The government’s proposal on the amendment of the Act on the social insurance system | SSW Tax Alert
During Thursday’s session, the Sejm decided to reject the opposition’s motion and to approve, for further parliamentary procedure, the government’s proposal on the amendment of the Act on the social insurance system (parliamentary form no. 1974), which is considered in accordance with the accelerated procedure. An important novelty in the government’s proposal is the proposal for abolishment of the maximum annual limit of the basis for determining the retirement and pension insurance contributions.
According to current regulations, the annual basis for determining the retirement and pension insurance contributions in a given calendar year is subject to a cap amount. In the year 2017, this is PLN 127.890,00.
According to the government’s proposal the abolishment of the limit for the payment of retirement and pension insurance contributions is to apply to remuneration payable as of January 2018. In practice, this means that individuals earning more than 30 times the average salary (10.7 thousand PLN before taxes per month, 128 thousand PLN per annum), regardless of the number of insurance titles (employment contract, remuneration of a Supervisory Board member, business activity, etc.) will pay more contributions to the Social Insurance Institution (ZUS). It should be noted that the absence of a contributions limit means increased costs for employers since a portion of retirement and pension insurance contributions (19.52%) is covered by employers.
To illustrate this, below we prepared a tentative comparison of current and planned regulations from the point of view of the insured and their employers, assuming salary payment at the level of 30 thousand PLN per month:
| Scenario (annual salary PLN 360.000 before taxation) | ZUS and PIT charges payable by the employee | ZUS charges payable by the employer | Total public-law liabilities | Net salary (PLN) | Total payroll costs on the part of the employer (PLN) |
| Current | 34% | 9% | 43% | 236.000,00 | 392.000,00 |
| Planned | 39% | 19,5% | 58,5% | 218.000,00 | 430.000,00 |
| Change: | 5 p.p. | 10,5 p.p. | 15,5 p.p | – 18.000,00 | – 38.000,00 |
In view of the reported reservations, the accelerated legislative procedure used in case of this proposal does not determine that the amendment will come into effect on 1 January 2018. There is an expectation on the part of governmental institutions that the implementation of this regulation will be postponed by one year. Nevertheless, given the material implications of the amendment in question, both employees and employers, it is worthwhile to undertake steps already now, to get prepared for the above changes.
Should you wish to discuss the impact of these regulations on your business, and think about a strategy related to the above payroll burden, do not hesitate to contact us.
Patrycja Goździowska – Partner, Tax Advisor
Tomasz Wickel – Partner, Attorney at Law
