Do you settle personal income tax? You can deduct thousands of zlotys for children

When settling PIT for 2025, it is worth remembering about reliefs. They can actually reduce your tax or increase your refund.

– In 2026, taxpayers in Poland will again have the opportunity to take advantage of the pro-family tax relief – one of the most frequently used tax preferences when settling the annual personal income tax (PIT). Thanks to it, taxpayers raising children can significantly reduce their annual PIT tax, and in fact get a refund – notes Piotr Juszczyk, Chief Tax Advisor at inFakt, in an interview with “Wprost”.

Who can benefit from it?

The purpose of this relief is to partially reduce the tax burden on parents and guardians raising children. The taxpayer is entitled to deduction if:

• shows income taxed according to the tax scale (12% and 32%) and submits a PIT-37, PIT-36 or other declaration appropriate to your situation,

• takes care of the child as a parent, legal guardian or foster family,

• raises children of an appropriate age or in special life situations.

What are the deduction amounts?

The expert explains that the relief is deducted from tax (i.e. after calculating the PIT amount due), and its amount depends on the number of children:

• first child – deduction up to PLN 92.67 per month (PLN 1,112.04 per year),

• second child – deduction up to PLN 92.67 per month (PLN 1,112.04 per year),

• third child – deduction up to PLN 166.67 per month (PLN 2,000.04 per year),

• fourth and subsequent children – deduction up to PLN 225.00 per month (PLN 2,700.00 per year).

– These amounts are added up – the more children a taxpayer raises, the greater the tax benefits – says Piotr Juszczyk.

Income limits

It is worth remembering that in the case of pro-family relief, income limits apply. For parents raising only one child, the income limit applies:

• PLN 112,000 of total income for married couples or single parents,

• PLN 56,000 of income for unmarried people throughout the year.

– If the limits are exceeded, the relief is not available for one child. If you are raising two or more children, the relief is available without income limits. Additionally, parents or guardians raising a child with a disability are not subject to any limit – explains Juszczyk.

How to take advantage of the relief?

The pro-family relief is settled in the annual tax return – most often via PIT-37 or PIT-36 submitted to the tax office by the end of April.

– When settling via “Twój e-PIT”, the relief may be included automatically, with the option of correction by the parent. If you want to use the additional refund for the unused child tax relief from ZUS contributions, you should take an additional action, i.e. mark the option “I want to use the additional refund for the unused child tax relief” – suggests a tax expert.

If you take advantage of the pro-family relief, it is worth remembering that it is also available to adult children studying until they are 25 years old, provided that the conditions specified in the regulations are met (e.g. continuing education and certain income limits for the child). Persons supporting adult children with disabilities can also benefit from the relief without any age limit. Moreover, if the amount of relief exceeds the tax due, you can obtain a refund of the excess from ZUS contributions.

Pro-family relief – limits have been the same for 20 years

The tax expert points out that while the pro-family relief itself is one of the most popular in Poland, its limits should be legislatively updated.

– However, it is worth considering the indexation of the relief amounts and the parents’ income threshold. The current limits were established in 2007, so the same values ​​have been in place for 20 years, Juszczyk postulates.