A foreign buyer or lender examining a Polish company as collateral faces a layered register system. Each layer reveals a different part of the encumbrance picture. The KRS entry alone is not sufficient. A complete collateral assessment requires at minimum four separate queries across five official registers.
- What the KRS shows
- Company name, registered seat, share capital, current management board, supervisory board, shareholders of record, and filed financial statements. Source: KRS via krs.ms.gov.pl · verified 2026-06-09
- Access cost
- Current printout: free of charge. Certified certified extract (odpis): 30–60 PLN. Source: KRS tariff · verified 2026-06-09
- Pledge register — two systems
- (1) Rejestr Zastawów (Ministry of Justice): certificate DW-1 per pledgor 20 PLN, DW-2 per asset 20 PLN, certified copy DW-4 15 PLN. (2) Rejestr Zastawów Skarbowych (Ministry of Finance): free search, certificate 50 PLN via e-Urząd Skarbowy. Source: Centralna Informacja / e-Urząd Skarbowy · verified 2026-06-09
- VAT and bank account status
- Biała lista (podatki.gov.pl): free, no login, shows active VAT status, declared bank accounts with dates, and reasons for exclusion or reinstatement. Historical query on any past date is available. Source: Biała lista KAS · verified 2026-06-09
- Insolvency proceedings
- KRZ (krz.ms.gov.pl): public, free, no login. Search by NIP, KRS number, or case signature. Covers proceedings opened after 1 December 2021 only. Source: KRZ · verified 2026-06-09
What the KRS entry establishes — and what it does not
The Krajowy Rejestr Sądowy is Poland's primary companies register. It is public and free of charge. What a foreign verifier is paying for when commissioning a report is the removed path: locating the correct KRS number, navigating Polish-language interfaces, interpreting the structured fields, and cross-referencing the output against other registers.
The KRS confirms legal existence, registered address, share capital, and the identity and term of the management board. It records whether the company is subject to restructuring or liquidation proceedings opened in the KRS itself. It links to filed financial statements in the Repozytorium Dokumentów Finansowych (RDF), which are also free.
The KRS does not show pledges over movable assets. It does not show tax liens. It does not show the land register number for property owned by the company. Those require separate queries in separate systems.
| Register | What it shows | Access | Cost per query |
|---|---|---|---|
| KRS | Legal existence, share capital, management, shareholders, restructuring/liquidation status | Free, no login | 0 PLN (printout); 30–60 PLN (certified extract) |
| RDF | Filed financial statements (balance sheet, P&L, notes) | Free, no login | 0 PLN |
| Rejestr Zastawów (MoJ) | Registered pledges over movables — by pledgor or by asset | Paid; in-person or online via Centralna Informacja | DW-1: 20 PLN / DW-2: 20 PLN / DW-4: 15 PLN |
| Rejestr Zastawów Skarbowych (MoF) | Tax liens over assets — by asset reference | Free search; certificate paid | Search: 0 PLN; certificate: 50 PLN |
| Biała lista (KAS) | VAT status, declared bank accounts, exclusion history with dates | Free, no login | 0 PLN |
| KRZ | Insolvency and restructuring proceedings from 1 December 2021 | Free, no login | 0 PLN |
| MSiG | Official gazette — historical announcements including pre-2021 insolvency notices | Free, no login | 0 PLN |
| EKW (land register) | Title, mortgages, easements — by KW number only | Free, by KW number; name search not permitted for private parties | 0 PLN (online view) |
| CRBR | Beneficial ownership — persons holding >25% control | Free, no login | 0 PLN |
The pledge layer: two registers, not one
Polish law maintains two separate pledge systems. Conflating them is the most common gap in foreign collateral reviews.
The Rejestr Zastawów, administered by the Ministry of Justice through Centralna Informacja, records registered pledges (zastaw rejestrowy) created under the 1996 Act on Registered Pledges and the Pledge Register. A certificate DW-1 identifies all pledges where the queried entity appears as pledgor. A certificate DW-2 identifies pledges over a specific asset. Both cost 20 PLN each. A certified copy of a pledge entry (odpis DW-4) costs 15 PLN.
The Rejestr Zastawów Skarbowych, administered by the Ministry of Finance, records tax liens (zastawy skarbowe) arising by operation of tax law. Search is free. A certificate costs 50 PLN, obtained through e-Urząd Skarbowy. A clean result in the MoJ register does not clear the MoF register. Both must be queried.
Bank accounts and VAT status: the Biała lista
The Biała lista (White List) is maintained by the Head of the National Revenue Administration (szef KAS) at podatki.gov.pl. It is free and requires no login.
For collateral purposes, two fields are critical. First, the list shows every bank account number the company has declared to the tax authority. A payment made to an account not on this list triggers joint and several VAT liability for the payer. Second, the list records the history of VAT registration status — active, excluded, or restored — with the specific dates and stated reasons. A company excluded from the VAT register and later restored carries a visible record of that event.
The list supports historical queries: the status on any past date can be retrieved. The full register is also available as a bulk JPK_WB file and via API with usage limits.
Insolvency: two registers cover different periods
From 1 December 2021, insolvency and restructuring proceedings are published in the Krajowy Rejestr Zadłużonych (KRZ) at krz.ms.gov.pl. The register is public, free, and requires no login. Search is by NIP, KRS number, PESEL, or case signature.
Proceedings opened before that date were published in the Monitor Sądowy i Gospodarczy (MSiG). The MSiG archive at wyszukiwarka-msig.ms.gov.pl is free and searchable from 1996. A complete insolvency check requires both systems. An absence of a KRZ entry does not clear the pre-December 2021 period.
Land register: the identifier problem
The Elektroniczne Księgi Wieczyste (EKW) system at ekw.ms.gov.pl provides free online access to land register entries. Access requires the Księga Wieczysta (KW) number. Search by company name is not available to private parties.
The KW number is not contained in the KRS entry. It must be obtained from the ewidencja gruntów i budynków (land and buildings cadastre) by parcel reference, or from the transaction documents. This is a structural barrier. A foreign verifier without the KW number cannot directly access the mortgage and encumbrance section of the land register.
Beneficial ownership: CRBR
The Centralny Rejestr Beneficjentów Rzeczywistych (CRBR) is public, free, and requires no account. It records natural persons who hold more than 25% of shares or voting rights, directly or indirectly, or who otherwise exercise control. Entries are self-reported by the company. The register does not independently verify the declarations it contains.
The limit of what the sources allow
The registers described above are the authoritative sources. They have structural limits that no report can overcome.
The KRZ covers insolvency proceedings from 1 December 2021 only. An entity with a concluded bankruptcy from 2018 will show no KRZ record. The MSiG must be queried separately for the earlier period, and MSiG output is PDF — there are no machine-readable data fields.
The Rejestr Zastawów and Rejestr Zastawów Skarbowych are independent systems. A clean result in one does not clear the other. Both must be queried to form a complete pledge picture.
The CRBR records declared beneficial owners. It does not verify the accuracy of declarations. Discrepancies between the CRBR entry and the actual shareholding structure are not detectable from the register alone.
The EKW land register is accessible only by KW number. If the KW number is not available from the transaction file, the mortgage section cannot be accessed without a separate cadastral query.
Financial statements in the RDF are filed with a statutory delay. The most recent filed accounts may not reflect the current financial position. Entities below certain size thresholds file abbreviated accounts; full notes are not always available.
- Pledges created before the Rejestr Zastawów was established may not appear in the register.
- Tax liens below the statutory threshold are not recorded in the Rejestr Zastawów Skarbowych.
- Contractual liens and security assignments are not registrable in any public system.
- Enforcement proceedings in progress are visible in the KRS only after a court order is entered in the register — interim steps are not shown.
What is included at each tier
| Tier | Price | What is included | Not included |
|---|---|---|---|
| Signal | €290 | KRS current printout (legal existence, share capital, management, shareholders, restructuring/liquidation flag); CRBR beneficial ownership entry; Biała lista VAT status and declared accounts on report date; KRZ insolvency check (post-December 2021); MSiG keyword search (pre-December 2021 insolvency announcements) | Pledge register queries (Rejestr Zastawów and Rejestr Zastawów Skarbowych); land register (EKW); filed financial statements review; historical VAT status query on past date |
| Standard | €470 | Everything in Signal, plus: Rejestr Zastawów certificate DW-1 (pledges by pledgor) and DW-2 (pledges by asset, up to three assets); Rejestr Zastawów Skarbowych search and certificate; filed financial statements (RDF) for the two most recent filed periods — key ratios extracted and presented in English; historical Biała lista query on a specified past date | Land register (EKW) — requires KW number from client; analysis of financial statements beyond the two most recent periods; legal qualification of findings |
| Extended | €960 | Everything in Standard, plus: EKW land register query (requires KW number or cadastral parcel reference supplied by client) — Section II (ownership), Section III (encumbrances and restrictions), Section IV (mortgages); ewidencja gruntów cadastral data; RDF financial statements for up to four filed periods with line-by-line English summary; MSiG full-text archive search for all announcements relating to the entity; consolidated encumbrance summary table in English covering all registers queried | Legal qualification of findings; advice on enforceability of security; proceedings not yet entered in any public register; contractual security arrangements not subject to public registration |
Several registers queried in this report are public and free of charge. What the report provides is the removed path: locating the correct identifiers, navigating Polish-language interfaces, applying the correct certificate type in each system, and presenting results in English with source references and retrieval dates.
Frequently asked questions
Is a KRS printout sufficient for a collateral review?
No. The KRS records legal existence, management, and share capital. It does not record pledges over movable assets or tax liens. Those require separate queries in the Rejestr Zastawów and Rejestr Zastawów Skarbowych.
What if the company was subject to bankruptcy before December 2021?
The KRZ covers proceedings from 1 December 2021 only. Pre-2021 insolvency announcements were published in the MSiG. The MSiG archive is searchable free of charge from 1996. Both systems must be checked for a complete picture.
Can a payment to an undeclared bank account create liability?
Under Polish VAT law, a payment to an account not listed on the Biała lista can trigger joint and several liability for the payer for the VAT component of the transaction. The Biała lista shows every account declared by the company to the tax authority and the dates of any VAT status changes.
How is the land register accessed if the KW number is not available?
The EKW system requires the KW number. If the transaction file does not contain it, the number must be obtained from the ewidencja gruntów i budynków (land and buildings cadastre) by parcel reference. This step requires the cadastral parcel identifier, which should be requested from the seller or the transaction documents.
What does the CRBR show and what are its limits?
The CRBR records declared beneficial owners — natural persons holding more than 25% control, directly or indirectly. Entries are self-reported. The register does not verify declarations. Discrepancies between the CRBR entry and the actual ownership structure are not detectable from the register alone.
How long does the report take?
Signal tier: typically two to three business days. Standard and Extended tiers: typically five to seven business days, depending on the availability of certified certificates from the pledge registers and the volume of filed financial statements to be reviewed.
Where the sources disagree
The most common discrepancy encountered in Polish collateral reviews is between the CRBR beneficial ownership declaration and the KRS shareholder list. The CRBR records the declared ultimate controlling person. The KRS records registered shareholders. Where a holding structure exists, the KRS shareholder may be a legal entity, while the CRBR entry names the natural person at the top of that structure. The two entries should be reconciled. Where they cannot be reconciled from the registers alone, that gap is recorded in the report as an open point.
A second common discrepancy arises between the RDF financial statements and the Biała lista account data. A company may have bank accounts that do not appear on the Biała lista because they were not declared to the tax authority. The RDF notes sometimes disclose accounts not visible in the Biała lista. Both sources are listed and compared in Standard and Extended tier reports.
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.