[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":-1},["ShallowReactive",2],{"advice-en-ip-box-evidence-register":3},{"slug":4,"title":5,"excerpt":6,"body":7,"datePublished":8,"dateModified":8},"ip-box-evidence-register","IP Box register: what it must contain and how to keep it","How to keep an IP Box register in 2026: article 30cb requirements, catalogue of rights, work log, allocating revenue and costs, and data for the nexus ratio.","\u003Cp>Without a separate register there is no 5% IP Box rate — the PIT Act directly orders you to pay tax under the tax scale or the flat tax instead. The regulations do not, however, prescribe a template for this register; they only list the information it must allow you to establish. Below we show how to translate the requirements of article 30cb into a practical layout: a catalogue of rights, a work log and an accounting section with data for the nexus ratio. The basics of the relief itself are described in the article \u003Ca href=\"\u002Fen\u002Fadvice\u002Fip-box-what-is-it\">IP Box — the 5% relief for software developers\u003C\u002Fa>.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Ch2>What the Act requires\u003C\u002Fh2>\n\u003Cp>Article 30cb of the PIT Act sets out obligations for taxpayers keeping accounting books, and obliges entrepreneurs with a tax book of revenue and expenditure (KPiR) to show the same information in a separate register. These come down to five points:\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Col>\n\u003Cli>each qualified intellectual property right must be identified separately;\u003C\u002Fli>\n\u003Cli>for each right you must establish revenue, costs and income (or loss);\u003C\u002Fli>\n\u003Cli>costs needed for the nexus ratio must be assigned to a specific right;\u003C\u002Fli>\n\u003Cli>if, where there are several rights, allocating costs to each of them is impossible, you have to establish the combined income from those rights;\u003C\u002Fli>\n\u003Cli>if the rights are used in products or services and cannot be separated, income is established for the product, service or group of them.\u003C\u002Fli>\n\u003C\u002Fol>\n\u003Cp>If, based on the register, income from qualified rights cannot be established, the Act requires it to be taxed under the general rules or the flat tax. People on ryczałt (lump-sum tax on recorded revenue) cannot use IP Box at all, because the preference applies to income, not to revenue.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Ch2>Layer 1: catalogue of rights\u003C\u002Fh2>\n\u003Cp>The first part of the register is a list of qualified rights. For a software developer the right is the copyright to a computer program created, developed or improved as part of their own research and development activity. In practice each item of the catalogue is worth describing like this:\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Ctable>\u003Cthead>\u003Ctr>\u003Cth>Field\u003C\u002Fth>\u003Cth>Example\u003C\u002Fth>\u003C\u002Ftr>\u003C\u002Fthead>\u003Ctbody>\n\u003Ctr>\u003Ctd>Identifier and name\u003C\u002Ftd>\u003Ctd>IP-03: commission settlement module, version 2\u003C\u002Ftd>\u003C\u002Ftr>\n\u003Ctr>\u003Ctd>Type of right and basis of protection\u003C\u002Ftd>\u003Ctd>copyright to a computer program, protection under the Copyright Act\u003C\u002Ftd>\u003C\u002Ftr>\n\u003Ctr>\u003Ctd>Work start date\u003C\u002Ftd>\u003Ctd>3 March 2026\u003C\u002Ftd>\u003C\u002Ftr>\n\u003Ctr>\u003Ctd>Purpose and new elements\u003C\u002Ftd>\u003Ctd>new commission calculation algorithm, integration with the payment system\u003C\u002Ftd>\u003C\u002Ftr>\n\u003Ctr>\u003Ctd>Trace in the repository\u003C\u002Ftd>\u003Ctd>repository name, branches, scope of changes\u003C\u002Ftd>\u003C\u002Ftr>\n\u003Ctr>\u003Ctd>Method of commercialisation\u003C\u002Ftd>\u003Ctd>transfer of rights to the client in a monthly handover protocol\u003C\u002Ftd>\u003C\u002Ftr>\n\u003C\u002Ftbody>\u003C\u002Ftable>\n\u003Cp>Granularity matters. Too general a description (\"software for client X\") makes it harder to allocate costs and revenue, while too fine a one (every ticket in the task system as a separate right) turns the register into an illegible list. A module, a feature or a release is often a good unit.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Ch2>Layer 2: work log\u003C\u002Fh2>\n\u003Cp>The work log links time to a specific right. For each month it is worth recording the number of hours spent on each IP and the hours spent on activities that do not create a qualified right — organisational meetings, system maintenance, user support. The proportion of hours is then a natural key for splitting the revenue on an invoice and indirect costs.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The log should match the other evidence: change history in the repository, protocols of transfer of rights, description of work in the contract. Discrepancies between them are the first thing the tax office checks.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Ch2>Layer 3: accounting section and nexus\u003C\u002Fh2>\n\u003Cp>The accounting section transfers data from the book onto individual rights. Typical columns:\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cul>\n\u003Cli>document date and number, counterparty, amount from the document;\u003C\u002Fli>\n\u003Cli>share of revenue attributable to a given IP (e.g. the remuneration for the transfer of rights set out in the contract or calculated with the hours key);\u003C\u002Fli>\n\u003Cli>direct costs and the share of indirect costs allocated to the IP;\u003C\u002Fli>\n\u003Cli>marking the cost with a letter from the nexus formula: a, b, c or d;\u003C\u002Fli>\n\u003Cli>cumulative totals from the start of work on that right.\u003C\u002Fli>\n\u003C\u002Ful>\n\u003Cp>The nexus ratio is calculated using the formula (a + b) × 1.3 \u002F (a + b + c + d), where a is the cost of your own R&D work, b — purchase of the results of such work from unrelated entities, c — from related entities, d — purchase of a ready qualified right. A result greater than 1 is taken as 1. The formula does not include costs not directly related to the right, in particular interest, financial charges and property costs.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Ch3>Example\u003C\u002Fh3>\n\u003Cp>In 2026 a developer incurs for the IP-03 module own costs of PLN 18,000 (a: equipment, tool licences, technical training) and commissions an independent graphic designer to design the interface for PLN 6,000 (b). The ratio: (18,000 + 6,000) × 1.3 \u002F 24,000 = 1.3, which is taken as 1. If the same design were commissioned from a company that is a related entity (e.g. controlled by a close relative), the cost would go to letter c and the ratio would be (18,000 × 1.3) \u002F 24,000 = 0.975 — part of the income would lose the preference.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Ch2>What revenue can be allocated to IP\u003C\u002Fh2>\n\u003Cp>The Act lists four sources of income from a qualified right: licence fees, sale of the right, the right included in the sale price of a product or service, and compensation for infringement of rights obtained in contentious proceedings. For a developer on a B2B contract this most often means a sale — transfer of economic copyrights to the code. That is why the contract with the client should expressly provide for the transfer of rights and preferably indicate what part of the remuneration is attributable to it.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Ch2>Ongoing or at year-end\u003C\u002Fh2>\n\u003Cp>The Act does not expressly state when the register has to be created. However, a register updated every month is simply easier to defend: the data from the repository and the log are fresh, and the allocation keys do not have to be reconstructed a year later.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Income from IP is reported in the return for the year in which it was earned. A loss from a qualified right reduces income from the same right (product, group of products) in the following 5 tax years — another reason why the register should also cover years without revenue.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Ch2>The most common mistakes\u003C\u002Fh2>\n\u003Cul>\n\u003Cli>a single \"right\" covering several years of cooperation with a client;\u003C\u002Fli>\n\u003Cli>allocating the whole invoice to an IP, even though part of the work is support and meetings;\u003C\u002Fli>\n\u003Cli>no provisions on the transfer of rights in the contract or in protocols;\u003C\u002Fli>\n\u003Cli>indirect costs (e.g. car, flat) included in the nexus with no key and despite the statutory exclusions;\u003C\u002Fli>\n\u003Cli>services from related entities marked as letter b.\u003C\u002Fli>\n\u003C\u002Ful>\n\u003Ch2>How Good Balance can help\u003C\u002Fh2>\n\u003Cp>We prepare applications for an \u003Ca href=\"\u002Fen\u002Fservices\u002Flegal\u002Ftax-interpretation\">individual tax interpretation\u003C\u002Fa> concerning IP Box and help you build a register that meets the requirements of article 30cb. For clients of our \u003Ca href=\"\u002Fen\u002Fservices\u002Faccounting\u002Fsimplified-accounting\">simplified accounting\u003C\u002Fa> service, we keep the accounting section of the register in parallel with the tax book of revenue and expenditure.\u003C\u002Fp>","2026-10-09"]