On 20 April 2021, the first programme conference of the „Ten of the spokesman for SME’s” series was held by the Small and Medium-sized Enterprises Ombudsman and the Business Centre Club. The topic of the meeting with experts and economists was proposals for changes to the social security system for entrepreneurs.

The ” Ten of the spokesman for SME’s ” is the 10th demand for the most important systemic changes in the area of economic law that will facilitate the recovery of the economy after the coronavirus pandemic. These proposals were selected from proposals made by the Business Council of the SME Ombudsman, which brings together nearly 300 business and employer organisations. They have therefore been chosen in such a way that they are a common voice of the whole business community – large and small.

Adam Abramowicz, The SME Ombudsman pointed out that the most desirable changes to the social security system for entrepreneurs are, first of all, the deletion from the provisions on the „Small ZUS +” of the income limit of PLN 120 000 and the limitation of the temporary use of this form of payment of contributions. Adam Abramowicz emphasized that revenue is not a good measure of the financial situation of an entrepreneur, and that making the possibility of using the „Small ZUS +” on income discriminates against entrepreneurs operating, for example, in the commercial sector.

Several examples of European social security systems for entrepreneurs were presented later in the conference. Edyta Wyrodek from the Office of the SME Ombudsman showed that the UK insurance system is much more lenient for entrepreneurs with low incomes from Polish. Mikołaj Kruczyński, Coordinator at the Office of the SME Ombudsman, presented a Slovak system where contributions are proportional to income and also slightly lower than in Poland in lower income brackets. Moreover, the principle of 'Zero bureaucratic obligations’ deserves to be noticed, according to which traders are not obliged to submit any applications or declarations, and the insurance authority itself calculates the amount of premiums on the basis of data from the tax office and sends the relevant information to the entrepreneur.

Pawel Jaroszek, Member of the Board of Directors of the Social Insurance Department, referred to this topic, informing that zus had started work on a similar project and invites the SME Spokesman and representatives of the Business Council to cooperate in developing the best solutions in this regard.

Grzegorz Piątkowski, The Representative of the SME Spokesman in Krakow, spoke about the voluntary social security contributions of entrepreneurs in Germany. Marek Góra, a professor at the Warsaw School of Economics and co-author of the 1999 social security reform, argued that the foundation of a good pension system is its universality, which is difficult to obtain on a voluntary basis. He agreed, on the other hand, that a flat-rate formula for entrepreneurs’ contributions could be discussed. He stressed, however, that the room for change is mainly in the non-retirement part of the social security system.

Anna Ulewska – Marciniak, Director at the Ministry of Family and Social Policy and Dr. Ewa Flaszyńska, Director at the Ministry of Development, Labour and Technology, ensured that their departments analyse the insurance situation of business people with a view to possible changes.

The entrepreneurs present at the meeting emphasised that they considered that they had too little influence on the legislation in this area which was relevant to them.

In a video conference summary, Adam Abramowicz stressed that financial security for old age is important, but excessive concern for a future pension should not lead to the eviction of entrepreneurs from apartments or pushing them into the gray area. It should be up to all parties to build a system in which citizens feel good from birth to death.

Source: https://rzecznikmsp.gov.pl/23-04-21-mniejsze-skladki-na-zus/

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