You paid once and the office wants a second payment. Stamp duty after moving to another voivodeship

When filing an application for a temporary residence permit, a foreigner pays stamp duty for the grant of the permit — from PLN 85 to PLN 440, depending on the type of permit. It is paid not to the voivode but to the municipality: stamp duty is municipal income, and an application without proof of payment will be treated by the office as incomplete. This is routine, and normally nobody gives it another thought.

Until it isn't. Because if you change your place of residence during the proceedings and move to another voivodeship, the case goes to a different voivode — and with it comes a question that can take you by surprise: do you have to pay the fee all over again?

The scenario usually looks like this. A foreigner files an application and pays the fee. A few months later they change job or flat and move to another voivodeship. They report the new address, the case is transferred to the competent authority — and then a summons arrives from the new office: please pay the stamp duty. The very same duty they paid a few months earlier. This text explains where such a demand comes from, whether it is justified and how to respond to it without risking the whole residence case.

1. Where the demand for a second payment comes from

The voivode's jurisdiction in residence cases is mobile. As a rule, a temporary residence permit is granted by the voivode competent for the foreigner's place of residence (Article 104(1) of the Act on Foreigners; the provision allows for exceptions). Moving to another voivodeship therefore changes the authority handling the case, and an authority has a duty to observe its jurisdiction of its own motion (Article 19 of the Code of Administrative Procedure). Voivodeship offices have ready-made forms for this — an application to transfer the case to the competent authority.

The problem arises on the money side. Under Article 12(2)(1) of the Stamp Duty Act, the competent tax authority is the one in whose area the authority that issued the permit has its seat. After the transfer, the permit will be issued by a different voivode, so a different municipality becomes competent. Meanwhile the payment sits in the account of the original municipality, and the law does not expressly regulate transferring it between municipalities — stamp duty is the income of a specific municipality. From the perspective of the office taking over the case, the fee simply has not come in. It is worth knowing that the Head of the Office for Foreigners has taken a clear position on this: it is the municipality that is not competent which should of its own motion transfer the fee paid to the account of the competent municipality. In practice this varies — more on that below.

2. Why one case means one payment

The arguments against a second payment are strong. In order of weight:

3. Check the legal basis of the office's summons

This is the most important detail in the whole letter, and the one most often overlooked. The remedy available to you depends on the legal basis of the summons:

• Article 261 §§ 1–3 of the Code of Administrative Procedure — failure to pay a charge payable in advance. A time limit of 7 to 14 days and, if it passes without effect, return of the application by an order against which a complaint lies. A real and cheap remedy.
• Article 64 § 2 of the Code of Administrative Procedure — a formal deficiency (no proof of payment in the file). A time limit of not less than 7 days, on pain of the application being left without examination. This is an act, not a decision — no complaint lies, review belongs to the administrative court.

4. What to do so as not to lose the case

The overriding rule is this: a dispute over a few hundred zloty is conducted alongside the residence case, never instead of it. What is at stake is the legality of your residence, not the amount of the fee.

Frequently asked questions (FAQ)

Do I have to pay stamp duty a second time after the case is transferred to another voivode?

In our view, no. The payment obligation arises when the application is filed (Article 6(1)(3) of the Stamp Duty Act) and it was performed at that point towards the authority then competent. Transferring the file is not a new application. In practice, however, some offices do demand payment into the account of the new voivode's municipality — which is why it is worth pre-empting this dispute in writing.

Why does the office demand this at all?

Because Article 12(2)(1) of the Stamp Duty Act ties the jurisdiction of the tax authority to the seat of the authority that issued the permit. After the transfer, the permit will be issued by a different voivode, and the law makes no provision for transferring the payment between municipalities. From the new municipality's point of view, the fee has not come in.

What should I do so as not to lose the residence case?

The safe option is to pay the disputed amount into the account indicated by the new office and, in parallel, apply for a declaration of overpayment to the municipality that already has the money. The residence case continues and the money comes back through a separate procedure.

Is it better to withdraw the application and file a new one in the new voivodeship?

No. Withdrawal leads to discontinuance of the proceedings and, for applications filed on or after 5 March 2026, stamp duty is not refundable in the event of discontinuance. A new application also means a new fee and the loss of the original filing date, on which the legality of your residence depends.

Do the new rules on no refunds block recovery of the fee from the first municipality?

In our view, no. The new exclusions in the Act on Foreigners concern refunds after a refusal decision and after discontinuance of proceedings. Here we are dealing with a different procedure — a fee paid into the account of an authority that ultimately is not competent. A municipality may, however, take a different position, and the application has to be filed by you; there is a known case of a refusal to transfer a fee between municipalities.