On 29 January 2022, the Polish Act of 17 December 2021 amending the Act on foreigners and certain other acts entered into force. It contains a number of changes that are important for entrepreneurs and foreigners working and studying in Poland. The main objective of the Act is “primarily to streamline the proceedings concerning the granting of temporary residence permits for foreigners in the territory of the Republic of Poland, in particular temporary residence and work permits” (from the grounds of the draft Act), but also to facilitate the employment of foreigners by Polish entrepreneurs and to shorten the time for processing an application for a national visa.

Changes for Polish entrepreneurs and enterprises

The first significant change for Polish employers is the requirement that a foreigner employed must earn at least the equivalent of the minimum wage regardless of the duration and type of contract. In January 2022, the minimum wage is PLN 3010 gross. The exemption is for foreigners who are to perform work in an occupation requiring high qualifications. The remuneration for such an employee is to be the equivalent of the average salary in the year preceding the application for a temporary residence and work permit. Another change concerns enterprises of strategic importance to the Polish economy. They will be able to employ foreigners faster and more easily than before by obtaining a temporary residence and work permit in these entities.

Changes for foreign workers

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On 10 February 2022 KIELTYKA GLADKOWSKI KG LEGAL will take part in the training organized by the European Commission. The topic of the meeting will be the Access2Markets platform and its dedicated tools and their application. The training will cover a full presentation of the Access2Markets platform, including the tools:

My sales assistant – (export and import information on tariffs, taxes and import formalities, customs procedures),

Trade and investment barriers,

Trading statistics,

ROSA (a tool for self-assessment of compliance with the rules of origin in preferential EU-third countries trade agreements),

Single Entry Point – reporting barriers on third-country markets to the European Commission,

Preferential trade agreements between the EU and third countries,

Access2Procurement.

https://trade.ec.europa.eu/access-to-markets/pl/home

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KIELTYKA GLADKOWSKI KG LEGAL has recently participated in a training devoted to trade and business reports in risk analysis and investments in Poland. The information gained through the training will help our Clients in a more careful selection of a suitable business partner and will increase the transparency of business standing.

IPG Trade Reports

The basic source of information on the financial data of business entities is the Polish National Court Register. Reliability can also be assessed on the basis of data from the Court and Economic Journal, the Polish National Business Registry Number database, debtor registers, and information from InfoCredit companies and partners (IPG reports). These IPG reports present the situation of a given company in detail. Among other things, they present the structure of shareholders of the entity, which is one of the basic parameters of risk assessment connected with a given company. They also contain current and historical financial ratios. They also contain a complete ratio analysis of parameters such as liquidity, indebtedness, operating efficiency, profitability, and capital and asset structure. Trade reports also contain information on the structure of employment, which is collected directly from companies. Despite the decision of the Ministry of Finance in 2017, regarding the inclusion of import and export data under fiscal secrecy, the reports contain information on business activity.

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From 2025, EU countries, including Poland, will be able to freely exempt from VAT the supply of food, water, medicines, medical equipment, books and magazines for the libraries, passenger transport as well as the supply and installation of solar panels.

Alternatively – if they so decide – they will be able to apply a preferential VAT rate lower than 5% to these supplies.

This is the result of the draft amendment to the VAT directive, on which a political compromise was reached in the EU Economic and Financial Affairs Council (ECOFIN). The draft has yet to receive an opinion from the European Parliament and only then will it be finally approved by ECOFIN.

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At the beginning of 2022, a reform of tax regulations entered into force in Poland, which, in particular, significantly increases the cost of employing a Polish employee. In practice, the new law is called the “Polish Deal” and it is precisely the Act of October 29, 2021 amending the Act on personal income tax, the Act on corporate income tax and some other acts (Polish Journal of Laws, item 2105 with subsequent amendments). The Polish Deal, in particular, increases the operating costs of foreign entrepreneurs employing Polish workers on a large scale under an employment contract under the Polish Labor Law. In such a case, the foreign entrepreneur must bear a much higher cost of maintaining a Polish employee compared to the situation that took place in 2021.

Reducing the Employee’s remuneration as a method of optimizing employment costs? Is it legal?

In practice, entrepreneurs try to use the right to amend an employment contract to unilaterally reduce the employee’s remuneration. This new change in law may result in the fact that from January 2022, employers will propose new, lower remuneration to their employees. The salary is reduced by the amount that is needed to bring the cost of maintaining the employee to the level before the tax reform introduced by the Polish Deal was in force. On the other hand, Polish authorities deny that changing the employment contract with regard to the reduction of remuneration is a legal method of circumventing the provisions of the Polish Deal.

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