SOCIAL SECURITY (ZUS) IN POLAND

The acts and regulations on the social insurance reform make up a sizeable package. The aim of this information is to tell the PAYER OF CONTRIBUTIONS of the basic issues of how to work out and forward individual contributions to ZUS and how to document all necessary data and transactions.

SOCIAL INSURANCE

Social Insurance comprises retirement, pension, sickness and workers' compensation insurance. The employer and beneficiary share the cost of contributions.

Total contributions:
1. retirement insurance 19.52% of Calculation Base
2. pension insurance 6% of Calculation Base
3. sickness insurance 2.45% of Calculation Base
4. workers' compensation 1.80% of Calculation Base

HEALTH INSURANCE

Health insurance premium is:

• 9% of Remuneration Base

Health insurance is payable by Employee and 7.75% is tax deductible.

ADDITIONAL PAYROLL COSTS

1. Labour Fund 2,45%
2. Workers' Guaranteed Benefit Fund 0.10% of Remuneration Base
3. When the number of employees is greater than 25 and the enterprise does not employ disabled persons, the employer has to pay contributions towards The National Fund for Rehabilitation of Disabled Persons.
The Employer is the Payer, responsible for calculation, withholding and forwarding the contributions to relevant bank accounts.

REGISTRATION DOCUMENTS

a/ Registration of Payer
The Payer (Employer) must register itself for social insurance within 7 days of creation. In order to register a payer the following forms must be completed and filed:

• ZUS ZPA registration / change of details of a corporate payer, or
• ZUS ZFA registration / change of details of an individual payer
• ZUS ZBA information on the payer's bank account numbers
• ZUS ZAA address of the payer's business operation

Any changes relating to the Payer's details must be filed on appropriate forms within 7 days.

b/ Registration of beneficiaries /employees and contractors/
Payer (Employer) has a duty to register any new employees within 7 days. The following forms must be completed and filed for each new beneficiary (employee):

• ZUS ZUA registration for social and health insurance
• ZUS ZCNA registration of family members for health insurance whose address is not the same as the beneficiary's address
• ZUS ZCZA registration of family members for health insurance who reside at the same address as the beneficiary
• ZUS ZZA registration for health insurance

The Payers have a duty to register any person who is subject to mandatory social insurance coverage within seven days of the coverage commencement date.
The payer of contributions must notify ZUS of any changes in its relationship with the beneficiaries, including termination of mandatory coverage, by filing relevant forms within 7 days of any such circumstances.

SUMMARY DOCUMENTS/every month/

• ZUS DRA a monthly declaration with details of all contributions sent to ZUS for a given month
• ZUS RCA a report of payers (including details of their names) who are not entitled to pay sickness benefits /payers who employ fewer than 20 persons/ on any social and health insurance contributions due
• ZUS RZA a name report on any health insurance contributions due
• ZUS RSA a report (including details of payers' names) on any benefits paid out to employees and any intervals in contribution payment

Payers shall file the forms for a given month until the 15th day of the following month. Within the same time limits Payers shall present the beneficiaries /employees or contractors/ with ZUS RMUA form a monthly summary report for the beneficiary.

TAX IMPLICATIONS

As social insurance contributions paid by employee are deductible from personal income tax and the health insurance contributions decrease the amount of advances towards personal income tax, it has to be emphasized that incorrect calculation of social and health contributions, e.g. due to late filing of a doctor's certificate will result in a never-ending series of adjustments in the personal income tax returns.