Cold audit or pre-inspection audit – which to choose before an inspection?

A “cold” audit is a preventive review of the company at a time when no inspection has been announced: it covers the entire business and leaves time for unhurried corrections. A pre-inspection audit begins once the notice of intent to initiate an inspection (zawiadomienie o zamiarze wszczęcia kontroli) has been served and focuses on the scope indicated by the authority – as a rule, you then have between 7 and 30 days before the inspection starts (Article 48(2) of the Entrepreneurs' Law, Prawo przedsiębiorców). The choice therefore follows from timing: no notice – a cold audit; notice served – a pre-inspection audit. Neither of them protects you from an inspection; both serve to make sure the company's affairs comply with the law before an official checks them.

The cold audit, or a preventive review

A “cold audit” is not a statutory term – it is a working name for a review carried out “cold”, without the pressure of a deadline. Its subject is the whole company: HR records and working time, contracts, settlements with ZUS (Social Insurance Institution) and the tax office (urząd skarbowy), sanitary requirements or personal data protection – depending on the industry. As part of a cold audit I analyse the business for risks, verify and complete the documentation, draw up missing documents, correct errors in procedures, and train the staff and the person who will represent the company before the inspector.

Why is it worth doing this before any letter arrives? For three reasons that follow directly from the law.

• Some inspections are not announced at all. A labour inspector may carry out an inspection “without prior notice and at any time of day or night” (Article 24(1) of the Act on the National Labour Inspectorate, ustawa o Państwowej Inspekcji Pracy) – more in the guide How to prepare for a PIP inspection.
• From 1 January 2026, the frequency of planned inspections depends on the risk category. The authority assigns entrepreneurs to low, medium or high risk (Article 47(1) of the Entrepreneurs' Law). At low risk, a planned inspection may take place no more than once every 5 years; at medium risk – no more than once every 3 years; at high risk – as often as necessary (Article 55a(1)). The limit applies only to planned inspections and does not cover, among others, inspections by the authorities of the National Revenue Administration (KAS) (Article 55a(3)(1)).
• From 8 July 2026, PIP has new powers regarding civil-law contracts. If the features of an employment relationship predominate in the relationship, the inspectorate may issue an instruction to remedy the infringement and, if it is not complied with, establish the existence of an employment relationship by way of a decision (Article 11(1)(7a) and (2) of the PIP Act). A review of contracts of mandate (umowa zlecenia) and B2B cooperation agreements is today one of the more important points of a preventive audit.

The pre-inspection audit – working from the notice

The starting point is the letter from the authority. The notice of intent to initiate an inspection indicates, among other things, the subject-matter scope of the inspection and, since 13 July 2025 – following the deregulation amendment (Journal of Laws of 2025, item 769; Dz.U.) – also a preliminary list of the documents and information the authority expects to be made available (Article 48(3)(4) and (4a) of the Entrepreneurs' Law). For planned inspections initiated from 1 January 2026, it also contains information on the risk category (Article 48(3)(4b)). The list is preliminary: during the inspection the authority may also request other documents related to its scope (Article 48(12)).

As part of a pre-inspection audit I analyse the scope and the reason for the inspection, carry out the audit on site at the company's premises, draw up the missing documentation and work out with you how to communicate with the authority. The scope is narrower than in a cold audit, because it is defined by the notice – and only for that reason can it be completed in the time the statute leaves.

Cold audit vs pre-inspection audit – a comparison

How much time is there between the notice and the inspection?

The general rule: the inspecting authority notifies the entrepreneur of its intent to initiate an inspection and initiates it no earlier than 7 days and no later than before the end of 30 days from the day the notice is served. If it does not fit within the 30 days, it must give notice again (Article 48(1) and (2) of the Entrepreneurs' Law). The same time limits apply in a tax inspection (Article 282b § 2 of the Tax Ordinance, Ordynacja podatkowa) and in a ZUS inspection of a contribution payer who is an entrepreneur.

Two caveats. First, sampling, visual inspection and measurements may take place before the 7 days have elapsed – provided that sampling and visual inspection may not exceed one working day, measurements – the following 24 hours, and visual inspection may not concern the content of documents (Article 48(5)–(7)). Second, 7–30 days is the time until the inspection begins, not its duration. The total duration of inspections by one authority in a calendar year may not exceed 6 working days for a micro-entrepreneur (until 12 July 2025 it was 12 days), 18 for a small, 24 for a medium-sized and 48 for other entrepreneurs (Article 55(1)) – with the exceptions described in the statute. How to use these limits, the inspection log book (książka kontroli) and the objection, I describe in the text Entrepreneur's rights during an inspection.

When there will be no notice

Article 48(11) of the Entrepreneurs' Law lists the situations in which the authority does not give notice of its intent to initiate an inspection. For a typical company the most important are:

• an inspection conducted on the basis of a ratified international agreement or directly applicable EU law (point 1) – an example is official controls in the food chain, which EU law as a rule requires to be carried out without prior notice (Article 9(4) of Regulation (EU) 2017/625);
• an inspection necessary to prevent the commission of a crime or offence, including a fiscal one, or to secure evidence (point 2);
• a direct threat to life, health or the environment (point 4);
• no address of residence or registered office of the entrepreneur, or ineffective or obstructed service of documents (point 9);
• the cases under Article 282c of the Tax Ordinance (point 10), including an inspection of the legitimacy of a VAT refund, of business activity not reported for taxation, or an ad hoc check of the recording of turnover on a cash register;
• an inspection of the legality of foreigners' work conducted by the Border Guard (Straż Graniczna) and PIP (points 15 and 16, in force since 1 June 2025) – more in the article Legalising the employment of foreigners in 2026

The provisions on the inspection of business activity also do not apply to customs and fiscal audits (Article 65(2) of the Entrepreneurs' Law) – the differences between these procedures are explained in the text Tax audit: how to prepare. If there was no notice, the authority states the reason in the inspection report (Article 48(10)). The conclusion is simple: in these areas a pre-inspection audit may not be possible at all, because there will be no “before”. What remains is preventive preparation.

Can the inspection date be moved?

Brought forward – yes: at the entrepreneur's request, the inspection may be initiated before the 7 days have elapsed (Article 48(4)). Postponed – the statute provides neither a separate procedure nor an obligation on the authority to grant such a request. You may submit a reasoned request for a different day, and the authority has discretion within the 30 days from service of the notice; once they have elapsed, it would have to notify you again (Article 48(2)). A special case is described in Article 54(5): if your business is already being inspected by another authority, the next one as a rule refrains from its activities and may agree a different date with you. Do not assume, however, that the date will change, and immediately designate in writing the person authorised to represent you during the inspection (Article 50(3)) – in your absence, the activities may be carried out in the presence of another employee or a summoned witness (Article 50(5)).

What can be fixed after the notice, and what no longer can

After the notice, you improve the situation for the future, not the past. In practice this means three groups of matters.

• What can be done: complete missing procedures and documents with the current date, carry out overdue training and medical examinations, put files and records in order so that the items on the preliminary list can be produced efficiently, prepare the inspection log book as well as the authorisations and reports from previous inspections (Article 57(1)), and agree with the team who talks to the inspector and how.
• In tax matters: the notice of intent to initiate a tax inspection contains an advisement of the right to file a correction of the tax return (Article 282b § 4(5) of the Tax Ordinance). Once the inspection is initiated, the right to make a correction is suspended within the scope covered by it and is available again after it ends (Article 81b § 1).
• What cannot be done: undo the facts – a period of work without current medical examinations, a late registration of an employee, records that were not kept. Documents are not drawn up with a backdated date: a gap is disclosed and remedied, and the authority is presented with the actual state of affairs. Preparation is meant to serve the honest production of documents, not the concealment of anything.

Checklist: what you can check yourself

A self-assessment will not replace an audit, but it will show where the biggest gaps are. Tick off what you can confirm with a document – not from memory.

• You keep an inspection log book (paper or electronic) and store at your registered office the authorisations and reports from previous inspections (Article 57(1) and (3) of the Entrepreneurs' Law).
• You have a written designation of the person authorised to represent the company during an inspection (Article 50(3)).
• You know whether you are a micro, small or medium-sized entrepreneur, and you know your annual inspection time limit (Article 55(1)).
• The recommendations from previous inspections have been implemented, and their implementation is documented.
• Personnel files, working time records, health and safety (BHP) training and medical examinations are up to date for every employed person.
• Contracts of mandate and B2B contracts have been reviewed for the features of an employment relationship. In case of doubt, you may apply to the Chief Labour Inspector for an individual interpretation – the fee is PLN 40, and it is issued within 30 days of receipt of a complete application (Article 14b(4) and (6) of the PIP Act).
• For every foreigner you have a complete set of documents confirming the legality of their stay and work – here there will be no notice before the inspection.
• Registrations with ZUS and contribution assessment bases match the contracts and payrolls.
• Tax returns are consistent with the books, and any necessary corrections have been filed.
• Personal data protection documentation reflects how you actually process data.
• Industry-specific requirements (sanitary, fire safety, permits, register entries) are current and you keep them in one place.
• Employees know whom to notify when an inspector appears and where the documents are kept.

Which audit to choose?

If you have no notice, but nobody has checked the documentation for a long time, the company has grown, you have changed your employment model or you employ foreigners – choose a cold audit. If the notice has been served, what remains is a pre-inspection audit, and every day of the statutory window counts. If the inspection has already ended, the right stage is the third one: working on the report and the recommendations, which I write about in the text The inspection report – what next.

In every variant the same caveat applies: an audit has no legal effect vis-à-vis the authority – it does not stop the inspection, does not shorten it and does not replace the inspector's findings. It reduces the risk that the inspection will reveal irregularities, because some of them are found and remedied beforehand.

How I can help

I carry out both types of audit at the company's premises – in Warsaw and with travel throughout Poland – and I leave behind ready documents, not just a list of comments. If you already have a notice, I start by analysing its scope and the preliminary list of documents; where there are grounds for it, I also prepare a request to change the date, without assuming that the authority will grant it. You will find the scope of the packages on the services page.