Guide · Company
Updated: · 8 min read · By Agnieszka Saladra, Certified Accountant
Formally closing a business is not just a single application to CEIDG (the Central Register and Information on Economic Activity) - it also means deregistering from ZUS (Social Insurance Institution), preparing a liquidation inventory, settling VAT and making a final PIT (personal income tax) settlement, all in parallel. In this guide we walk you through the entire process step by step, with the current deadlines for 2026. As an online accounting office, we handle these formalities every day so that nothing slips through.
In short
Before you start the liquidation, it is worth making sure this is genuinely the right path in your situation. Closing the business means removal from CEIDG and is permanent and irreversible - a liquidated company cannot be 'reactivated', and returning to business requires registering again from scratch.
If the break is temporary in nature, the alternative is suspending the business. During suspension you pay no social or health contributions and file no returns, while the business remains in the register and you can resume it at any time with a single application to CEIDG.
The choice depends on your situation and plans. We do not point to one option - we present the consequences of both, and you make the decision yourself, ideally after a conversation with an accountant.
Liquidation is a process that is best planned in advance. Before you enter the date of ceasing activity, put your current affairs in order - they determine how many settlements need to be closed.
The date you actually cease activity is the reference point for almost all deadlines - from it you count the 7 days for the CEIDG-1 application, deregistration from ZUS and the VAT-Z notification. You prepare the inventories as of that same day, which is why it is worth setting it deliberately.
Formally closing the company starts with the application to remove the entry from CEIDG. You file it on form CEIDG-1, selecting the 'application to remove the entry' option and giving the date you cease carrying out economic activity.
Removal takes effect when the data is posted in CEIDG, no later than the next business day after a correct application is received. Thanks to the one-stop-shop principle, CEIDG forwards the information about the removal to the tax office, GUS (Central Statistical Office) and ZUS or KRUS (Agricultural Social Insurance Fund) - you do not have to notify these institutions separately about the closure itself.
Although CEIDG informs ZUS about the removal of the company, deregistration from insurance itself requires a separate form. As the contribution payer, you deregister yourself from social and health insurance on form ZUS ZWUA, within 7 days of the date you cease activity.
If you employed staff, you also deregister them (ZUS ZWUA) and the family members they reported. It is worth making sure the deregistration dates are consistent with the date you cease activity entered in CEIDG.
If you were an active VAT taxpayer, as of the date you cease activity you prepare a liquidation inventory, that is, a physical stocktake for VAT purposes. This obligation arises from Article 14 of the VAT Act and applies to natural persons and partnerships - companies with legal personality do not prepare it.
The stocktake covers goods, materials, as well as fixed assets and equipment on the acquisition of which you were entitled to deduct VAT. You value them at the purchase price (or cost of manufacture) as of the date of the stocktake, and you report the resulting VAT due in your final JPK_V7 file (Standard Audit File for VAT).
For more expensive fixed assets there may be an adjustment of the deducted VAT if liquidation occurs before the adjustment period ends (5 years for tangible fixed assets above PLN 15,000, 10 years for real estate). The adjustment is recognised on a one-off basis in the final return. This is a moment where an accountant's support can be especially helpful.
Regardless of VAT, on the liquidation date you prepare two documents for income tax purposes: a closing inventory (physical stocktake for PIT) and a list of assets remaining in the company.
You pay the final income tax advance by the standard deadline, that is, by the 20th day of the month following the month in which you closed the company. The final settlement takes place in the annual PIT return for the year in which you liquidated the business.
Closing the company does not end your documentation obligations. After liquidation you must still keep your tax and accounting records, because the authorities may audit them within the limitation period for liabilities.
Selling assets that remained in the company after liquidation may give rise to a tax obligation for some time after closure - which is why it is worth keeping the list of assets close at hand.
At Luno-Group we provide online accounting, but behind the settlements stand experienced accountants, not the app alone. With liquidation this matters, because there are many deadlines and documents, and most of them run in parallel.
We help close the entire process: we keep track of the deadlines for CEIDG-1, ZUS ZWUA and VAT-Z, prepare the inventories for VAT and PIT, draw up the list of assets and the final JPK files and returns. We calculate and present the consequences of each step - the decision on when and how to close the company you make yourself, with full information at hand.
Sources and legal basis
You file the CEIDG-1 application to remove the entry within 7 days of the date you actually cease carrying out economic activity. You can do this online via biznes.gov.pl, in person at an office or by post. Removal takes effect at the latest on the next business day after a correct application is received.
Yes. Even though CEIDG informs ZUS about the removal of the company, you file the deregistration from insurance itself on form ZUS ZWUA within 7 days of ceasing activity. You additionally deregister previously reported family members on form ZUS ZCNA.
A liquidation inventory is a physical stocktake prepared as of the date you cease activity. For VAT purposes (Article 14 of the VAT Act) it covers goods and assets on which a deduction was available - it is prepared by natural persons and partnerships. A separate closing inventory is also prepared for PIT purposes.
An active VAT taxpayer files the VAT-Z notification on the cessation of taxable activities within 7 days of liquidation. The VAT due from the liquidation inventory and any VAT adjustment on fixed assets is reported in the final JPK_V7 file for the period in which the liquidation took place.
As a rule, you keep tax and accounting records - including inventories and the list of assets - for at least 5 years, counting from the end of the year in which the tax payment deadline fell. Employee records are subject to separate, longer periods.
Closing is removal from CEIDG - it is permanent and irreversible, requires inventories and final settlements, and returning means a new registration. Suspension is temporary: you pay no contributions or returns, the company stays in the register, and you resume the business with an application to CEIDG. The choice depends on your situation.