On an employment contract the UK wins by a long way: 16.9 points at the equivalent of £50,000, the widest employment gap of any pair we compare.
But almost nobody in Polish tech is on one. At £120,000 equivalent a Polish engineer keeps 59.2% on umowa o pracę and 81.9% on B2B with ryczałt. That 22.7 point swing is larger than any country difference in this whole series.
Employment gap at £50,000
16.9 pts
the widest we measure
Contract type swing
22.7 pts
at £120,000 equivalent
B2B ryczalt at £120,000
81.9%
against the UK's 63.5%
Put a UoP offer and a B2B rate side by side.
Open the UoP vs B2B calculatorEmployment against employment
The like-for-like comparison: a UK employee against a Polish umowa o pracę, after tax, ZUS and the health contribution. Independent of the exchange rate.
| Equivalent salary | UK keeps | Poland (UoP) keeps | Gap |
|---|---|---|---|
| £30,000 | 83.7% | 69.7% | 14.1 pts |
| £50,000 | 79.0% | 62.2% | 16.9 pts |
| £80,000 | 71.2% | 60.0% | 11.2 pts |
| £120,000 | 63.5% | 59.2% | 4.3 pts |
| £200,000 | 58.9% | 58.5% | 0.4 pts |
ZUS and the health contribution apply from the first złoty with no meaningful allowance at the bottom, so the Polish effective rate starts high and barely moves. The UK's large tax-free band is doing the work at modest incomes, which is why the gap is widest in the middle rather than at the top.
The contract type matters more than the country
The same Polish gross, four regimes. UoP is employment; the other three are B2B tax modes.
| Equivalent salary | UoP | B2B skala | B2B liniowy | B2B ryczalt |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| £50,000 | 62.2% | 64.5% | 70.0% | 76.3% |
| £80,000 | 60.0% | 62.4% | 72.4% | 78.8% |
| £120,000 | 59.2% | 61.3% | 73.7% | 81.9% |
Notice how little the progressive B2B mode gains over employment: about two points, for which you give up every employment protection. The money is in choosing the right B2B mode, not in leaving employment as such. Ryczałt wins clearly here but allows no expense deductions at all, so it only works where costs are genuinely low.
A B2B rate is not a salary
Those percentages are net of tax but not of what you give up: paid holiday, sick pay, notice, parental entitlements, ZUS accrual toward a pension, and the cost of running a company. A recruiter quoting a B2B rate against a UoP salary is not offering you the difference as a raise. Our UoP versus B2B breakdown by seniority puts figures on both sides.
The same three salaries in cash
Converted at £1 = 5.0919 zl, European Central Bank reference rates, 23 September 2026, on umowa o pracę. Check the live rate; the percentages above do not move with it.
| UK gross | Polish gross | UK net | Polish net (UoP) |
|---|---|---|---|
| £50,000 | 254,596 zl | £39,520 (£3,293/mo) | 158,177 zl (13,181 zl/mo) |
| £80,000 | 407,353 zl | £56,957 (£4,746/mo) | 244,236 zl (20,353 zl/mo) |
| £120,000 | 611,029 zl | £76,157 (£6,346/mo) | 361,461 zl (30,122 zl/mo) |
How these figures were produced
PayMetric Labs' own calculations with our UK, Polish employment and Polish B2B engines at 2026 rates. The employment column includes ZUS and the health contribution; the B2B columns apply each mode's own rules with no business expenses claimed and no IP Box. PPK is not modelled, and there are no UK pension contributions or student loan.
Could IP Box apply to your work?
On B2B, qualifying income from software IP can be taxed at 5%, which moves the ryczałt column again.
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Frequently asked questions
Does the UK or Poland leave you with more of your salary?
On employment, the UK by a wide margin. At the equivalent of £50,000 a UK employee keeps 79.0% of gross against 62.2% on a Polish umowa o pracę, a gap of 16.9 points. That is the widest employment gap of any pair we compare against the UK. It narrows to 0.4 points by £200,000.
So why do Polish developers seem to do well?
Because most of them are not on employment contracts. On the same gross at the equivalent of £120,000, a Polish engineer keeps 59.2% on umowa o pracę and 81.9% on B2B with ryczałt. That 22.7 point swing from the contract type alone is larger than any country-to-country difference in this entire comparison series.
Which B2B mode is best?
At these income levels, ryczałt, on these assumptions. The three modes are the progressive scale (skala), the flat 19% (podatek liniowy) and ryczałt, a flat levy on revenue. Skala barely beats employment. Ryczałt wins clearly, but it allows no expense deductions at all, so it only works if your costs are genuinely low. At lower revenue or with real business expenses the ranking can change.
Is B2B simply better then?
No. The figures are net of tax but not net of what you give up: paid holiday, sick pay, notice, parental entitlements, ZUS accrual toward a pension, and the cost and admin of running a company. A B2B rate has to cover all of that before it is genuinely better. What the numbers do show is why the Polish market converged on B2B for technology work.
What about IP Box?
It lowers the rate further on qualifying income from intellectual property rights, which for a developer creating original software can cover part of what they bill. It requires proper records separating qualifying income and a defensible basis for the split, so it is not automatic and it is not a blanket rate on everything. It is not included in the figures on this page.
Why is Polish employment taxed so heavily at ordinary salaries?
The combination of ZUS social contributions and the health contribution applies from the first złoty with no meaningful allowance at the bottom, so the effective rate starts high and stays high. Unlike the UK, there is no large tax-free band doing the work at modest incomes, which is exactly why the gap is widest in the middle of the range rather than at the top.
How reliable is the currency conversion here?
Treat it as illustrative and check the live rate. The percentages are the durable part, because the share of gross you keep does not depend on the exchange rate. The rate used is stated and dated beside the cash table above, and comes from the European Central Bank's daily reference rates.
What does this comparison leave out?
IP Box, which lowers the B2B figures further for qualifying software income. PPK, the workplace pension scheme, which reduces take-home on the employment side. Umowa zlecenie, a third Polish contract type sitting between employment and B2B. UK pension salary sacrifice and student loan repayments. And the cost of running a Polish company on the B2B side.
Figures are PayMetric Labs' own calculations using our UK, Polish employment and Polish B2B tax engines at 2026 rates, for a single taxpayer with no child relief, no business expenses and no IP Box claim, against a single UK taxpayer with no pension contributions or student loan. Currency conversions use £1 = 5.0919 zl, European Central Bank reference rates, 23 September 2026 and will drift; the percentages do not depend on the rate. General information only, not personal tax advice.