IC&Partners Poland S.A. - Newsletter June 2021
Family leave
The new draft amending the law on the labor code and some other laws provides for the introduction of a paid family leave of 12 months for the care of sick parents or leave for the care of a child by grandmothers or grandparents that work. Family leave may be granted for one year, half a year or a few months. It would be possible to divide it into several parts over several years, for example two months during the holidays. Family leave would be paid at the national minimum wage level and, at the same time, continuity in the payment of ZUS premiums would be maintained.
Flat-rate health contribution for the self-employed
The government has introduced an amendment to its "Nowy Ład" program. Initially, the scheme envisaged the abolition of the flat-rate health contribution for self-employed workers. However, it has been announced that for sole proprietors with high profits but relatively low costs, the healthcare contribution will remain in a flat rate form. It has to be calculated on the basis of the average salary, which will increase the contribution by around 130 PLN. Another change is the reduction of the ITP rates for the liberal professions from the current 17% to 14%.
Change in the definition of employee
The purpose of the bill is to regulate the status of people who work for a company for an extended period of time, usually under a civil law contract, and to promote employment with an employment relationship. According to the art. 2 of the law of June 26, 1974. Labor Code "the employee is a person employed on the basis of a contract of employment, appointment, selection, designation or a cooperative employment contract". The bill proposes a change to the above definition of employee, which should be as follows: "The worker is a person hired on the basis of an employment, appointment, election, designation or cooperative employment contract, and also, within the scope governed by this law, a person who performs work on the basis of another contract, in particular a contract for the provision of services, if he personally performs work, on a permanent basis, for a period of not less than 6 months, with a daily time dimension corresponding to a size not less than 1/2 of a full-time employment contract. " If all the aforementioned conditions were met, i.e. stay and duration of the contract (minimum six months), personal nature of the work, size of hours not less than half full time, people who perform work on the basis of a contract commission, contract to perform a specific task, agency contract, service supply contract, self-employed and cooperating workers under a B2B contract would obtain the status of an employee, acquiring holiday rights and protection within the employment relationship. The act would enter into force on January 1, 2022.
Will the commission contract (umowa zlecenie) become history?
The government program called "Nowy Ład" announces that commission employment contracts will be fully subject to social security contributions, which will result in a reduction in pay, and the contract itself will be only slightly different from the employment contract. A completely new form of employment will be introduced, which will provide workers with annual leave rights and maternity protection. The changes will take effect on January 1, 2022.
Suspension of economic activity for holidays
The draft amendment also provides for the right to suspend business activity by entrepreneurs for the holiday period. The legal consequence of the changes is to free the entrepreneur from the obligation to pay social insurance premiums for the time spent on vacation.
Projekt zmiany ustawy przewiduje również prawo do zawieszenia działalności gospodarczej przez przedsiębiorców na czas urlopu wypoczynkowego. Prawną konsekwencją zmian ma być zwolnienie przedsiębiorcy z obowiązku opłacania składek na ubezpieczenie społeczne za czas przebywania na urlopie.
Regionalization of the minimum wage
Representatives of employers' organizations have called for urgent changes in the way the minimum wage is calculated. They want it to be regionalized. The amount of the minimum wage in Poland is currently negotiated at national level, which does not take into account local specificities. Employers believe it is necessary to unify the minimum wage for different regions or at least link it to the national average. The minimum wage should be half the national average (this year the minimum wage should exceed 53% of the average wage).
The judgment of the CJEU on the concept of a fixed permanent establishment for VAT purposes
On 3 June 2021, the Court of Justice of the European Union issued a preliminary ruling (case C 931/19) on how the concept of permanent establishment must be defined for VAT purposes. The Court held that when a company has only technical resources (for example, a property), but does not use human resources that allow it to operate independently, the criteria for considering that a taxable person has a stable place of business does not they are satisfied. Consequently, a property rented in a Member State does not constitute a permanent establishment within the meaning of Article 43 of Directive 2006/112 / EC.
The entry into force of the new provisions relating to withholding tax has been postponed again
On 11 June 2021, the draft decrees postponing the entry into force of the amended collection rules for withholding tax and CIT until the end of 2021 were published on the website of the Center for Government Legislation is motivated by the COVID-19 pandemic.
The drafts of the e-commerce decrees
On 9 June 2021, the Ministry of Finance published two draft decrees specifying the rules for making VAT refunds under the new special procedures that should come into force on 1 July 2021 as part of the e-commerce VAT package, currently under consideration by the Senate. The first draft decree refers to the request for reimbursement of VAT charged in an EU country other than Poland. The second draft of a new VAT refund decree refers to foreign entities requesting a VAT refund in Poland.