Your first employee: a checklist for moving from sole trader to employer

A complete list of tasks before hiring your first person: notifications to ZUS and the tax office, health and safety, PPK, regulations, working time records. What to do a week before, on the day of hiring and a month later.

Profais Team

Accounting firm in Łódź · KIBR member

19 March 2026 · updated 22 October 2026 · 6 min read

Moving from a sole trader business to being an employer is the moment when the company stops being “you” and becomes an organisation. The first person changes almost everything: your obligations towards the Social Insurance Institution (ZUS), the tax office, the National Labour Inspectorate (PIP), occupational health and safety (BHP) and personal data protection. In the first month you pass through about twenty checkpoints. Some must be done before the first day of work, others within 7 days of hiring.

This checklist is a step-by-step scenario for a business owner hiring a first person. The dates relate to the start date of work (D-day). Everything is counted as “T-X” (X days before) or “T+X” (after).

Phase 1: two weeks before (T-14)

1. Decide on the form of employment

Start by choosing: an employment contract, a contract of mandate, a contract for specific work, or B2B. Each has different tax and ZUS consequences. An employment contract gives the employee the most protection (leave, notice, benefits) but is the most expensive for the employer. Details are in a separate article on forms of employment.

2. Choose a financial institution for PPK

If your employees will be covered by PPK (Employee Capital Plans; this also applies to mandate-contract workers with pension insurance; there are exclusions, among others for a micro-entrepreneur where all employees file declarations opting out), you conclude an agreement on managing PPK with the chosen institution (from the Polish Development Fund (PFR) list). The decision takes 1–2 weeks (negotiating terms, comparing fees). The official list: mojeppk.pl.

3. Draft the contract

Preparing the contract itself takes 2–3 hours (including any non-compete clause and confidentiality clause). Templates: pip.gov.pl/wzory-dokumentow or an accounting firm.

Phase 2: a week before (T-7)

4. Pre-employment health and safety examinations

You give the employee a referral, and they make an appointment with an occupational medicine doctor (the employer pays). The medical certificate must be ready before the first day of work. For office work it is usually a 1–2 day wait.

5. Initial health and safety training

Mandatory for every employee (employment contract) before they are allowed to work. It has two parts:

General instruction: given by the employer or the health and safety service
Workplace-specific instruction: given by a designated person (usually you)

General training can be bought from an external health and safety company. You give the workplace-specific instruction yourself, following a script.

6. Application for NIP-8 (if you do not have one yet)

As the owner of a sole trader business you are already the contribution payer for yourself (you filed the registration when you registered the business). When you hire your first person, you register the employee with ZUS (ZUS ZUA). Some banks, however, require a current NIP-8 when opening an “employee” account, so check with your bank.

Phase 3: the day of hiring (T-0)

7. Sign the contract before work starts

The Labour Code requires the contract to be concluded no later than on the day work begins (Article 29 § 2 of the Labour Code). It is safer the day before. The contract is in writing (the original for the employee, a copy for the employer).

8. The employee’s statement (PIT-2)

The employee can file a PIT-2, a statement on applying the tax-reducing amount (PLN 300 a month = PLN 3,600 a year). Without a PIT-2 you withhold the full advance. You hand over the form together with the contract to be signed.

9. The PPK statement

After 3 months of employment the employer enrols in PPK the people covered by the PPK Act, unless they file a declaration opting out. The deadlines and exclusions (among others for a micro-entrepreneur where all employees opt out) come from the PPK Act, so check them at the source.

10. Information on the terms of employment

Article 29 § 3 of the Labour Code imposes an obligation to give written information on:

The applicable daily and weekly working time norm
How often wages are paid
The amount of annual leave
The length of the notice period
The collective agreement (if applicable)

The deadline is 7 days from the day the employee is allowed to start work. In practice, give it together with the contract.

11. Working time record

You set it up from the first day. For an employment contract there is an obligation to keep a detailed record (start and finish times, overtime, leave). The form is electronic (an HR system, Excel) or paper.

Phase 4: the first week (T+1 to T+7)

12. Registering the employee with ZUS (ZUS ZUA)

Deadline: 7 days from the hiring date. Form ZUS ZUA registers the employee for social and health insurance. The insurance title code depends on the form (for example 01 10 00 (employee) for an employment contract). You file electronically through the ZUS payer software, the PUE ZUS portal or an accounting firm.

13. Registering family members (ZUS ZCNA)

If the employee registers family members for health insurance (a spouse with no other insurance basis, children), an additional form ZCNA is needed, also within 7 days.

14. Contribution payer status

The owner of a sole trader business is already the contribution payer for themselves, having filed the registration when registering the business. For the first employee you do not register yourself again but register the employee (ZUS ZUA, or ZUS ZZA for a mandate contract) within 7 days of the hiring date. Confirm the current forms at zus.pl.

Phase 5: the first month (T+30)

15. The first payment of wages: by the 10th day of the following month

Labour Code: wages for work are paid at least once a month, no later than the 10th day of the following month (Article 85 § 2 of the Labour Code). In practice most companies pay by the 5th or the 10th.

16. The first DRA to ZUS

The ZUS DRA settlement return for the first month has a deadline of the 15th day of the following month (legal entities) or the 20th day (individuals, including sole traders). Together with the personal report RCA (contributions for the employee).

17. The first payment of ZUS contributions

The same deadline as the DRA: the 15th or the 20th day. A transfer to the ZUS contributions account (an individual account number for the payer). The contributions are usually calculated by an accounting firm or an HR and payroll system.

18. The employee’s first PIT advance

The deadline is the 20th day of the following month. You file form PIT-4R (the annual summary) only for the whole year. You transfer the advance to the company’s tax micro-account.

19. PPK: the first payment

If the employee has not opted out: you conclude the agreement to run PPK for the employee no earlier than after 14 days and no later than by the 10th day of the month following the month in which 3 months of their employment passed. You transfer the payments by the 15th day of the month following the month in which they were calculated.

checkpoints to work through between the decision and the end of the first month of employment

Monthly costs: what you pay for an employee

For an employee on PLN 5,000 gross, the employer pays about PLN 6,000 in total in 2026 (gross plus employer’s contributions). A detailed breakdown is in the article How much an employee really costs.

What to do every month: the routine

After the “first month” you enter a routine that repeats every month:

By the 10th day: payment of wages
By the 15th/20th day: DRA, RCA, payment of ZUS contributions
By the 20th day: the employee’s PIT advance
By the 15th day: payment to PPK (if active)
Once a year: by 31 January, PIT-11 to the tax office and PIT-4R; by the end of February, PIT-11 for the employee

Hiring your first employee is the moment when most sole traders move from “doing everything yourself” to “managing a process”. You do not have to know every ZUS form. You must have someone who fills them in correctly and on time.

Summary

The first employee is the biggest formal change a sole trader business goes through in the whole life cycle of the company. Nineteen items to tick off in the first month, and then a monthly routine of contributions, returns and wages. At Profais we run HR and payroll from the first employee: registrations, contracts, DRA, PIT-4R, working time records. If you are planning to hire, contact us at least 2 weeks before. Then everything will go smoothly.

Sources: zus.pl/firmy, pip.gov.pl, mojeppk.pl, Labour Code Articles 22–29.

FAQ

Frequently asked questions

How long before the hiring date must I start the formalities?

At least 7 working days. Registering the employee with ZUS (form ZUS ZUA) has a deadline of 7 days from the hiring date, but you must have the pre-employment medical examination and the contract ready before the first day of work. In practice it is worth starting 2 weeks before.

Do I need work regulations with just one employee?

Work regulations are mandatory only from 50 employees, unless employee representatives demand them. With one person you can regulate everything in the employment contract. Remuneration regulations are voluntary with 1–49 employees, but they make it easier to standardise bonuses, allowances and benefits.

What about PPK: do I have to set up an account for my first employee?

It depends. PPK covers people employed within the meaning of the PPK Act, including mandate-contract workers who pay pension insurance. There are exclusions (among others a micro-entrepreneur, where all employees file declarations opting out of PPK). The agreement to run PPK is concluded after 3 months of employment, by the deadline given in the PPK Act. Check it before hiring your first employee.