[Poland] Small ZUS Plus for a year longer – the amendment to the Act is in the Sejm

The Sejm has received an amendment to the Act extending the Small ZUS Plus by one year. Existing participants of the programme will benefit from the possibility of paying lower ZUS contributions. The proposed changes will come into force on 1 August 2023.

The Ministry of Development and Technology, the Ministry of Family and Social Policy and the Social Insurance Institution (ZUS) jointly prepared changes to the regulations to extend the Small ZUS Plus by one year for entrepreneurs who benefit from the relief in 2023.

It is estimated that around 66.4 thousand entrepreneurs will benefit from the new solution in 2023, and in 2024 even more than 142.3 thousand companies.

Additional year with Small ZUS Plus – the rules of extension

In 2020, the legislator extended the Small ZUS relief to Small ZUS Plus , thus making contributions dependent on the income generated by an entrepreneur and liberalizing the income threshold. Nowadays, under the current regulations, entrepreneurs can use Small ZUS Plus for a maximum of 36 months during the next 60 months of running a business.

The planned extension for one year will allow entrepreneurs to pay lower ZUS contributions for the next 12 months, provided that they are currently using Small ZUS Plus and their income in the preceding year did not exceed the amount of PLN 120 000.

It is estimated that thanks to the introduction of the new solution, small companies will save up to several hundred zlotys a month on ZUS contributions.

Interestingly, entrepreneurs who ended the use of Small ZUS Plus in 2023, because 36 months have already passed, but still meet the other statutory conditions, will also be able to take advantage of 12 additional months of this relief. To use this option, they will have to report to the Social Insurance Institution (ZUS) by 31 December 2023 and submit an application for paying lower contributions from the next month.

Small ZUS Plus – lower contributions throughout 2023

Let us remind that in order to take advantage of the voluntary Small ZUS Plus relief, the following two conditions must be met:

• revenues from non-agricultural business activities conducted throughout the previous calendar year may not exceed PLN 120 000,
• an entrepreneur conducted business activity in the previous calendar year for at least 60 calendar days.

It should also be remembered that Small ZUS Plus cannot be used in the first year of running a business.

Moreover, the basis for calculating contributions for Small ZUS Plus may not exceed 60% of the projected average monthly remuneration for a given year and cannot be lower than 30% of the amount of the minimum pay in force in a given year.

In January 2023, the minimum remuneration for work is PLN 3 490, and thus the minimum basis for contributions for Small ZUS Plus is PLN 1 047. It is also important that the minimum basis will not change with the next increase in the minimum pay in July 2023. This means that throughout 2023, an entrepreneur with a Small ZUS Plus with a minimum basis pays ZUS in the amount of PLN 331.26.

It is also worth mentioning that persons using Small ZUS Plus are obliged to provide ZUS with information about:

• annual revenue,
• annual income,
• forms of taxation for conducting business activity, and
• the basis of contributions.

In 2022, almost 236 000 entrepreneurs benefited from Small ZUS Plus relief.

Read also: Guide – changes to labour law in 2023

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