My parent died and left property in Poland. Which deadlines do I have?

The first deadline is six months from the day you learned that you inherit: by then you accept or reject the inheritance (Civil Code, Article 1015). Close family then has six months from the final court order, or from the registration of the notarial deed, to report the inheritance on form SD-Z2 and pay no inheritance tax (Inheritance and Gift Tax Act, Article 4a). The heirs should also apply without delay to be entered in the land register (Act on Land and Mortgage Registers, Article 35).

Which deadlines does the calculator count?

• Accepting or rejecting the inheritance: six months from the day you learned that you inherit, usually the day you learned of the death, or of the will (Civil Code, Article 1015 § 1). If you do nothing, you accept with the benefit of inventory, which limits your liability for estate debts to the value of what you inherit (Article 1015 § 2).
• SD-Z2: close family (spouse, children and grandchildren, parents and grandparents, siblings, stepchildren and step-parents) reports the inheritance within six months of the final court order or the registration of the notarial deed, and pays no inheritance tax (Inheritance and Gift Tax Act, Article 4a(1) and (1a)). If you learned about the property later, the six months run from that day (Article 4a(2)).
• SD-3: other heirs file a tax return within one month of the same date (Articles 6(1)(1) and 17a(1)). Close family who missed the SD-Z2 deadline file SD-3 within one month after it (Article 17a(1a)).
• Land register: each heir must apply without delay to be entered as owner. The court can warn an owner who waits and then impose a fine of PLN 500 to 10,000 (Act on Land and Mortgage Registers, Articles 35 and 36).
• Forced share (zachowek): the share of the estate that close family can claim when a will leaves them out. Claims under a will become time-barred five years after the will is opened (Civil Code, Article 1007 § 1).

How are the dates counted?

A deadline in months ends on the day of the month that matches the start, or on the last day of a shorter month (Civil Code, Article 112). If it ends on a Saturday or a public holiday, it moves to the next working day (Article 115). The calculator applies the same rule to the tax deadlines and knows Polish public holidays, including Christmas Eve, a holiday since 2025.

For the forced share, the calculator shows the earliest day the claim may be time-barred. Do not plan to file in the last weeks before it.

When should you ask us first?

When a child inherits, when the deceased had debts, or when the will was made outside Poland. Each of these adds steps that change what you should do first. Our guides to rejecting an inheritance for a child and to inheritance debts describe them.

How we help

We tell you which deadline matters first, file the rejection or the inheritance case in Poland, report the inheritance to the tax office and file the land register application. Most of it can be done under a power of attorney, without a trip to Poland. Our guide to an inheritance in Poland while you live abroad describes the whole process.

Sources

This article is based on the acts listed below. Each link opens the text published by the Polish government, checked on September 20, 2026. Acts in force open as a consolidated text; historical acts are marked as such, with the date they stopped applying.

• Civil Codeconsolidated text, Journal of Laws 2026 item 795
• Inheritance and Gift Tax Actconsolidated text, Journal of Laws 2026 item 478
• Act on Land and Mortgage Registers and Mortgagesconsolidated text, Journal of Laws 2026 item 1066

This calculator is general information about Polish law, not legal advice about your situation. Legal basis: the Civil Code (consolidated text, Journal of Laws 2026 item 795), Articles 112, 115, 1007 and 1015; the Inheritance and Gift Tax Act of July 28, 1983 (consolidated text, Journal of Laws 2026 item 478, as amended), Articles 4a, 6 and 17a; the Act on Land and Mortgage Registers and Mortgage (consolidated text, Journal of Laws 2026 item 1066), Articles 35 and 36. To find out how this applies to you, describe your situation.