[Poland] Amendment to the PPE Act – facilitations for companies

On 25 April 2022 the President signed an Act amending the Act on Employee Pension Schemes (PPE) and the Act on IKE and IKZE. The new rules for participation and running pension schemes are intended to encourage companies to establish PPE, and employees to save funds in them for their future retirement.

Beneficial terms of participation in PPE

The Act of 7 April 2022 amending the Act on Employee Pension Schemes and the Act on Individual Retirement Accounts (IKE) and Individual Retirement Security Accounts (IKZE) will introduce a number of facilitations for employers offering PPE.

The new solutions are intended to encourage employees to save for their future pension voluntarily and employers to offer pension schemes.

The amendment to the PPE Act provides for the following changes:

• transfer of administrative obligations (obligation to notify data changes and obligation to draw up annual information) from employers running PPE to financial institutions operating PPE;

• a 6-month notice period, i.e. the liquidation period of the PPE (currently 12 months),

• an obligation for employers to submit a statement on the number of employees and participants employed by a given employer as of 1 January and 1 July in a given calendar year in electronic or paper form to the Polish Development Fund PFR (statement to be submitted two times – by 31 January and 31 July in a given calendar year),

• a simplified procedure for employers to conclude agreements with employee representation on the suspension or reduction of basic contributions to PPE – the obligation for the supervisory authority to issue an administrative decision is lifted, employers only have to notify the fact that an agreement has been concluded and submit it,

• lifting the ban on paying an additional contribution (currently an additional contribution is possible if it is not prohibited under the company agreement),

• an option for a participant to make an additional contribution from sources other than salary for periods when the participant did not receive salary from his/her employer,

• a possible refusal to register amendments to the scheme or the deletion of the scheme from the register by the supervisory authority on the grounds that the scheme does not comply with the provisions of the Act or that the procedure for deletion of the scheme does not comply with the provisions of the Act, or that the irregularities have not been remedied within a period specified by the supervisory authority,

• a new legal institution of ‘transfer of funds’, i.e. the transfer by current scheme provider of the funds collected under a scheme to a new provider due to a change of scheme formula or scheme provider,

• an employer shall not be obliged to pay the amount of contribution which has not been paid due to the limitation or suspension of the basic contribution after the period of suspension or limitation of such contribution.

The Act was signed by the President on 25 April, with most of the new provisions coming into force on 1 July 2022. The only exception are the provisions on the additional contribution, these will come into force on 1 January 2023. Changes to IKE and IKZE are to take effect 14 days following the announcement of the Act.

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