TGC Corporate Lawyers Legal review – May 2024

Newsletter – changes in regulations and interesting decisions – May 2024.

1. Registration in CEiDG only online

The government is working on changes to the Central Register and Information on Business Activity (CEiDG) to facilitate the conduct of business.

The ultimate goal is to fully digitalize the process of submitting applications for entry in the CEiDG and abandoning paper form applications. The transition to online forms will be spread over time. Support from the Biznes.gov.pl Assistance Centre will also be available to meet the needs of people who do not use digital technologies.

Currently, an application for entry in the CEiDG can be submitted both online and in paper. However, according to data from the Ministry of Development and Technology, as many as 63% of entrepreneurs chose to register their business online in 2023.

Information about a civil partnership in one place

These changes are expected to bring a number of benefits also when it comes to information related to running a business. The legislator proposed:

• to simplify the process of providing information about a civil law partnership by making it digital,
• to ensure access to data contained in the CEIDG and providing services by entrepreneurs via the mObywatel application,
• to publish information about a civil partnership in one place.

The solutions proposed by the Ministry of Development and Technology are said to be adopted by the government in the fourth quarter of 2024.

Learn more – read the article

2. Pay transparency in practice. What changes await employers and employees?

It has been a year since the European Parliament and the Council of the European Union adopted Directive 2023/970 on strengthening the application of the principle of equal pay for equal work or work of equal value for men and women through pay transparency and enforcement mechanisms.

The key element of the Directive is “strengthening”,referring to the practical application of the principle of equal pay. The implementation of the Directive is supposed to be about the introduction of mechanisms that will guarantee transparency and real, not just declared, equal pay for men and women.

Employers will be subject to pay reporting

According to the Directive, employers will be obliged to provide the monitoring body (designated for this purpose by the Member State) with pay reporting, which, depending on the number of employees, should be submitted:

• annually (for employers with at least 250 employees), or
• every three years (for employers with 100 to 249 employees).

Employers with fewer than 100 employees should also be able – on a voluntary basis – to submit such reports.

Employees will enforce their rights in court

Employees who consider themselves wronged by their pay level, will be able to start court proceedings to enforce their rights. This principle, may be the most difficult to implement in Poland, given the workload of labour courts and duration of trials.

Implementation pf the regulations – EU Pay Transparency Directive

Member States are required to lay down appropriate criminal provisions containing “effective, proportionate and dissuasive” fines for breaches of equal pay rules, including specific penalties for repeated infringements.

The Directive should be implemented into the Polish legal system by 7 June 2026.

Read the article

3. Sejm adopted the act on contribution holidays. What does this mean for companies?

On 22 May 2024, during a plenary session, the Senate discussed, inter alia, an amendment to the Act on the social insurance system and certain other acts which concern the so-called contribution holidays. In order to take advantage of the holidays, an entrepreneur will have to submit an application to ZUS in the month preceding the month of his or her choice. Entrepreneurs covered by social insurance who employ up to 10 persons will have the right to take advantage of this solution. The act introduces the possibility for an entrepreneur to suspend the payment of contributions to social insurance, the Labour Fund and the Solidarity Fund for 1 selected month in a calendar year.

The main points of the act introducing a contribution holidays:

• Entrepreneurs will be able to suspend payment of contributions to social security, the Labour Fund and the Solidarity Fund for a period of 1 month per calendar year
• When taking advantage of contribution holidays, there will be no need to suspend the business activity, the entrepreneur will still be able to carry out activities, including, inter alia, issuing invoices
• Contribution holidays will not affect the entrepreneur’s entitlement to sickness benefit or the amount of his/her pension benefits
• Contribution holidays will be available regardless of the form of income tax settlement
• Support under the contribution holiday will be granted as de minimis aid
• Contribution holidays will not include health insurance contributions

Contribution holidays will be enjoyed by:

• Entrepreneurs, including the self-employed, who are registered in CEIDG and pay contributions for no more than 9 insured persons (together with an entrepreneur) and have revenues of up to EUR 2 million per year
• Partners in civil partnerships, if they fulfil the other criteria defined in the act which entitle them to benefit from this suspension of the payment of ZUS contributions

The condition for taking advantage of the contribution holidays is to submit an application for exemption from the obligation to pay contributions to the Social Insurance Institution in the month preceding the month of exemption chosen by the entrepreneur.

ZUS will verify the application:

• ZUS will analyse the application to check whether the entrepreneur meets the conditions to benefit from the relief
• If verification is positive, ZUS will automatically grant the relief
• A negative decision will be issued if the entrepreneur is not entitled to the contribution holidays

The new solution should be assessed positively, it will contribute to strengthening the competitiveness of micro companies. The Act will enter into force on the first day of the month after 4 months following its announcement.

Learn more – read the article

4. Draft amendments to the Copyright and Related Rights Act

The Council of Ministers has adopted a draft act that will significantly strengthen the position of artists in the digital age. The new legislation will provide creators and performers with royalties for making their works available online. In addition, press publishers will gain a new right to profit from online publication.

Key solutions provided for in the draft bill include:

• Royalties for creators: Artists will receive remuneration for making their works available online. Royalties will be paid for the exploitation of an audiovisual work – through a collecting society, and for the exploitation of musical performances – at the free choice of the performer: through a collecting society, through independent managers or directly to the performer or ana artist
• New legislation for press publishers: Publishers will have the right to exclusive online exploitation of their press publications by online platforms, which are ‘information society service providers’. This will help them to maintain and grow their business
• Simpler rules for obtaining a licence: Licensing of works and objects of related rights in broadcast television and radio programmes will be made easier
• Greater responsibility for content: New rules will be introduced on the responsibility of online platforms for the content provided by their users
• EU compliance: The draft act is compliant with European Union directives, which means that Polish copyright law will be consistent with regulations in other EU countries

The proposed provisions are generally to enter into force 30 days after publication in the Journal of Laws. The exceptions are the solutions concerning the right to remuneration for making the recording of an artistic performance available online, about to come into force 6 months after publication.

The full text of the draft bill is available on the website of the Prime Minister’s Office.

5. Mileage allowance for employees redesigned. The government will amend the Act on road transport

The government’s proposed amendment to the mileage allowance regulations is designed to allow employees to be reimbursed for the use for business purposes not only of private cars with electric or hybrid propulsion, but also those powered by hydrogen or other alternative energy sources.

The current regulations define the amount of so-called mileage allowance only for internal combustion vehicles, so there is no regulation on reimbursing the costs for the use of private vehicles with a drive other than internal combustion engine for business purposes.

The planned date for adoption of the draft by the Council of Ministers is Q2 2024

6. KSeF: new launch date and new technical challenges

In April, the Ministry of Finance announced a new schedule for the implementation of mandatory invoicing in the National e-Invoicing System (KSeF). Due to the detection of numerous errors during the audit, the system will be launched in two stages:

• 1 February 2026 – mandatory KSeF for companies with turnover above PLN 200 million per year,
• 1 April 2026 – mandatory KSeF for all other companies.

Due to the lack of an adequate technical infrastructure for the system, the postponement of the entry into force of the new obligations is intended to avoid chaos and ensure the safe circulation of invoices in the economy.

For numerous companies already preparing for e-invoicing it is crucial that the Minister of Finance assured the delay in launching the mandatory KSeF will not negatively affect the preparatory work undertaken so far by those companies.

Find out more about the audit findings and KSeF in Crowe’s expert publication – read an article

7. Webinar: Webinar: Starting Business in Poland 2024

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Learn more, watch the recording

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