Ladies and Gentlemen,
today the government approved the solutions of the draft act amending the act on special solutions related to the prevention, counteraction and combating of COVID-19, other infectious diseases and the crisis situations caused by them, and certain other acts, the so-called "anti-crisis shield".
The Sejm of the Republic of Poland is scheduled to hold its first reading of the aforementioned bill on March 27, 2020. The bill is currently undergoing legislative process and is therefore subject to change.
Below we present the most important solutions included in the anti-crisis shield project:
- Possibility of obtaining co-financing for employee salaries in the amount of 50% of the remuneration, up to 40% of the average monthly remuneration announced by the President of the Central Statistical Office, if the entrepreneur has experienced economic downtime or reduced working hours as a result of COVID-19,
- Exemption from ZUS contributions for 3 months for:
- micro-entrepreneurs employing up to 9 people, operating before 1 February 2020. The suspension covers ZUS contributions from all employees employed by the micro-entrepreneur,
- self-employed persons with income below 3 times the average salary who started their business before 1 February 2020.
- Abolition of the extension fee for deferring or paying social security contributions and tax liabilities in instalments,
- Possibility of correcting the tax settlement and settling the 2020 loss in the 2019 tax.
- Funding from the staroste for employee salaries,
- Possibility for contractors, self-employed persons, agents and other persons providing services to obtain a one-time standstill benefit in the amount of 80% of the minimum wage,
- A 90% reduction in rents for premises in shopping malls for tenants subject to restrictions or bans on operating due to COVID-19,
- Possibility to extend lease agreements until June 30, 2020 on the current terms,
- enabling entrepreneurs subject to the Sunday trading ban to receive, unload and put goods on shelves on Sundays covered by the trading ban,
- Possibility of limiting the norms for daily and weekly rest periods in the workplace,
- Employers may introduce more flexible working time rules and modify employment conditions in order to preserve jobs,
- The possibility for some employers to introduce changes to working time systems and to order overtime work in order to ensure the uninterrupted operation of enterprises,
- Extension of the validity period of documents legalizing the work and stay of foreigners,
- Ensuring the possibility of company bodies operating in emergency situations by organizing meetings of bodies using means of direct remote communication,
- Extension of the validity period of decisions regarding disability or incapacity for work,
- Postponement of the deadline for payment of income tax advances on salaries paid in March and April 2020 until 1 June 2020.
- Postponement of the deadline for payment of the mandatory fee for transformation of perpetual usufruct into ownership until June 30, 2020.
- Exemption from tax on civil law transactions for loan agreements concluded until August 31, 2020 by entrepreneurs affected financially by COVID-19,
- Possibility for micro-entrepreneurs to obtain a one-off loan of PLN 5,000 from the Labor Fund (with the possibility of its cancellation provided that employment is maintained),
- The possibility for the Commune Council to introduce exemptions from property tax on land, buildings and structures related to conducting business activities for designated groups of entrepreneurs,
- Extension of deadlines related to the introduction of Employee Capital Plans for entities that have been covered by PPK since 1 January 2020,
- Extension of the deadline for submitting applications to the register of beneficial owners until July 1, 2020.
- Extension of the deadline for submitting the new JPK_VAT to 1 July 2020.
- Extension of the deadline for submitting information on transfer prices to 30 September 2020.
- Extension of the period for preparing waste records in paper form until December 31, 2020.
- Extension of the deadline for submitting a notification of payment to an account not included in the list of VAT payers, referred to in Article 96b paragraph 1 of the VAT Act (extension from 3 days to 14 days)
- Postponement of the introduction of the retail sales tax until January 1, 2021.
Should you have any questions or concerns regarding the issues discussed above, our lawyers remain at your disposal. We encourage you to contact our dedicated lawyers.
This material was prepared on the basis of the draft act amending the act on special solutions related to the prevention, counteraction and combating of COVID-19, other infectious diseases and crisis situations caused by them, and certain other acts (draft version as of March 26, 2020)
