“
Good Balance – advice and instructions, news and useful documents
Our team has collected answers and articles to the most popular questions. Here you can find the PDF documents you need, useful links, and current news.
en
en
Tips and answers
Unregistered activity. Who is this for?
Unregistered activity is a solution for people who have their own business idea, but are afraid initial costs, high ZUS contributions and obligations arising from the need to run a traditional business. It is also a gateway for those who only earn extra money - for example, by tutoring, fulfilling simple orders or selling handicrafts - and do not achieve a high income from it. The opportunity to run a “business without a company” has been available for several years. The idea clearly appealed to thousands of enterprising people who are willing to use this solution. However, many issues remain controversial. Today we will talk about unregistered activity, a privilege that almost everyone is entitled to. I invite you to a thorough analysis of the entity called unregistered activity or unregistered activity. Business without formalization? Possible!
Unregistered activity, i.e. company in demo version
Limitationsestablished by the legislator, mean that unregistered activities have two main groups of addressees, which I will discuss below.
- The first group consists of small freelancers: tutors, translators , copywriters, graphic designers and other people who treat this activity as a secondary activity and whose main source of income is, for example, full-time employment. They don`t want to devote themselves to developing a big business. What they do allows them to earn several hundred, thousand or a little more zlotys per month. However, they do not see this as a transition period. Thanks to the existence of unregistered activities, they do not have to oppose the existing rules. They will be able to do what they did before, completely legally - without stress and bureaucracy.
- The second group includes primarily people who use the period of greatest freedom to form a customer base, develop their products and the entire structure of the company. Informal activities allow them to focus on the core of their business. When they no longer fit within the framework created by law, they move on to conducting regular and registered activities.
Who can carry out such activities?
An unregistered business activity can be carried out by any person who has not conducted traditional, officially registered business activity. His projected earnings from these activities cannot exceed 75% of the gross minimum wage in any month (prior to July 1, 2023, they could only exceed 50%, but the limit has been raised).
In 2023, the minimum gross salary is PLN 3,600 gross (from July 1, 2023), and 75% of this amount is PLN 2,700 - this is the income limit for unregistered activities.
If the limit is exceeded, you will need to register your business.
Attention!< /em>Income is not the same thing as income. Revenue is the sum of invoices (the total cost of products sold or services provided) without reducing costs.
If it happens that you exceed the established income limit, you will have 7 days to register your automatically created business activity - when you reach an income exceeding 75% of the minimum wage - with the CEIDG.
< /p>
Unregistered activity - restrictions
In the paragraph above, I listed the conditions that a person who wants to run an unregistered business must meet . However, these are not all restrictions. With this method of calculation, you will not be able to carry out regulated activities, i.e. requiring certain licenses or permits.
As a rule, minors also cannot engage in unregistered activities. This is dictated by many reasons, which can be devoted to a separate article. From a legal point of view this is unacceptable. However, nothing prevents persons under 18 years of age from providing their services on the basis of a contract for specific work. In this article I looked at some examples of interesting activities for minors and formal issues.
Any income-generating activity in Poland is, of course, subject to taxation. The same rule applies to unregistered activities. Its limitation is the need to pay taxes on a general basis, i.e. on a two-level taxation scale. It is not possible to regulate this type of business using a flat tax (which would be meaningless anyway due to the income limit) or a tax card.
How to handle income from an unregistered business
You must report your unregistered business activity on your annual PIT-36 tax return. Income received in this way should be indicated in the appropriate line: Unregistered activity as defined in Art. 20 section 1ba of the Law. You will not be required to pay monthly or quarterly advance income tax payments. You can also include the costs of generating income in the appropriate column.
The tax payment deadline is the deadline for filing the tax return, i.e. (according to current legislation) until April 30. The tax must be paid to the individual micro tax account. You can find it using generator - by entering your PESEL number or NIP.
Of course, we always submit personal income tax returns for the previous year - by April 30, 2024, for 2023 andso on.
Remember that for effective calculation it is worth keeping records of sales, even if they are very simple. This way you will know how much tax you will have to pay. If the official asks any questions, you can show your notes.
What is CIT tax?
Income tax. But before moving on to the essence of taxation, it is necessary to clarify some terms that may cause confusion among readers:
Income (dochód) - this is how profit is called in Poland, i.e. material benefits received from the activities of a company minus expenses associated with this activity. Taxes, social and medical fees, and other necessary payments cannot be considered expenses. without taking into account expenses is called in Poland receipt (receipt, przychód), however, for legal entities only dochód is relevant, and przychód is not considered. There is the term “Corporate Income Tax” or CIT (from English, Corporate Income Tax We will consider this type of tax further, however, despite the name, this is not the only type of payments to budgets that legal entities must make. We will denote a specific type of tax by the usual term CIT.
Who pays CIT
CIT tax is obliged to pay to the Polish treasury every company that has a registered legal address in Poland. Therefore, in accordance with the CIT law, the income of all enterprises that may be without limitation, registered in Poland by foreigners, namely:
limited liability companies - Spółka z.o.o.
joint stock companies - Spółka Akcyjna (S.A.);
limited partnerships - Spółka komandytowa;
joint-stock limited partnerships - Spółka komandytowo akcyjna .
in 2023, Poland will have two income tax rates for legal entities:
19% - standard corporate tax rate CIT;
19% - standard corporate tax rate CIT;
19% - standard corporate tax rate CIT;
p>
9% - reduced CIT corporate tax rate;
Entrepreneurs whose annual turnover does not exceed 9,357,000 PLN can take advantage of the reduced 9% CIT tax rate
Companies with foreign capital: that is, those companies, at least one co-founder of which is a foreign individual, or a legal entity registered abroad, alsocan use a preferential rate of 9%.Companies registered in Poland by foreigners are subject to the same rights and obligations as for enterprises registered by citizens of the Republic of Poland or the European Union.
Legal entities enjoying the 9% rate will also have the status of “small taxpayers” - małypodatnik. At the same time, the 9% rate does not apply to income received from capital gains. In Poland, income from the sale of shares and other securities is subject to a 19% rate.
CIT payment
The payment method for this tax is selected in advance. This can be post-payment, when:
The tax is calculated based on the results of the past year. A tax return is submitted before March of the next year. The actual tax is paid.
Another option is an advance payment: A certain calculated amount is transferred to the tax office, estimated tax. Before March of the next year, a declaration is submitted specifying the amount of the actual tax. The tax paid is adjusted: an additional payment or a refund. The amount of taxable income can be reduced for charity, donation to the church, and certain types of reorganization. Such a reduction is limited (usually no more than 10%) - you need to clarify all existing possibilities with the tax and regional authorities.
What is pit 11 (PIT tax)?
PIT is a personal income tax. To all employees at the beginning of each year, employers PIT-11 document is distributed.
But not everyone knows what it is and what to do with it. Let's look into this issue!
Persons residing in Poland and receiving income in Poland have tax obligations. This means that they must payIn Poland there is a tax on the amount of all income received. The tax return must be filed betweenFebruary 1 and April 30.Even if you are already in Poland, you are still required to file a tax return for the previous year. Advance payments for the tax office.
During the year, the employer himself makes deductions from your salary to the Polish tax service, health fund, and so on.
These taxes make up the difference in wages between gross and net. These deductions for the year are called advance payments. And they do not have to be accurate down to the penny.
It may be that during the year, the employer will pay a little more or a little less in taxes from your salary.</ p>
Total Compare this amount with what has already been paid during the year (the sum of all advance payments). At the end of the year, you are required to file a tax return, which will indicate your entire income for the year. All taxes that have already been paid during the year and possibly benefits that you have. Using simple calculations, you will get the amount of taxes you must pay for all income received last year.
What is PIT-11?
PIT-11 is a document with a table that contains data on your income for the year and taxes paid. If you work in Poland, your employer deducts income tax from your salary. By the end of February, the employer must send you Form PIT-11, that is, a document that contains information about your income that you received while working for him in the previous tax year, and information about paid deductions from wages for income tax. If you have worked in several places (different employers), obtain a PIT-11 from each employer. A PIT-11 is issued if the foreigner is a tax resident of Poland. It indicates the taxpayer’s place of residence in Poland. PIT-11 will be handed over to both the employee and the tax office at the employee’s place of residence in Poland. After receiving PIT-11, the employee must submit PIT-37 in the tax return.
What is PIT-37 ?
PIT-37 is the annual tax return that you must submit for the last year of work in Poland. If you do not carry out economic activities, then based on PIT-11, you should fill out PIT-37 and submit it to the appropriate tax administration department.
< /p>
Deadlines
Declaration PIT-37 must be submitted by April 30 of the following year. For example, a 2023 PIT-37 return must be filed by April 30, 2024).
At the same time, you are required to pay the appropriate tax if, as a result of the final calculation, it turned out that the amount of deductions from your income was less than the tax that you must pay on the total amount of income. and you will see whether you have to pay something extra or you have already paid more than necessary, and you can get this difference back. The tax office will check all the data, and if it finds no errors, it will return your money. Or it will expect you to pay extra for the deficiency.
Methods of filing a tax return in Poland The declaration can be submitted either in paper form at one of the tax office offices at your place of residence, or the declaration can be submitted electronically via the Internet. Submitting a tax return online is the fastest and most convenient, eliminating the need to waste time going to the tax office in long lines. Another advantage of this method is that the program itself automatically carries out all the necessary calculations, minimizing the likelihood of any error.
What happens if fail to pay taxes on time?
Often foreigners living in Poland, when getting a job abroad, hope that the tax office will not find out about their foreign income. However, this is far from the case.
Firstly, fiscal officials can obtain information about the availability of income from Ukrainian\foreign banks. For example, if a foreign employer transfers remuneration to an account in a Ukrainian bank, or if an officially unemployed person opens a deposit for a large amount.
Secondly, there is an exchange of tax information between Ukraine and many countries.
What is ZUS in Poland?
ZUS (Zakład Ubezpieczeń Społecznych or "Social Insurance Office")is the Polish government body responsible for health and pension insurance for citizens.
< p>ZUS deals with the circulation, collection and payment of funds and, in particular, is responsible for:
-payment of pensions for Polish pensioners;
-payment of disability pension;
-payment of survivor benefits;
-payment of maternity benefits, etc.
NFZ functions
NFZ insurance in Poland allows you to receive medical care free of charge. It covers the following services:
-emergency calls;
-diagnosis of diseases;
-collection of tests;
-NFZ insurance in Poland it helps in the treatment of illness;
-issuance of sick leave;
-NFZ finances observation during pregnancy and childbirth;
-care for newborn babies;< /p>
-NFZ insurance for providing psychological support.
-Also with NFZ insurance in Poland you can receive high-quality dental services of any complexity.
Who pays?
The employer pays for the employee, and the customer pays for the performer. That is, those who work under an employment contract (Umowa o pracę) and those who are employed under a civil contract (Umowa o dzieło orUmowa zlecenie).
In addition to persons employed in Polish enterprises and their employers, ZUS is also paid by those who run their own business. It is necessary to take into account that such entrepreneurs will receive a Polish pension in the future.
How can you find out if your employer pays the insurance premium for you?</ p>
To do this, just contact the nearest ZUS. Its address can be found here https://www.zus.pl/ .
Contributions to ZUS: who pays and how much?< /p>
Social payments (social security fees, payments in ZUS) are paid by both employees and entrepreneurs (for themselves). Despite the general amounts of deductions, due to the different methods of collecting fees and other conditions, the difference between the payments of employees and businessmen is significant. Therefore, we will consider these cases separately, but let’s start with general concepts.
General concepts
Let’s start with the basic provisions. For any person, whether an employee, including a foreigner, or an entrepreneur, the following payments must be made to ZUS:
Pension provision (Emerytalna) - 19.52%.
Provision for disability (Rentowa) - 8%.
Access to medicine (Zdrowotna) - 9%.
Payment for sick leave (Chorobowa) - 2.45% (in some cases absent - more details further).
Accident insurance (Wypadkowa) - from 0.67% to 3.33%.
Labor fund (Fundusz Pracy) - 2.45%.</ p>
To the Employee Guaranteed Benefit Fund (FGŚP) - 0.10%.
First of all, employees should not be afraid of such large amounts. Not all and not all of these fees are withheld from his salary.
ZUS insurance although it has a considerable cost, it will save your life in critical cases.
What is VAT (VAT) in Poland?
VAT is Value Added Tax (VAT\VAT\GST\DPH\MwST).
Standard rate is 23%.
VAT(ValueAddedTax) - tax on the purchase of local consumption goods, products , services, clothing.
As a rule, this tax is already automatically included in the price of the product or service (priceGROSSIf the price is indicated in NET -). this means that VAT is not added.
There are different VAT tax rates in Poland. In turn, the rate depends on the type of product and service:
• 23% - standard VAT rate;
• 8% - some food products and fruits, fertilizers, newspapers and magazines, some books, certain pharmaceutical and medical products, transportation of passengers (buses and taxis), hotel services;
• 5% - not all fruits and nuts, spices, some books and publications;
• 3% - some food products, agricultural products, livestock and fisheries.
• 0% - export goods, international transport services, computer equipment, digital data transmission devices.
The following are exempt from VAT tax:
health, social security, education and other government agencies.
A foreigner who has his own business in Poland is required to pay to the tax office VAT, which he adds to his clients on goods/services. </ p>
Taxpayers paying VAT monthly submit JPK V7M as in the declaration form, and in the registration partby the 25th dayof the month for the previous month.
Quarterly, taxpayers submit JPK V7M
registration - before the 25th day of the month following the month, for which the file is being submitted
declaration - by the 25th day of the month following the quarter for which the file is being submitted
VAT tax is paid to the tax office at the place of employment.
Remember VAT - this is not your money, this is government money that you simply temporarily keep in your account.
Up to the limit 200,000 per year you don’t have to register as a VAT member, but after crossing the earnings limit you are required to register.