When a foreign buyer or lender evaluates commercial property in Poland, the document layer matters as much as the title. A sole trader registered in CEIDG may pledge movables, carry VAT liabilities, or operate under a suspended registration — none of which appears in the land register. This page describes what the relevant Polish registers disclose, what each costs to access, and where the chain of evidence stops.
- What CEIDG shows
- Active or suspended sole-trader registration, business address, declared PKD codes, NIP and REGON numbers. Source: CEIDG (Centralna Ewidencja i Informacja o Działalności Gospodarczej) · verified July 2026
- Access cost
- Free, without login or registration. Certified extract available on request; fee set by the registry.
- What CEIDG does not show
- Pledges, VAT status, court proceedings, or financial statements. Each requires a separate register.
- Pledge registers
- Two parallel systems apply: Rejestr Zastawów (Ministry of Justice) and Rejestr Zastawów Skarbowych (Ministry of Finance). A complete pledge profile requires both. Source: Centralna Informacja and e-Urząd Skarbowy · verified July 2026
- VAT status
- Biała lista (podatki.gov.pl): free, no login, shows declared bank accounts and status history on any past date. Source: Szef KAS · verified July 2026
What the collateral picture requires
A document associated with a sole trader or a limited company in Poland can carry encumbrances registered across four separate state systems. No single query covers all of them. The land register (EKW) records mortgages on real property. The Rejestr Zastawów records registered pledges on movables and receivables. The Rejestr Zastawów Skarbowych records tax-authority pledges. The KRS or CEIDG records the legal existence and status of the entity that owns or operates the asset.
A lender accepting Polish commercial property as collateral needs to verify all four layers before the security package is complete. Absence of a record in one register does not confirm absence of encumbrance across the others.
| Register | What it records | Access | Cost (basic query) |
|---|---|---|---|
| CEIDG | Sole-trader registration, status, NIP, REGON, address | Free, no login | Free |
| KRS | Companies: shareholders, directors, capital, status | Free, no login | Free; certified extract approx. 30–60 PLN |
| Rejestr Zastawów (MoJ) | Registered pledges on movables and receivables | Paid query | 20 PLN per DW-1 (subject search); 20 PLN per DW-2 (object search) |
| Rejestr Zastawów Skarbowych (MoF) | Tax-authority pledges | Search free; extract paid | Search: free; wypis/zaświadczenie: 50 PLN via e-Urząd Skarbowy |
| EKW (land register) | Title, mortgages, easements on real property | Free by KW number only | Free; number must be obtained from ewidencja gruntów first |
| Biała lista | VAT status, declared bank accounts, inclusion/exclusion history | Free, no login | Free |
| KRZ | Insolvency and restructuring proceedings from December 2021 | Free, no login | Free |
| MSiG | Official gazette: court notices, liquidations, older insolvency notices | Free, no login | Free; output is PDF, no structured data |
| Repozytorium Dokumentów Finansowych | Filed financial statements for KRS entities | Free, no login | Free |
CEIDG: what the register shows and what it does not
CEIDG is the national register of sole traders in Poland. It records the legal name, NIP, REGON, declared business address, PKD activity codes, and current status — active, suspended, or struck off. The register is public and free of charge. No login is required.
What CEIDG does not record: pledges over the trader's assets, VAT registration status, any court proceedings, or financial statements. A CEIDG extract confirms the entity exists and is registered. It does not confirm the entity is solvent, unencumbered, or VAT-compliant. Each of those questions requires a separate query to a separate register.
For a foreign buyer or lender, the access barrier is not the cost — it is the identifier. CEIDG search requires the NIP (tax number) or REGON (statistical number) of the trader. These are not publicly indexed in most foreign databases. Obtaining the correct identifier from Polish sources is the first step before any registry query can proceed.
Pledge registers: two systems, one profile
Poland operates two parallel pledge registers. They are administered by different ministries, cover different types of pledge, and are queried through different portals. Neither covers the other's scope.
The Rejestr Zastawów, administered by the Ministry of Justice through Centralna Informacja, records registered pledges on movables and receivables under the Act on Registered Pledges. A DW-1 certificate confirms whether a named entity appears as pledgor. A DW-2 certificate confirms whether a specific object is pledged. Each certificate costs 20 PLN. A DW-4 certified extract costs 15 PLN.
The Rejestr Zastawów Skarbowych, administered by the Ministry of Finance, records pledges imposed by tax authorities to secure tax liabilities. A basic search by object is free. A formal wypis or zaświadczenie costs 50 PLN and is obtained through e-Urząd Skarbowy.
A collateral review that checks only one of these registers is incomplete. A clean result from the MoJ register does not rule out a tax-authority pledge, and vice versa.
Land register access: the identifier barrier
The electronic land and mortgage register (EKW) is publicly accessible and free of charge. However, access requires the KW number — the unique identifier assigned to each land register unit. That number is not derived from the property address or from the owner's name. It is obtained from the ewidencja gruntów i budynków (land and building cadastre), which is administered at the district (powiat) level.
A foreign buyer who does not have the KW number cannot search EKW by address or by owner. The path runs: property address → powiat office → cadastral parcel number → KW number → EKW entry. Each step requires Polish-language navigation of a different administrative system. Once the KW number is known, the EKW entry shows the current owner, any mortgages, easements, and encumbrances of record.
VAT status and bank accounts: Biała lista
The Biała lista (White List) is maintained by the Head of the National Revenue Administration (Szef KAS) and published at podatki.gov.pl. It is free and requires no login. The list shows the current VAT status of any Polish taxpayer, the bank account numbers declared for business purposes, and the history of inclusion, exclusion, and reinstatement with dates.
The list can be queried for any past date. This makes it possible to verify the VAT status of a counterparty on the date of a specific transaction. A payment made to a bank account not appearing on the Biała lista on the payment date may trigger joint VAT liability for the payer under Polish tax law. For a lender assessing operating risk, the account history is material.
Insolvency and restructuring: KRZ and MSiG
From December 2021, insolvency and restructuring proceedings in Poland are published in the Krajowy Rejestr Zadłużonych (KRZ) at krz.ms.gov.pl. The register is public, free, and requires no login. Search is possible by NIP, PESEL, KRS number, or case signature. The register replaced the Rejestr Dłużników Niewypłacalnych for new proceedings.
Proceedings commenced before December 2021 were published in the Monitor Sądowy i Gospodarczy (MSiG). The MSiG archive is searchable from 1996 at wyszukiwarka-msig.ms.gov.pl, also free and without login. Output is PDF; no structured data is available. A full insolvency check requires both KRZ and MSiG searches.
The limit of what the sources allow
The registers described on this page are official and authoritative within their defined scope. Each has a ceiling that the source itself imposes, and those ceilings are material to any collateral review.
CEIDG covers sole traders only. A company (spółka) is registered in KRS, not CEIDG. If the asset-owning entity is a company, CEIDG returns nothing. KRZ contains proceedings from December 2021 onward. An entity that entered insolvency in 2019 and was discharged in 2021 will not appear in KRZ — only in MSiG. The Rejestr Zastawów records pledges registered under the specific Act on Registered Pledges. Pledges constituted under other legal instruments, including financial collateral arrangements, may not appear there. EKW shows mortgages registered against the land register unit. A mortgage not yet registered — because the notarial deed was signed recently — will not appear until registration is complete. CRBR (the beneficial ownership register) is public and free, but the data it contains is self-reported by the entity. It confirms what was declared, not what is true. The Rejestr Zastawów Skarbowych covers tax-authority pledges. It does not cover pledges in favour of private creditors.
The combined picture from all registers is more complete than any single source. It is not complete in the absolute sense. Unregistered encumbrances, contractual restrictions in private agreements, and cross-border security arrangements do not appear in any Polish public register.
What is included at each tier
| Tier | Price (EUR) | What is included | Not included |
|---|---|---|---|
| Signal | €290 | CEIDG or KRS status check; Biała lista VAT status and account verification on specified date; KRZ insolvency search; MSiG search (name and NIP); written summary with source references | Pledge register queries (Rejestr Zastawów, Rejestr Zastawów Skarbowych); land register retrieval; financial statements review; CRBR beneficial ownership check |
| Standard | €470 | Everything in Signal; plus both pledge register queries (DW-1 and DW-2 from MoJ; search and extract from MoF); CRBR beneficial ownership check; Repozytorium Dokumentów Finansowych — filed statements for the most recent available year; consolidated written report | EKW land register retrieval (requires KW number); multi-year financial analysis; review of contractual encumbrances in private agreements; cross-border security checks |
| Extended | €960 | Everything in Standard; plus EKW land register retrieval (KW number obtained from cadastre where possible); multi-year financial statements review (up to three years); MSiG archive search covering pre-2021 period; structured findings table mapping each register result to the collateral item; annotated source file | Legal qualification of findings; advice on enforceability of security; review of private contractual arrangements not in public registers; cross-border pledge or security reviews outside Poland |
Several registers used in this work are public and free of charge. What the fee covers is the removed path: identifying the correct national identifier for a foreign entity, navigating Polish-language portals, obtaining the KW number from the cadastre, submitting paid queries to the pledge registers, and consolidating the results into a single structured document with source references.
Frequently asked questions
Does a clean CEIDG result mean the asset is unencumbered?
No. CEIDG confirms registration status only. Pledges are recorded in the Rejestr Zastawów and Rejestr Zastawów Skarbowych. Mortgages are recorded in EKW. A clean CEIDG result is one data point, not a collateral clearance.
Can EKW be searched by the owner's name?
Not by private individuals or foreign entities. EKW requires the KW number. That number is obtained from the cadastral records maintained at the powiat level. The path from address to KW number requires Polish-language navigation of a separate administrative system.
What does the Biała lista show about bank accounts?
It shows the bank account numbers that the entity has declared to the tax authority for business purposes, with the dates those accounts were added or removed. It can be queried for any past date. It does not show accounts that were never declared, or accounts held abroad.
Is the KRZ insolvency register complete?
KRZ covers proceedings opened from December 2021. Earlier proceedings are in MSiG. An entity discharged from insolvency before December 2021 will not appear in KRZ. A full check requires both systems.
Are both pledge registers always required?
For a complete collateral review, yes. The Rejestr Zastawów (MoJ) and the Rejestr Zastawów Skarbowych (MoF) cover different legal bases for pledge. Neither covers the other's scope. A clean result in one does not confirm absence of encumbrance in the other.
Does CRBR data confirm actual ownership?
CRBR records what the entity declared to the register. The data is self-reported. The register confirms what was declared, on what date, and by whom. It does not independently verify the accuracy of the declaration.
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.