Krajowy Rejestr Zadłużonych (KRZ) is Poland's unified insolvency and debt register. It records bankruptcy proceedings, restructuring cases, and debt-enforcement orders opened after 1 December 2021. A foreign buyer or lender verifying Polish collateral must check KRZ alongside four other official registers: the register of registered pledges, the fiscal pledge register, the land register, and the company register. No single source covers the full encumbrance picture.
- What KRZ shows
- Bankruptcy and restructuring proceedings opened after 1 December 2021, searchable by PESEL, NIP, KRS number, or case signature. Source: krz.ms.gov.pl · verified 13 August 2026.
- Access cost
- Free of charge, no login required.
- Critical cut-off
- Proceedings opened before 1 December 2021 are not in KRZ. They were published in Monitor Sądowy i Gospodarczy (MSiG), searchable free of charge at wyszukiwarka-msig.ms.gov.pl, archive from 1996.
- Registered pledges
- Two separate systems apply. Rejestr Zastawów (Ministry of Justice): certificate per pledgor (DW-1) or per asset (DW-2) costs 20 PLN each; certified extract (DW-4) costs 15 PLN. Rejestr Zastawów Skarbowych (Ministry of Finance): free search by asset; official excerpt costs 50 PLN via e-Urząd Skarbowy. Source: Centralna Informacja / e-Urząd Skarbowy · verified 12 August 2026.
- Land register access
- EKW (ekw.ms.gov.pl): free to read, but only by KW number — not by owner name. The KW number must be obtained first from the cadastral records. Source: ekw.ms.gov.pl · verified 12 August 2026.
What the collateral verification path covers
Establishing the encumbrance profile of a Polish asset requires checking five registers in sequence. Each register covers a different legal instrument. A clear result in one does not substitute for a search in the others.
| Register | What it records | Access | Cost | Search key |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| KRZ | Bankruptcy and restructuring proceedings from 1 Dec 2021 | Public, no login | Free | NIP / KRS / PESEL / case signature |
| MSiG archive | Insolvency announcements before 1 Dec 2021 | Public, no login | Free | Name / NIP / KRS / text fragment / date |
| Rejestr Zastawów (MoJ) | Registered pledges on movable assets and receivables | Public, paid certificate | 20 PLN per certificate (DW-1 / DW-2); 15 PLN extract (DW-4) | Pledgor name or asset description |
| Rejestr Zastawów Skarbowych (MoF) | Fiscal pledges securing tax liabilities | Public search free; paid excerpt | 50 PLN per excerpt via e-Urząd Skarbowy | Asset identifier |
| EKW (land register) | Mortgages, easements, ownership on real property | Public, free to read | Free (reading); certified copy: fee set by court registry | KW number only — not owner name |
KRS (National Court Register) and the Repository of Financial Documents (Repozytorium Dokumentów Finansowych) are free and require no login. They confirm the legal existence of the entity, its registered address, management, and filed financial statements. Both are checked as part of the same verification run.
The fiscal pledge register and the VAT status list
The Rejestr Zastawów Skarbowych records pledges arising from unpaid tax liabilities. It is maintained by the Ministry of Finance and is separate from the civil pledge register. A search is free; an official excerpt costs 50 PLN and is issued through e-Urząd Skarbowy.
The Biała Lista (White List of VAT taxpayers), maintained by the Head of the National Revenue Administration, is free and requires no login. It shows current VAT status, declared bank account numbers, and — critically — the dates and reasons for any deregistration, refusal, or reinstatement. It also allows a check against any past date. A payment made to a bank account not listed on the White List on the payment date triggers joint and several VAT liability for the payer. This is a direct collateral risk for a lender reviewing receivables or an acquirer assuming payment obligations.
The land register access barrier
EKW (Elektroniczne Księgi Wieczyste) is free to read and publicly accessible. The constraint is structural: search requires the KW (land register) number. That number is not returned by a name search. It must be obtained from the cadastral records (ewidencja gruntów i budynków), which are maintained at the district (powiat) level and are not uniformly digitised. For a foreign buyer without a Polish national identifier, obtaining the KW number independently requires either a formal request to the relevant starostwo or access through a party holding the property documents.
Once the KW number is known, the register shows: owner, mortgage entries (hipoteki) with amounts and creditors, easements, and any annotations of pending proceedings. Mortgages are the primary encumbrance instrument for real property in Poland. The register does not show informal arrangements, unregistered usufructs, or claims not yet converted to a court order.
Vehicle and movable asset checks
historiapojazdu.gov.pl allows a free check of a vehicle's history without login. The barrier is deliberate: three data points are required simultaneously — registration number, VIN, and date of first registration. The last item appears only in the vehicle registration document (dowód rejestracyjny), which is held by the registered keeper. The system shows the number of previous owners but does not disclose any owner's name. For an imported vehicle, history starts from the date of Polish registration, not from manufacture.
Registered pledges on vehicles and other movable assets are recorded in the civil Rejestr Zastawów (Ministry of Justice). A vehicle check therefore requires both systems: CEPiK/historiapojazdu.gov.pl for the ownership and technical record, and Rejestr Zastawów for any registered encumbrance.
The limit of what the sources allow
KRZ contains only proceedings opened on or after 1 December 2021. An entity with a bankruptcy closed in 2019 appears clean in KRZ. The MSiG archive must be searched separately for any pre-2021 insolvency history. MSiG issues are published as PDFs; there is no structured machine-readable data. Negative results in both KRZ and MSiG confirm the absence of a published insolvency record — they do not confirm that no application has been filed and is pending.
The civil pledge register and the fiscal pledge register are entirely separate systems with different administrators. A search in one does not cover the other. Both must be checked to establish the full pledge profile of an asset. The civil pledge register certificate is issued per pledgor or per asset — not as a global search across all assets of an entity. Identifying the relevant assets to query requires prior knowledge of what the debtor owns.
EKW shows only registered mortgages. Claims secured by a court order but not yet entered as a mortgage, contractual liens not reduced to a registered pledge, and informal security arrangements do not appear in any of these registers. The CRBR (beneficial ownership register) is public and free of charge, but the accuracy of entries depends on the reporting obligation of the entity; discrepancies between CRBR data and actual control structure are a known verification risk.
Where the sources disagree
KRS shows the registered address and management of an entity. Financial statements in the Repository may show a different operational address or reference assets not visible in KRS. Where KRS data and filed financials diverge on asset values or encumbrances, the divergence is itself a finding — not a data error to be resolved by choosing one source.
The Biała Lista may show a bank account that differs from the account listed in a contract or invoice. That discrepancy carries direct legal consequence for the payer. Both the contract account and the White List account must be compared before any payment is made.
Frequently asked questions
Does a clear KRZ result mean the entity has no insolvency history?
No. KRZ covers proceedings from 1 December 2021 only. Earlier proceedings were published in MSiG, which must be searched separately. A clear result in both registers confirms the absence of a published record — not the absence of any filed application.
Are both pledge registers always required?
Yes. The civil Rejestr Zastawów (Ministry of Justice) and the fiscal Rejestr Zastawów Skarbowych (Ministry of Finance) are separate systems. A pledge securing a tax liability appears only in the fiscal register. A commercial pledge appears only in the civil register. Neither covers the other.
Why is the KW number needed before checking the land register?
EKW does not support name-based searches for private parties. The KW number is the only entry point. It is typically found in the property deed or in cadastral records held at the relevant starostwo. Without it, the land register cannot be queried.
What does the Biała Lista actually show for collateral purposes?
It shows declared bank accounts, current VAT status, and the history of any deregistration or refusal with dates. A payment to an unlisted account creates joint and several VAT liability. For a lender, this affects the value of receivables assigned as collateral if the underlying debtors made payments to non-listed accounts.
Can a vehicle be checked without the registration document?
Not fully. historiapojazdu.gov.pl requires the date of first registration, which appears only in the dowód rejestracyjny. Without that date, the system cannot return results. The registered pledge check via Rejestr Zastawów can proceed independently using the VIN or registration number as the asset identifier.
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.