Memecoin tax in Poland: PIT-38 step by step

What is taxed and what is not[1][3]

Polish rules do not calculate profit separately for each token. What is taxed is the paid disposal of a virtual currency: exchanging it for legal tender, for goods, services or property rights other than a virtual currency, or using it to settle another obligation. The Ministry of Finance says revenue arises at the moment of that exchange.

Exchanging one virtual currency for another is not taxed. For a memecoin trader this is the key rule: buying a memecoin with SOL, selling it back for SOL and every further DEX swap create no revenue. Tax appears only when you turn crypto into money or pay with it.

• Memecoin into SOL or ETH on a DEX: no tax
• SOL into zloty on an exchange or exchange office: revenue
• Paying for goods or services with crypto: revenue
• Transfer between your own wallets: not a disposal

Costs: what you can and cannot deduct[1][3]

Deductible costs are documented expenses incurred directly to acquire a virtual currency and the costs of disposing of it, including documented fees paid to intermediaries such as exchanges and exchange offices. In practice the main cost is the zloty amount you transferred to buy crypto, plus the exchange's commission.

According to podatki.gov.pl you cannot deduct the cost of financing a purchase, such as a loan, expenses connected with exchanging one virtual currency for another, or mining hardware and electricity. The safest assumption is that DEX swap fees, priority fees and gas paid on token-to-token swaps are not deductible.

• Zloty or other currency spent on buying crypto
• Documented exchange or exchange-office commission on purchases and sales
• Not deductible: interest on a loan used for buying
• Not deductible: fees connected with crypto-to-crypto swaps

Example: a memecoin trader's year[1][3]

In March you buy SOL on an exchange for 2,000 zloty, send it to your wallet and trade memecoins on a DEX for several months. Some positions go to zero, one rises. In November you swap everything back into SOL, send it to the exchange and sell it for 5,000 zloty.

The swaps in between have no tax effect. Revenue is 5,000 zloty, costs are 2,000 zloty, income is 3,000 zloty and the 19 percent tax is 570 zloty. Had the sale brought only 1,500 zloty, there would be no income and the 500 zloty of excess costs would carry into the next year.

There is no loss, only excess costs[1][2][3]

With crypto you do not report a loss. If costs exceed revenue, income is zero and the excess increases costs in the following tax year. You cannot deduct it from other income, such as shares or employment.

That is why you should, and often must, file PIT-38 even in a year when you only bought. According to podatki.gov.pl you file if you made a paid disposal or a paid acquisition of a virtual currency, even with no revenue that year. Skipping it makes earlier costs harder to show later.

PIT-38 step by step: parts E and F[2][1][4][3]

You settle crypto yourself, because nobody withholds tax for you. Exchanges have no statutory duty to issue a PIT-8C for crypto transactions, so you prepare the figures on your own. Foreign-currency amounts are converted at the National Bank of Poland average rate from the last business day before the revenue or expense.

On the form for tax year 2025, part E used fields 36 to 40 and the tax calculation in part F used fields 41 to 45. Field numbers can change in a new version of the form, so check the current Ministry of Finance brochure before filling it in.

• Revenue from paid disposals in the year (field 36 on the 2025 form)
• Costs incurred in the year (field 37)
• Costs from earlier years carried over from the previous PIT-38 (field 38)
• Income if revenue exceeds costs (field 39), or costs to carry forward (field 40)
• Base rounded to whole zloty, 19 percent rate, tax due
• File between 15 February and 30 April and pay by 30 April to your tax micro-account

Records from exchanges, DEXes and wallets[3][6][7]

The Ministry of Finance stresses that reporting revenue and costs is the taxpayer's duty, and the taxpayer must be able to prove them. With memecoins the history is scattered: some on an exchange, some in Solana or Base wallets, some in trading bots. Collect it as you go, not in April.

What matters most are the points where crypto meets money: zloty deposits, crypto purchases, withdrawals to a wallet, deposits back to the exchange and sales. DEX swaps do not change the tax, but their explorer history helps show where the funds you sold came from.

• CSV export of transactions from every exchange and exchange office for the full year
• Bank statements with transfers to and from exchanges
• A list of your own wallet addresses by network
• Transaction hashes for withdrawals and deposits between exchange and wallet
• Wallet history from an explorer such as Solscan or Basescan
• Confirmations of commissions charged by the exchange

Airdrops, rewards and tokens worth zero[5][3][1]

The taxation of airdrops and staking rewards is not settled. In one case the Director of National Tax Information held that revenue arises when the reward is received. The Voivodeship Administrative Court in Poznań disagreed in a judgment of 19 December 2024 (I SA/Po 434/24), relying on earlier case law under which revenue arises only on exchange for money or goods. For larger amounts consider an individual tax ruling.

A memecoin that went to zero or was rug-pulled does not produce a separate deductible loss. The money spent buying crypto was already a cost in the year of purchase, and a worthless token simply produces no revenue. The ministry has also said that once crypto was exchanged for zloty, revenue arose even if the exchange later failed to pay out. Relief is then possible only case by case under the Tax Ordinance.

Checklist before 30 April[1][2][4]

If you trade memecoins on a DEX and keep funds in Solana or Base wallets, your return comes down to counting the money that went into crypto and the money that came out. This list helps you skip nothing.

• Add up every crypto purchase made with zloty or other currencies in the year, with commissions
• Add up every sale of crypto for money and every payment made with crypto
• Convert foreign currencies at the NBP rate from the business day before each transaction
• Add unused costs from the previous PIT-38
• Fill in parts E and F and note excess costs for next year
• File PIT-38 and pay the tax by 30 April
• Keep exports, statements and wallet history together with a copy of the return