Changes in ZUS since 1 January, 2019 – what awaits us?

At present, according to Polish law, each company, regardless of the income it receives, is obliged to pay ZUS contributions in the amount of ca. PLN 1,200. The changes adopted by the government, which will come into force on 1 January, 2019, are to significantly affect the final amount of the contribution, which is to depend on the income criterion.

Who can use it?

The new changes can be adopted by entrepreneurs who have been active for at least 60 days in a given calendar year and have not exceeded the limit of annual income (for 2018) in the amount of 30 times the minimum remuneration (for December of the previous year; i.e. 30 x PLN 2100 = PLN 63,000).

It is worth noting that persons participating in partnerships can not benefit from these changes.

Low ZUS concerns sole proprietorships with revenues that do not exceed 2.5 times the minimum wage for the respective year (PLN 5250 in 2018)

How do you calculate the amount of the premium then?

To determine the amount of the premium for a given calendar year, you should: multiply your average monthly business income for the previous calendar year by a special “coefficient”

The forecasted coefficient for 2019 is: PLN [4765 (forecasted average gross wage in the national economy) x0.24] / PLN 2,220 (minimum wage in 2019) = 0.5151

To calculate the average monthly revenue, the total revenue for the previous year should be multiplied by 30, and then divided by the number of days of business activity.

As mentioned earlier, to determine the amount of the premium, the average monthly income calculated in the previous step should be multiplied by a special coefficient, e.g.

PLN 5000 x 0.5151 = PLN 2575.5

that is, from the contribution base amounting to PLN 2575.5, after calculating each premium (retirement pension – 19.52%, annuity bonus – 8%, accident insurance – 1.67%, and so on), the premium will amount to PLN 877.99 (without health insurance contributions).

Unfortunately, we can not use contributions from revenue all the time.

It is worth noting that according to the Act, the new method for calculating premiums will not be available all the time, but for a limited period of three years only. After two years of interruption an entrepreneur will have the right to return to the lower contributions.

Importantly, premiums are calculated on the basis of total proceeds, and not actual income, which means that many companies with high proceeds and high costs will be bypassed by the new law.

As we can learn from the words of the deputy minister of enterprise and technology, the new opportunities resulting from lower ZUS contributions are not inasmuch aimed at relieving some 200,000 small businesses that will benefit from them, but mainly at encouraging people who have worked illegally so far, and were not willing to pay disproportionately high premiums, to legalize their businesses.