026: JDG, ZUS, the cash register and first clients

You have a trade in your hands, your first clients from Instagram, and enough of working off the books for somebody else. Opening your own studio in Poland is cheaper and quicker than it looks: registering a business is free and takes a day, and for the first six months the state charges no social contributions. The difficulty is elsewhere: in a dozen deadlines, amounts and exceptions you need to know before you perform the first service.

This guide walks through every step in order: legal form, ZUS, income tax, VAT, the cash register, premises and first clients. All amounts are for 2026 and come from official sources. A separate step covers Ukrainian citizens, because the registration rules changed in March 2026. This is not legal or accounting advice: decide the form of taxation with your accountant.

We checked the law and the amounts on 26 September 2026 on biznes.gov.pl, in the ZUS analysis "Składki przedsiębiorców w 2026 roku", in the regulation on the 2026 minimum wage, in the PKD 2025 classification from GUS, on podatki.gov.pl and on the pages of the State Sanitary Inspectorate.

Short answer. You register a sole proprietorship (JDG) online in CEIDG for 0 zł with PKD code 96.21.Z (hairdressing) or 96.22.Z (beauty, nails, lashes). For the first 6 months you pay only the health contribution of 432.54 zł, for the next 24 months the preferential ZUS of 456.18 zł plus health, then the full ZUS of 1,926.76 zł plus health. You are exempt from VAT up to 240,000 zł of annual turnover. An online cash register is mandatory from the first service, with no 20,000 zł threshold, with a relief of 90% of the price, up to 700 zł. You do not notify the sanitary inspectorate, but the premises must meet technical conditions. Since 5 March 2026 a Ukrainian citizen registers a JDG if they hold a PESEL with UKR status, permanent residence, EU long-term resident status or a Pole's Card. Your booking page and a place in the city catalogue come free in Slotsy the same day.

Want your booking page ready before the first visit? Create a Free account: setup takes a quarter of an hour, no card needed.

Step 0: if you are a Ukrainian citizen

Until 4 March 2026 any Ukrainian citizen legally staying in Poland could set up a JDG on the same terms as a Pole. Since 5 March 2026 the right to register in CEIDG belongs to a Ukrainian citizen who holds one of these:

• a PESEL with UKR status (temporary protection), valid until 4 March 2027;
• a permanent residence permit;
• an EU long-term resident permit;
• a Pole's Card (Karta Polaka).

Three things follow. First, a PESEL number alone, without UKR status and without one of the permits above, is not enough; a temporary residence permit (karta czasowa) is not on the list. Second, whoever set up a business before 5 March 2026 keeps running it whatever their residence title, as long as their stay is legal. Third, UKR status lapses after leaving Poland for more than 30 days, and with it the right to a JDG on that basis. All of this is set out on biznes.gov.pl; if your residence title is different, ask the voivodeship office before filing.

For the application you also need a trusted profile (profil zaufany) or the mObywatel app to sign online. The profile is created through online banking in a few minutes.

Step 1: registering a JDG in CEIDG

For one person or a small studio the right form is a sole proprietorship. A limited company (sp. z o.o.) makes sense with partners or several locations; it costs more to run and requires full accounting.

1. Go to biznes.gov.pl and choose Załóż firmę. The CEIDG-1 application is free and is completed online in a day.
2. Give the business name (it must include your first and last name), the business address and the start date. The address can be your flat if you perform the services elsewhere.
3. Choose PKD codes under the PKD 2025 classification: 96.21.Z Działalność fryzjerska (hairdressing), 96.22.Z Działalność w zakresie pielęgnacji urody i pozostała działalność kosmetyczna (manicure, lashes, make-up, facials), 96.23.Z for spa and sauna, 47.75.Z if you sell cosmetics. The old code 96.02.Z from PKD 2007 still appears in guides; new entries get 2025 codes, and old ones must migrate by the end of 2026.
4. Choose the form of taxation (step 3 below). The decision can be changed once a year, by the 20th of the month after the first revenue.
5. In the same application you register with ZUS: form ZZA under the start relief (health only) or ZUA with full insurance. CEIDG passes the data to ZUS, the tax office and GUS; you receive NIP and REGON automatically.
6. Open a business bank account. It is not compulsory for a JDG, but with online payments from clients and Stripe settlements a separate account saves your accountant's time.

The CEIDG entry usually appears the next working day. ZUS deadlines and all obligations run from that date.

Step 2: ZUS: three periods, three amounts

Contributions for a business owner in 2026 follow from the minimum wage of 4,806 zł and the forecast average wage of 9,420 zł. Every new business passes through three periods:

A few things the guides leave out:

• The start relief applies if you set up a business for the first time or at least 60 months after closing the previous one, and do not serve a former employer from this or the previous year. If you start mid-month, that month does not count towards the six. During this time you have no sickness or accident insurance: a sick note gets you nothing.
• Preferential contributions are 30% of the minimum wage: 281.44 zł pension, 115.34 zł disability, 35.32 zł voluntary sickness, 24.08 zł accident. No Labour Fund.
• The health contribution under the tax scale is 9% of income, not less than 432.54 zł (exceptionally 314.96 zł for January 2026). The start relief does not reduce it.
• Contribution holidays (wakacje składkowe): once a year, one month without social contributions, on an application filed in the preceding month. For businesses with up to 10 insured persons.
• Mały ZUS Plus after the preferential period: contributions calculated on half of last year's income, if revenue did not exceed 120,000 zł. Details on biznes.gov.pl.

Social contributions are a cost or a deduction from income, so the real burden is lower than the figure in the table.

Step 3: income tax: three forms

Three forms are available for hairdressing and beauty services. They differ not only in the rate but in how the health contribution is calculated.

For a starting studio with revenue of 6,000–10,000 zł a month the 8.5% lump sum often wins, because costs (cosmetics, rent) are small relative to revenue. But if you invest in equipment and renovation, only the scale and the flat tax deduct costs. Work it out with your accountant on your own numbers; you choose the form in the CEIDG application and can change it once a year.

Step 4: VAT: exemption up to 240,000 zł

From 1 January 2026 the VAT exemption threshold is 240,000 zł of annual sales (art. 113 of the VAT Act as amended on 24 June 2025, Dz.U. 2025 item 896). If you start mid-year the limit is pro rata: a 1 July start gives 120,000 zł to year end. Hairdressing and beauty services are not excluded from the exemption.

Without VAT you add no tax to prices, file no JPK_V7 and deduct no VAT on purchases. For a studio buying tens of thousands worth of equipment, voluntary VAT registration can pay off, because since 1 April 2024 beauty services, manicure and pedicure carry the 8% rate (Minister of Finance regulation of 14 March 2024, Dz.U. 2024 item 387), and hairdressing was at 8% already. You deduct 23% on purchases and hand over 8% on services. That is a calculation on specific amounts, not a rule.

Step 5: a cash register from the first visit

Most small businesses may skip the cash register up to 20,000 zł of annual turnover. Hairdressing, beauty and cosmetology services are excluded from that exemption (§ 4 of the Minister of Finance regulation of 17 December 2024). The register must work before the first service to a private client, whether the client pays in cash, by card or online.

1. You buy an online cash register; only these are permitted today. It connects to the Central Register Repository and sends data by itself.
2. Fiscalisation by a service technician; registration happens automatically through the repository.
3. Relief: 90% of the net price, no more than 700 zł (art. 111(4) of the VAT Act). Conditions: start recording within 6 months of the first sale and use the register for 3 years. If you are VAT-exempt, you get the relief on application to the tax office as a refund to your account.
4. An online payment the client made at booking also goes through the register: when it reaches your account, not on the day of the visit. How that works with deposits is in a separate article.

A daily report after each day of sales and a monthly one by the 25th of the following month are a one-minute routine, if you remember them.

Step 6: premises and the sanitary inspectorate

Contrary to common belief, there is no obligation to notify the sanitary inspectorate before opening a salon; the Warsaw PSSE says so in as many words. The inspectorate may inspect later and checks what follows from general law:

• Premises under the technical conditions for buildings (Minister of Infrastructure regulation of 12 April 2002): room height, ventilation, lighting, hot and cold water, sewerage. A basement or semi-basement needs the consent of the voivodeship sanitary inspector. Changing the use of a flat to services is a procedure under building law.
• Hygiene procedures for treatments that break the skin (art. 16 of the Act on preventing infectious diseases of 5 December 2008): sterilisation, disinfection, single-use tools, written down.
• Sanitary-epidemiological examinations for people providing hairdressing and beauty services.
• Waste: needles, blades and materials with blood are medical waste, with a collection contract.
• Cosmetics: storage under the Act on cosmetic products of 4 October 2018.

The best source of detail is the page of the county sanitary station in your city: most publish a list of requirements for salons.

Step 7: first clients from opening day

Registering a business takes a day. Building a base of clients who book themselves takes months, and it is better to start on the day the CEIDG entry is ready, not when the premises are finished. This is how it looks in Slotsy:

1. Account and booking page. You register with your business name; the booking page address is made from the name and can be changed. The Free plan: 0 zł, 1 staff member, 1 location, 40 bookings a month, every feature. Described in Registration.
2. Hours and the first service. Working days, opening hours, a service with a price and duration. From that moment the page takes bookings: First Steps.
3. Link and QR code. In the sharing hub you copy the link for your Instagram bio, download a QR code to print and an embed code for your own site: Sharing Hub.
4. City catalogue. A new salon is visible by default in the Slotsy catalogue and in map search; in Warsaw alone the catalogue lists close to 5,000 businesses, in Kraków over 1,700. If your studio is already there from an import, register under the same name and claim the entry. You can also hide from the catalogue while fitting out: Catalogue Visibility.
5. Three languages. You translate service names and the company description into Polish, Ukrainian and English; the client sees the page in their browser's language: Translations.
6. Online payments and cancellation rules. Once you have a NIP and a bank account, you connect Stripe and take BLIK and cards at booking; we described it in the BLIK article. Cancellation rules and deposits are set in the booking settings.

For the first months most bookings will come from Instagram and referrals. The booking page turns them into clients who come back without messaging you at night.

What it costs per month

The fixed costs the state imposes, and the cost of a booking system. Without rent and materials, which depend on the city and profile.

One-off: CEIDG 0 zł, trusted profile 0 zł, the cash register at the vendor's price minus the relief, possibly a change of use of the premises.

Five mistakes we see most often

1. An old PKD code. Entering 96.02.Z from a pre-2025 guide. New entries use 96.21.Z and 96.22.Z.
2. The first visit without a register. "Not needed under 20,000 zł" does not apply to hairdressers and beauticians. The register must be ready before the first client.
3. Start relief read as "no ZUS". You pay the 432.54 zł health contribution from the first month, and for six months you have no sickness cover.
4. A form of taxation picked from a guide, not from numbers. The 8.5% lump sum is often best, but not when you spend tens of thousands on equipment in the first year.
5. A booking page after opening. Instagram clients ask for slots from the first post about the new studio. The booking link in your bio should be ready before that post.

Frequently asked questions

Can a Ukrainian citizen with a temporary residence card set up a JDG? Since 5 March 2026 a temporary residence permit alone does not give the right to a JDG on the simplified terms. The right belongs to holders of a PESEL with UKR status, permanent residence, EU long-term resident status or a Pole's Card. Check your situation with the voivodeship office; other residence titles are governed by separate rules.

How much does it cost to set up? The CEIDG entry is free, and NIP and REGON come automatically. You pay only for the cash register (minus the relief up to 700 zł) and any work on the premises.

Can I work from home? Yes, if the premises meet the technical and hygiene conditions, and for treatments that break the skin you have written procedures. Changing the use of a flat to services may require a notification under building law.

When must I register for VAT? When sales exceed 240,000 zł in a year (pro rata in the first year), or earlier voluntarily. Beauty and hairdressing services carry the 8% rate.

Do Ukrainian clients have to be served in Polish on the receipt and in the contract? The receipt is in Polish, because that is how the register works. The booking page, confirmations and reminders in Slotsy work in Ukrainian, Polish and English; the client picks the language.

What about ZUS if I also have a job? If your employment pays at least the minimum wage, from the business you pay only the health contribution. The start relief and preferential contributions then make no difference.

Can I take deposits before I have a register? No. A payment before the visit is a sale, recorded on the register when received. The register must work before you take the first money from a private client.

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Law and amounts checked 26.09.2026. If something has changed, write to us and we will correct it and show the update date. This text does not replace legal or accounting advice.

Start with the booking page, not the renovation: create a Free account and give clients a link on the same day you get your CEIDG entry.