A foreign buyer or lender verifying a Polish counterparty faces a specific collateral question: what encumbers the asset, and what is that security actually worth. Poland maintains separate registers for pledges, land charges, insolvency, and company status. Each register has its own access path, its own cost structure, and its own ceiling. This page maps those ceilings before any engagement begins.
- Krajowy Rejestr Sądowy (KRS)
- Company status, representation, share structure — free, no login. Certified extract: approximately 30–60 PLN. Source: KRS · retrieved 2026-07-16
- Rejestr Zastawów
- Registered pledge over movables and rights: certificate per pledgor (DW-1) 20 PLN, per object (DW-2) 20 PLN, certified extract (DW-4) 15 PLN. Source: Centralna Informacja Rejestrów Sądowych · retrieved 2026-07-16
- Rejestr Zastawów Skarbowych
- Tax pledge: free search by object; certified statement 50 PLN via e-Urząd Skarbowy. Source: Ministerstwo Finansów · retrieved 2026-07-16
- Krajowy Rejestr Zadłużonych (KRZ)
- Insolvency and restructuring proceedings: public, free, no login. Covers proceedings opened after 1 December 2021 only. Source: krz.ms.gov.pl · retrieved 2026-07-16
- Biała lista podatników VAT
- VAT status, declared bank accounts, historical date queries: free, no login. Source: podatki.gov.pl · retrieved 2026-07-16
- Elektroniczne Księgi Wieczyste (EKW)
- Land and mortgage register: free by KW number. Search by owner name is not available to private parties. Source: ekw.ms.gov.pl · retrieved 2026-07-16
What the pledge registers actually show
Poland operates two separate pledge registers, and a complete collateral picture requires both. The Rejestr Zastawów, administered by the Ministry of Justice through Centralna Informacja, covers registered pledges over movables and rights under the 1996 Pledge Act. A certificate per pledgor (DW-1) costs 20 PLN. A certificate per pledged object (DW-2) also costs 20 PLN. A certified extract (DW-4) costs 15 PLN. These are fixed statutory tariffs.
The Rejestr Zastawów Skarbowych sits with the Ministry of Finance and covers tax pledges arising by operation of law when a tax liability is established. Search by object is free. A certified statement costs 50 PLN and is issued through e-Urząd Skarbowy. A tax pledge takes priority over most contractual pledges — including a registered pledge created earlier — once the tax liability exceeds a statutory threshold. Skipping this register produces an incomplete encumbrance map.
| Register | Administered by | What it covers | Search cost | Certified document cost |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Rejestr Zastawów | Ministry of Justice (Centralna Informacja) | Registered pledges over movables and rights | 20 PLN per certificate (DW-1 / DW-2) | 15 PLN (DW-4 certified extract) |
| Rejestr Zastawów Skarbowych | Ministry of Finance (e-Urząd Skarbowy) | Tax pledges arising from established tax liabilities | Free (object search) | 50 PLN (certified statement) |
Land and mortgage register: the access barrier
The Elektroniczne Księgi Wieczyste system is public and free. Access requires a KW number — the unique land register identifier assigned to each property unit. Search by owner name is not available to private parties. This is a deliberate structural barrier, not a technical limitation.
The path to the KW number runs through the ewidencja gruntów i budynków — the cadastral record held at the relevant starostwo. Matching a counterparty to its real property holdings therefore requires two steps: establishing the cadastral parcel number, then converting that to a KW number. Each step involves a separate authority. For a foreign party without a Polish national identifier, this path is not straightforward to navigate unassisted.
Once the KW number is known, the register shows current owners, mortgage creditors, mortgage amounts and currency, lien order, and any recorded restrictions on disposal. It does not show pending applications that have not yet been entered. The gap between submission and entry can extend to several weeks.
Company register and financial statements
KRS data is free and accessible without registration at ekrs.ms.gov.pl. The register shows legal form, registered address, registered representatives, supervisory board composition, share capital, and — for limited liability companies — the shareholder list as filed. Financial statements filed from 2016 onward are available free of charge through the Repozytorium Dokumentów Finansowych, linked directly from the KRS record.
A certified extract costs approximately 30–60 PLN depending on document type and volume. The certified extract carries an electronic seal of the court registry and is accepted as an official document in cross-border transactions. Uncertified printouts from the public portal are sufficient for initial due diligence but are not court-admissible.
Insolvency and restructuring proceedings
The Krajowy Rejestr Zadłużonych (KRZ) at krz.ms.gov.pl replaced the former Rejestr Dłużników Niewypłacalnych on 1 December 2021. It is public, free, and requires no login. Search is available by PESEL, NIP, KRS number, or case signature. The register shows active bankruptcy, restructuring, and debt relief proceedings.
The critical limit: KRZ contains only proceedings opened on or after 1 December 2021. A proceeding opened before that date does not appear in KRZ. Earlier proceedings were published in the Monitor Sądowy i Gospodarczy (MSiG), searchable free of charge at wyszukiwarka-msig.ms.gov.pl with archive coverage from 1996. A negative KRZ result is not a clean bill of health without a parallel MSiG check for the relevant period.
VAT status and declared bank accounts
The Biała lista podatników VAT at podatki.gov.pl is maintained by the Head of the National Revenue Administration (Szef KAS). It is free and requires no login. The register shows current VAT status, registered business details, all bank accounts declared to the tax authority, and a dated history of status changes — registration, deregistration, and reinstatement with stated reasons.
The register supports historical queries: a user can check what status and which accounts were current on any past date. This is directly relevant to collateral analysis. Under Polish VAT law, a payment made to a bank account not listed in the Biała lista on the payment date triggers joint and several liability for the payer in respect of the payee's VAT arrears. Verifying account status at the date of any past payment is a standard step in transaction due diligence.
Vehicle and equipment register
The historiapojazdu.gov.pl service within CEPiK is free and requires no login. However, three data points must be provided simultaneously: registration number, VIN, and date of first registration. The date of first registration appears only in the vehicle registration certificate (dowód rejestracyjny) — a document held by the registered owner. This is a deliberate access barrier against mass querying.
The service returns the number of previous owners, mileage readings, inspection history, and insurance records. It does not disclose the current owner's name. For imported vehicles, history begins from the date of registration in Poland. The register is useful for verifying the physical history of a pledged vehicle, not for establishing current ownership.
The limit of what the sources allow
Each register has a ceiling. KRS shows shareholders as of the last filed shareholder list — not current beneficial ownership. CRBR (the Central Register of Beneficial Owners) is public and free, but the data it contains is self-reported by the company. Discrepancies between CRBR declarations and the actual control structure are possible and not flagged by the register itself.
EKW shows mortgages as entered. It does not show pending mortgage applications. The gap between filing and entry is not visible in the register. Rejestr Zastawów shows registered pledges; a pledge not yet registered, or a pledge registered in a foreign jurisdiction, does not appear. Rejestr Zastawów Skarbowych shows tax pledges once a liability is formally established — an ongoing tax audit that has not yet produced an assessment is invisible.
KRZ covers insolvency proceedings from December 2021 onward. Earlier proceedings require a separate MSiG search. MSiG itself is a gazette of announcements, not a structured database — it is searched by text and date, not by a clean entity identifier. A negative result in both registers reduces the probability of an undisclosed proceeding, but does not eliminate it.
| Register | What it does not show |
|---|---|
| KRS | Shareholders as of today if list not recently filed; beneficial ownership |
| CRBR | Accuracy of self-reported beneficial ownership data |
| EKW | Mortgages filed but not yet entered; property not yet assigned a KW number |
| Rejestr Zastawów | Unregistered pledges; foreign-jurisdiction security interests |
| Rejestr Zastawów Skarbowych | Tax liabilities under audit but not yet formally assessed |
| KRZ | Proceedings opened before 1 December 2021 |
| MSiG | Structured data; machine-readable export; proceedings post-December 2021 |
| historiapojazdu.gov.pl | Current owner name; pre-Poland import history |
| Biała lista | Informal payment channels; accounts opened after last update |
What is included at each tier
| Tier | Price (EUR, excl. VAT) | What is included | Not included |
|---|---|---|---|
| Signal | €590 | KRS extract (certified); KRZ and MSiG insolvency check; Biała lista VAT and bank account status; CRBR beneficial ownership record; summary of register findings in English | Pledge register searches (Rejestr Zastawów, Rejestr Zastawów Skarbowych); land register (EKW) retrieval; financial statement analysis; vehicle register check; discrepancy analysis across sources |
| Standard | €990 | All Signal items; Rejestr Zastawów certificate (DW-1 per pledgor, DW-2 per object); Rejestr Zastawów Skarbowych certified statement; EKW retrieval where KW number is available or obtainable; filed financial statements (three years); cross-register discrepancy note | Cadastral path to KW number where property parcel is not identified; vehicle register check; legal qualification of findings; representation in proceedings |
| Extended | €2,200 | All Standard items; cadastral parcel identification and KW number retrieval; vehicle register check where registration details are available; MSiG archive search for pre-2021 period; financial statement analysis with ratio summary; consolidated collateral map across all registers; English-language report with source citations and stated ceilings per register | Legal advice; qualification of findings as legally sufficient for any particular transaction; representation; searches in jurisdictions outside Poland |
All tiers are delivered as a written report in English. Statutory register fees (DW-1, DW-2, DW-4, certified KRS extract, Rejestr Zastawów Skarbowych statement) are included in the quoted price where the relevant search is part of the tier scope.
Frequently asked questions
Does a clean KRS record mean the company has no encumbrances?
No. KRS records company status and structure, not pledges or mortgages. Encumbrances appear in Rejestr Zastawów, Rejestr Zastawów Skarbowych, and EKW — three separate registers, each requiring a separate query. A KRS check alone does not produce a collateral picture.
Is beneficial ownership information reliable in CRBR?
CRBR is public and free. The data is self-reported by the entity. The register does not verify the accuracy of declarations against share registers or shareholder agreements. A CRBR record states what was declared; it does not confirm that the declared structure reflects actual control.
What if the property does not yet have a KW number?
Newly divided parcels or properties in the process of separation may not yet have a KW number assigned. In that situation, no land register search is possible until the number is issued. This condition is noted in the report as a stated ceiling, not a gap in the work.
How far back does the insolvency check go?
KRZ covers proceedings from 1 December 2021. The Extended tier includes an MSiG archive search for the period from 1996 to November 2021. Proceedings predating 1996 are not covered by either system. The report states which period each source covers.
Can the report be used as a legal opinion?
No. The report is a factual compilation from official registers. It contains no legal qualification of the findings and does not constitute legal advice. For legal qualification of the findings in the context of a specific transaction, contact info@kordeckipartners.com.
Disclaimer: This report is a factual compilation from official registers and public sources. It is provided for informational purposes only, does not constitute legal advice, and contains no legal qualification of the facts established. KORDECKI & Partners assumes no liability for actions taken or not taken based on this material. For advice regarding your particular situation, please contact info@kordeckipartners.com.