R&D relief, IP Box and robotisation – how to combine them and what to do before 2026 ends

The tax year beginning in 2026 is the last one covered by the robotisation relief, and companies carrying out research and development work are asking whether the R&D relief can be combined with the 5% IP Box rate. It can, but on terms that change the calculation. You calculate the robotisation relief on the depreciation write-offs recognised as costs by the end of that year, not on the price of the robot. You deduct qualifying costs connected with a qualified intellectual property right from the income taxed at 5%, not at 19%. We show how to calculate each of the preferences, which of them carry forward to subsequent years and what to do before the year is closed.

Robotisation relief: the last year and the timing of write-offs

The robotisation relief covers only tax-deductible costs recognised by the end of the tax year beginning in 2026 – and where the robot is depreciated, the cost consists of the write-offs, not the purchase price.

Article 38eb(1) of the CIT Act (ustawa o CIT) allows 50% of the costs incurred on robotisation in the tax year to be deducted from the tax base, up to the amount of income from revenue other than from capital gains. The catalogue in paragraph 2 covers factory-new industrial robots and related devices (peripheral, safety, remote diagnostics and human-interaction devices), the necessary intangible assets, training and fees under a lease ending with the transfer of ownership. The robot must meet the definition in paragraph 3, which includes being multipurpose and having at least 3 degrees of freedom. Paragraph 5 sets the limit: the deduction “applies to tax-deductible costs incurred on robotisation from the beginning of the tax year that began in 2022 until the end of the tax year that began in 2026” (translation by the author). Where the tax year differs from the calendar year, the period therefore extends into 2027.

In an individual tax ruling of 14 September 2026, no. 0111-KDIB2-1.4010.305.2026.2.ED, the Director of the National Revenue Information Service (Dyrektor Krajowej Informacji Skarbowej, the Director of the KIS) stated: “The additional deduction is available only in respect of those depreciation write-offs that constitute a tax-deductible cost while the relief is in force.” The Director of the KIS refused a one-off deduction of 50% of the robot’s price and held that a fully reconditioned machine was not factory-new. The same conclusion was reached in a ruling of 29 April 2025, no. 0111-KDIB2-1.4010.101.2025.2.ED – training, however, is treated as a tax-deductible cost directly, namely on the day it is incurred. The authority reads the “acquisition costs” in paragraph 2 as depreciation write-offs, so base your planning on that reading.

Example (hypothetical). A company whose tax year is the calendar year brings a robot with an initial value of PLN 1,200,000 into use in October 2026; the write-offs recognised as costs in 2026 amount to PLN 40,000. Deduction: PLN 40,000 × 50% = PLN 20,000, i.e., a tax reduction of PLN 20,000 × 19% = PLN 3,800. The write-offs on the remaining PLN 1,160,000 will fall in years in which, under the current provisions, the relief does not apply. You settle the excess of the deduction over income in the six subsequent years (paragraph 8 in conjunction with the first and second sentences of Article 18d(8)), and disposing of the robot before the end of its depreciation requires the deductions to be added back (paragraph 6).

Bring the robot into use as early as possible in the tax year beginning in 2026, account for training in the same year and, before placing the order, check that the machine is multipurpose. The list of legislative work of the Council of Ministers (Rada Ministrów) includes a bill that provides for extending the robotisation relief and repealing the expansion relief – until the act is passed and promulgated, the provisions described above apply.

R&D relief: 200% of remuneration, 100% of other costs

Most taxpayers deduct from the tax base 200% of the remuneration costs of persons carrying out R&D work and 100% of the other qualifying costs – on top of the fact that these expenses are already tax-deductible costs.

Article 18d(1) of the CIT Act allows tax-deductible costs incurred on research and development activity to be deducted from the tax base, up to the amount of income from revenue other than from capital gains. This is creative, systematic activity aimed at increasing the stock of knowledge, comprising scientific research or development work (Article 4a(26)–(28)). The closed catalogue of costs covers, among other things, amounts due under employment contracts, contracts of mandate and contracts for specific work together with contributions – in the part corresponding to the working time spent on R&D in a given month (paragraph 2(1) and (1a)), materials (point 2) and depreciation write-offs excluding passenger cars, structures, buildings and premises (paragraph 3). The limit in Article 18d(7)(3) is “100% of the costs referred to in paragraph 2(2)–(5), paragraphs 2a and 3, and 200% of the costs referred to in paragraph 2(1) and (1a)”; the separate limits in points 1 and 2 apply to the taxpayers referred to in paragraph 3a. You settle the excess over income in the six subsequent years (paragraph 8).

In a ruling of 31 October 2025, no. 0111-KDIB1-3.4010.506.2025.2.JKU, the authority listed the separate recording of costs in the records under Article 9(1b) among the conditions for the deduction and added: “Therefore, it is advisable, for evidential purposes, that records of the working time devoted by employees to research and development activity be kept by the taxpayer using the relief.”

Example (hypothetical). The remuneration and contributions of R&D employees amount to PLN 1,080,000, and materials to PLN 100,000. Deduction: PLN 1,080,000 × 200% + PLN 100,000 × 100% = PLN 2,260,000, which, with sufficient income and a 19% rate, reduces the tax by PLN 2,260,000 × 19% = PLN 429,400. A calculation that assumes 100% for remuneration shows PLN 1,080,000 × 19% = PLN 205,200 from this item instead of PLN 2,160,000 × 19% = PLN 410,400.

Document working time on R&D every month and calculate the relief separately for remuneration and for other costs. For PIT, the R&D relief is provided for in Article 26e of the PIT Act (ustawa o PIT), and IP Box in Article 30ca.

R&D and IP Box together: the deduction moves to the income taxed at 5%

You may apply the R&D relief alongside the 5% rate, but you deduct the qualifying costs taken into account in the income from a qualified intellectual property right from that income – not from income taxed at 19% or 9%.

Article 24d(1) of the CIT Act provides for a 5% rate on qualified income from qualified rights, and paragraph 2 lists eight categories of such rights, including copyright in a computer program created, developed or improved as part of the taxpayer’s R&D activity. Qualified income is the income from the right multiplied by the nexus ratio (a + b) × 1.3 / (a + b + c + d): a – own R&D activity, b – results of work acquired from unrelated entities, c – from related entities, d – acquisition of the qualified right (paragraph 4); costs not directly connected with the right are disregarded (paragraph 5). Since 2022, Article 24d(9a) has provided that a taxpayer “may deduct” from the income from a qualified right the qualifying costs under Article 18d(2)–(3b) that led to its creation, development or improvement, “whereby the provisions of the second sentence of Article 18d(1) and Article 18d(3c)–(9) apply accordingly”.

In a ruling of 10 April 2025, no. 0114-KDIP2-1.4010.27.2025.2.AZ, the authority held that qualifying costs “which will be taken into account as a cost in order to determine the IP Box income still cannot be deducted under the R&D relief from income determined under the general rules”. In a ruling of 6 June 2025, no. 0111-KDIB1-3.4010.82.2025.2.JKU, the authority added: “The taxpayer must decide whether the tax-deductible costs were connected with earning revenue taxed under the general rules or under the preferential IP Box rate.” In that ruling, it excluded the costs of administration, sales, marketing and trade fairs from letter (a). Services of unrelated B2B contractors fall under letter (b) (tax explanatory notes of 15 July 2019, point 115), so such commissions do not reduce the ratio. The words “may deduct” do not give a choice of income for the same costs: the connection with revenue is decisive, and Article 18d(5) rules out a second deduction.

Example (hypothetical). Income from the qualified right amounts to PLN 1,000,000, the nexus ratio is 1 and the related R&D remuneration is PLN 400,000. A deduction of PLN 400,000 × 200% = PLN 800,000 gives tax of (PLN 1,000,000 − PLN 800,000) × 5% = PLN 10,000 instead of PLN 1,000,000 × 5% = PLN 50,000. The benefit is PLN 800,000 × 5% = PLN 40,000, not PLN 800,000 × 19% = PLN 152,000.

First allocate costs to the categories of income according to their actual connection with revenue, and only then calculate the benefit of combining the preferences.

Innovative employees relief: PIT advances instead of a carry-forward

The relief under Article 18db does not pay out the unused R&D relief; instead, it allows part of the PIT advances not to be remitted – at most up to the product of the amount not deducted and the CIT rate, and only until the end of the year in which you file the tax return.

Article 18db(1) of the CIT Act allows a remitter that has incurred a loss or earned income lower than the amount of the deduction under Article 18d to reduce the PIT advances “by the product of the amount not deducted and the tax rate applicable to that taxpayer in the given tax year”. This concerns advances on amounts due under an employment relationship, under contracts of mandate or for specific work and from copyright (paragraph 2), paid to persons who devote at least 50% of their time in a given month to R&D (paragraph 3). The entitlement applies from the month following the filing of the tax return until the end of the tax year in which it was filed (paragraph 4), and the reductions are taken into account in the deduction in subsequent years (the third sentence of Article 18d(8)).

In a ruling of 12 February 2025, no. 0111-KDIB1-3.4010.815.2024.1.MBD, the authority took the view that the 50% threshold is calculated by reference to total working time, which includes leave, and that “the period during which the employee is on sick leave should also be included in the total working time”. A long absence may therefore bring the R&D share below the threshold.

Example (hypothetical). R&D remuneration amounts to PLN 800,000 and income to PLN 200,000. Of the deduction of PLN 800,000 × 200% = PLN 1,600,000, the company will use PLN 200,000 in its tax return, so the amount not deducted is PLN 1,600,000 − PLN 200,000 = PLN 1,400,000. The upper limit of the reduction in advances is PLN 1,400,000 × 19% = PLN 266,000; taking the whole PLN 1,400,000 would overstate the benefit roughly fivefold. The actual limit is the advances collected: at PLN 6,000 a month, a tax return filed in January gives 11 × PLN 6,000 = PLN 66,000, and one filed in March gives 9 × PLN 6,000 = PLN 54,000.

Where the tax year is the calendar year, reduce the advances until December 2026 on account of the amount not deducted shown in the tax return for 2025, because the entitlement expires at the end of the year. File the tax return for 2026 as early as possible in 2027.

Prototype, expansion, consolidation, sponsorship – what carries forward to subsequent years

The four remaining reliefs differ above all in the consequence of insufficient income: you settle the prototype relief and the expansion relief in the six subsequent years, whereas in the consolidation relief and the sponsorship relief the part not deducted is lost.

The four remaining reliefs in the CIT Act – amount, main condition, settlement

In a ruling of 8 January 2026, no. 0111-KDIB1-1.4010.541.2025.1.SG, the authority stated: “Therefore, the consolidation relief does not cover expenses incurred in the year preceding the year in which the company’s shares were acquired.” In a ruling of 24 July 2025, no. 0111-KDIB2-1.4010.127.2024.11.BJ, it accepted the sponsorship relief where the parties provide equivalent performances, but refused it for a discount, because “under the sponsorship relief, only those costs that meet the criteria for tax-deductible costs within the meaning of the income tax provisions are deductible”.

Plan the due diligence review so that the advisors’ costs and the acquisition of the shares fall in a single tax year. Structure the sponsorship agreement so that the sponsored party’s performance is advertising in nature and corresponds to the value of the support.

PSI and Estonian CIT – when the reliefs apply only in part or not at all

The exemption under a support decision limits the reliefs only as regards costs included in the exempt income, whereas lump-sum corporate income tax (ryczałt od dochodów spółek, “Estonian CIT”) excludes them entirely, because it has no base under Article 18 from which they are deducted.

The Polish Investment Zone (Polska Strefa Inwestycji, PSI) operates through an exemption: income from carrying out a new investment specified in a support decision issued under the Act on supporting new investments (ustawa o wspieraniu nowych inwestycji), earned in the area indicated in the decision, is exempt from tax within the limits of permissible State aid (Article 17(1)(34a) and Article 17(4) of the CIT Act). A taxpayer using this exemption applies the R&D relief, the prototype relief, the expansion relief and the robotisation relief only to costs not taken into account in calculating the exempt income (Articles 18d(6), 18ea(10), 18eb(8) and 38eb(8)). The announced reform of support decisions remains a bill – until the act is passed and promulgated, the provisions described above apply.

All the reliefs discussed are deducted from the base determined in accordance with Article 18 of the CIT Act, whereas under Estonian CIT the income subject to tax is that referred to in Article 28m(1), among other things distributed profit. Article 28h(1) provides: “A taxpayer taxed under the lump-sum regime is not subject to taxation under the rules laid down in Article 19, Article 24b, Article 24ca and Article 24d.” In a ruling of 16 April 2025, no. 0111-KDIB1-2.4010.84.2025.2.ANK, the authority explained that “in determining the tax base under the lump-sum regime, other provisions of the CIT Act governing analogous matters do not apply, i.e., as regards the determination of income, the tax base and the tax rate”. On 22 September 2026 the Council of Ministers adopted a bill amending the PIT, CIT and Lump-Sum Income Tax Acts (ustawy o PIT, CIT i ryczałcie); the bill covers, among other things, Estonian CIT – until the act is passed and promulgated, the provisions described above apply.

Before you elect lump-sum corporate income tax, compare the value of the reliefs with the benefit of deferring tax and establish what will happen to deductions not used before it is elected. Where you hold a support decision, keep records of which costs went into the exempt income.

The most common mistake

The most common mistake is to build the records of R&D and IP Box costs only after the year has been closed, when data on working time, projects and the allocation of costs to a specific right are missing.

The provisions require R&D costs to be recorded separately in the records (Article 9(1b) of the CIT Act) and remuneration to be calculated according to the working time spent on R&D in a given month (Article 18d(2)(1)). The records under Article 24e must separately identify each qualified right, the revenue, costs and income attributable to it and the costs in letters (a)–(d) of the nexus ratio. The taxpayer may argue in its defence that the provisions do not impose a form of records – the authority itself acknowledged in the ruling of 31 October 2025 that “the legislator did not impose on entrepreneurs a form of division/separation”. In the ruling of 6 June 2025, it also allowed the 5% rate for 2023–2024 by way of correcting the tax returns, because the company had records that made it possible to determine the income. This argument will not, however, help a taxpayer without source data: in a ruling of 22 January 2025, no. 0114-KDIP2-1.4010.205.2021.16.S/PP, the authority rejected as a basis for the relief “time calculated on a mean, average, percentage or presumed basis”, so records of working time and of the allocation of costs should be made during the year.

The consequence is a challenge to the deduction and tax arrears with interest, and, for IP Box, the loss of the 5% rate (Article 24e(2)). Keep monthly records of working time on R&D projects allocated to the right, mark R&D costs in the books of account and, before filing the tax return, reconcile the records with the relief calculation.

Summary

1. Bring the robot into use and account for training in the tax year beginning in 2026 – the relief covers 50% of the write-offs, not the purchase price.
2. Calculate the R&D relief under Article 18d(7)(3) and separately identify its costs in the records every month.
3. Allocate costs to income from qualified IP or to income under the general rules before you calculate the benefit of combining the R&D relief with IP Box.
4. Use the reduction in PIT advances under Article 18db by the end of the year, at most up to the product of the amount not deducted and the CIT rate.
5. Plan the acquisition of shares so that the advisors’ costs fall in the year of acquisition, and base sponsorship on equivalent performances – these reliefs do not carry forward to subsequent years.

Sources cited

All quotations from Polish-language sources — statutes, tax rulings and court judgments — are given here in the author's translation; the Polish wording is authoritative.

• Individual tax ruling of the Director of the National Revenue Information Service of 14 September 2026, no. 0111-KDIB2-1.4010.305.2026.2.ED – the robotisation relief covers 50% of the depreciation write-offs made while it is in force, without a one-off deduction of the robot’s price; a fully reconditioned machine is not factory-new, and a machine performing a single measuring task is not multipurpose; the position held to be partly correct and partly incorrect. https://eureka.mf.gov.pl/informacje/podglad/709081
• Individual tax ruling of the Director of the National Revenue Information Service of 29 April 2025, no. 0111-KDIB2-1.4010.101.2025.2.ED – a laser machine tool as an industrial robot; deduction in step with the write-offs, training on the day the cost is incurred, installation costs in the initial value; the position held to be partly correct and partly incorrect. https://eureka.mf.gov.pl/informacje/podglad/637346
• Individual tax ruling of the Director of the National Revenue Information Service of 31 October 2025, no. 0111-KDIB1-3.4010.506.2025.2.JKU – game production as research and development activity, qualifying costs under Article 18d(2)(1) and (1a) and the separate recording of costs in the records under Article 9(1b); the position held to be correct. https://eureka.mf.gov.pl/informacje/podglad/665392
• Individual tax ruling of the Director of the National Revenue Information Service of 10 April 2025, no. 0114-KDIP2-1.4010.27.2025.2.AZ – software as a qualified intellectual property right, costs in letters (a) and (b) of the nexus ratio and the deduction of qualifying costs from income from qualified IP under Article 24d(9a); the position held to be correct. https://eureka.mf.gov.pl/informacje/podglad/634982
• Individual tax ruling of the Director of the National Revenue Information Service of 6 June 2025, no. 0111-KDIB1-3.4010.82.2025.2.JKU – the 5% rate for a licence for a computer program, also by way of correcting the tax returns for 2023–2024; administration, sales and marketing costs outside letter (a); prohibition on accounting for the same costs twice; the position held to be partly correct and partly incorrect. https://eureka.mf.gov.pl/informacje/podglad/642830
• Individual tax ruling of the Director of the National Revenue Information Service of 12 February 2025, no. 0111-KDIB1-3.4010.815.2024.1.MBD – total working time for the 50% threshold under Article 18db(3) includes leave and sick leave; the position held to be incorrect. https://eureka.mf.gov.pl/informacje/podglad/626195
• Individual tax ruling of the Director of the National Revenue Information Service of 8 January 2026, no. 0111-KDIB1-1.4010.541.2025.1.SG – the consolidation relief does not cover expenses incurred in the year preceding the year in which the shares were acquired; the position held to be incorrect. https://eureka.mf.gov.pl/informacje/podglad/675065
• Individual tax ruling of the Director of the National Revenue Information Service of 24 July 2025, no. 0111-KDIB2-1.4010.127.2024.11.BJ – the sponsorship relief for sponsorship based on equivalent performances and for the settlement of royalties, with no relief for a price discount; the position held to be partly correct and partly incorrect. https://eureka.mf.gov.pl/informacje/podglad/650257
• Individual tax ruling of the Director of the National Revenue Information Service of 16 April 2025, no. 0111-KDIB1-2.4010.84.2025.2.ANK – the tax base under the lump-sum corporate income tax according to Articles 28m and 28n, and the exclusion of the rules in Articles 19, 24b, 24ca and 24d by Article 28h(1); the position held to be correct. https://eureka.mf.gov.pl/informacje/podglad/635869
• Individual tax ruling of the Director of the National Revenue Information Service of 22 January 2025, no. 0114-KDIP2-1.4010.205.2021.16.S/PP – a qualifying cost is remuneration in the part corresponding to the actual working time spent on R&D in a given month, not to a share of time established on an average basis from analytical data (in that respect, the position held to be incorrect); records under Article 24e(1)(4) are permissible for the software category. https://eureka.mf.gov.pl/informacje/podglad/623860
• Tax explanatory notes of 15 July 2019 on the preferential taxation of income generated by intellectual property rights – IP BOX (Ministry of Finance) – points 114–116: employee costs in letter (a) of the nexus ratio, B2B services from unrelated entities in letter (b), from related entities in letter (c), and, on a transfer of the right, in letter (d). https://www.gov.pl/web/finanse/objasnienia-podatkowe-dot-preferencyjnego-opodatkowania-dochodow-wytwarzanych-przez-prawa-wlasnosci-intelektualnej-ip-box

Related materials

• Estonian CIT – entry conditions, hidden profits and the real cost of distributing profit
• JPK_CIT and JPK_VAT markings – electronic books of account a year-end export will not fix
• Advanced calculator – nexus ratio and IP Box

Legal basis: Act of 15 February 1992 on corporate income tax (consolidated text: Dz.U. z 2026 r. poz. 554, as amended): Article 4a(26)–(28), Article 9(1) and (1b), Article 15(1) and (6), Article 17(1)(34a) and Article 17(4), Article 18, Article 18d(1)–(3), (5)–(8), Article 18db(1)–(5), Article 18ea(1)–(3), (5) and (9)–(11), Article 18eb(1)–(10), Article 18ec(1)–(7), Article 18ee(1)–(3) and (8)–(11), Article 24d(1)–(5) and (9a), Article 24e(1) and (2), Article 28h(1), Article 28m(1), Article 28n(1), Article 38eb(1)–(8); Act of 26 July 1991 on personal income tax (consolidated text: Dz.U. z 2026 r. poz. 592, as amended): Article 12(1), Article 13(8)(a), Article 26e, Article 30ca, Article 32, Article 41(1) and (4); Act of 10 May 2018 on supporting new investments (consolidated text: Dz.U. z 2025 r. poz. 469): Article 3(1), Article 13(1).