Costs of running a business
Although starting a business itself does not cost anything, the first month of running the company will bring expenses. We will transport, among others: VAT, ZUS contributions and health insurance contributions, and we will also incur other costs. You will most likely have to pay for accounting (unless you take care of it yourself), setting up an online store, renting premises or warehouse space, and finally for company equipment.
The list of costs of running a business may be much longer at the beginning, and over time it will certainly expand to include additional items – the points mentioned are only examples. Fortunately for entrepreneurs, some of the costs can be avoided – especially at the beginning. Here are the reliefs that people starting their first company can count on.
What are the benefits of starting monitoring?
You are entitled to take advantage of the start-up relief if you meet all three conditions:
- you run a business for the first time or open a company at least 5 years after the suspension or closure of the previous one,
- you are a natural person – you run a sole proprietorship or you are a partner in a civil partnership,
- you do not work for a former employer for whom you worked full-time in this or the previous calendar year.
Conditions met? This means that you can take advantage of the Start-up Relief, which brings a number of benefits to new entrepreneurs.
The most important benefits Start-up discounts
If you decide to take advantage of the Start-up Relief, for the first six months:
- you will not pay social security contributions (pension, disability, accident),
- you will not pay contributions to the Labor Fund,
- you will not pay contributions to the Solidarity Fund.
Remember, however, that the Start-up Relief does not affect your health insurance premium! Even though you benefit from the discount, you must register for health insurance and pay the premium every month. If you want, you can also enroll your family in health insurance – you pay a contribution, so you can use it without any restrictions.
Disadvantages Start-up relief
There is no rose without thorns – choosing Start-up Relief means that you will not save anything for your retirement or pension for the first six months. If you fall ill or have an accident during this time, you will not receive any benefits. The start-up tax relief does not mean a donation from the state – it is only (or as much as) an opportunity to give up the need to pay contributions at the beginning of the journey, when everything is new and there are no shortage of expenses.
Important!
If you employ people from the very beginning or start hiring within the first six months, you must remember that the start-up relief applies only to you – your employees or contractors are covered by insurance as usual – from the moment they start working for you. This means that you have to pay contributions to them regardless of whether you use Startup Relief.
Duration of the relief
The start-up relief lasts six months, but you can extend this period slightly – just start your business on a day other than the first day of the month. Then you do not include this month in the 6-month period. So if you start your company on May 9, 2024, you will be able to use the start-up relief until the end of November this year.
Preferential ZUS contributions
Another convenience addressed to new entrepreneurs is the possibility of paying lower social security contributions. These solutions are called Mały ZUS and Mały ZUS Plus. The first of them can be chosen at the time of setting up a company or after the period of using the Start-up Relief. This means that for the first six months the entrepreneur may not pay ZUS contributions at all, and then switch to Small ZUS for the next 24 months. How long can you use these solutions? What benefits do they bring and what conditions do you have to meet to launch Small ZUS in your company? Let’s check carefully!
I want to use the Small ZUS – what conditions do I have to meet?
The rules are similar to those applicable to Startup Relief. You can start a small ZUS if:
- you do not run a business or have not run one in the last 60 months,
- you do not conduct business activities for your former employer – applies to the current and previous calendar year and situations in which you perform activities that are the same as those falling within the scope of your current business.
Also remember that there are a number of elements that exclude the possibility of applying preferential ZUS contributions. This happens when in the last 60 months:
- you conducted non-agricultural business activity pursuant to the provisions on business activity or other specific provisions,
- you performed creative or artistic activities,
- you conducted a business activity in the field of a free profession within the meaning of the provisions on flat-rate income tax on certain income earned by natural persons or a business from which the revenues are income from business activity within the meaning of the provisions on personal income tax,
- you were a partner in a single-member limited liability company, general partnership, limited partnership or partnership,
- you ran a public or private school, another form of pre-school education, an institution or a complex thereof under the Education Law.
What does Little ZUS give you?
What are the actual benefits of using Small ZUS? Preferential ZUS contributions allow you to determine a lower than standard basis. Entrepreneurs who pay standard ZUS contributions pay the amount resulting from the declared basis. The minimum amount of this base is equal to 60% of the forecast average gross monthly salary.
Individual contributions constitute components of the declared base. In the case of a 60% base, the division is as follows:
- the pension insurance contribution is 19.52% of the assessment basis,
- the disability insurance contribution is 8% of the assessment basis,
- the sickness insurance contribution is 2.45% of the calculation basis,
- the accident insurance contribution varies and its amount results from the Act on social insurance in respect of accidents at work and occupational diseases.
When an entrepreneur decides to use the Small ZUS, he or she can pay contributions for two years, the amount of which is calculated on the basis of a reduced base. The lowest allowable base is 30% of the minimum gross monthly salary.
In 2024, the reduced basis will be:
- first PLN 1,272.6 (30% of the minimum wage, which from January will amount to PLN 4,242 gross),
- then PLN 1,290 (30% of PLN 4,300, because this is the minimum wage from July 2024).
For comparison, in 2023 the reduced basis was:
- first PLN 1,047 (30% of the minimum wage, which from January 1 to June 30, 2023 amounted to PLN 3,490 gross),
then PLN 1,080 (30% of PLN 3,600 from July 1, 2023 to December 31, 2023).
Exemption from the Labor Fund and the Solidarity Fund
Small ZUS also entitles you to exemption from the need to pay contributions to the Labor Fund and the Solidarity Fund, but this only applies to entrepreneurs for whom their business activity is the only entitlement to compulsory social insurance.
Small ZUS in 2024
As almost every year, ZUS contributions will also change in 2024, which entrepreneurs will not be happy about. Preferential ZUS contributions will still be significantly lower than the so-called large ZUS, but due to planned increases in the minimum wage, the rates for those using the small ZUS will also increase.
In the period from January to June 2024, ZUS preferential:
- without sickness insurance it will be PLN 371.47,
- with voluntary sickness insurance will amount to PLN 402.65.
In the period from July to December 2024, ZUS preferential:
- without sickness insurance it will be PLN 376.55,
- with voluntary sickness insurance will amount to PLN 408.16.
For comparison – throughout 2024, contributions under the standard ZUS will amount to:
- without sickness insurance PLN 1,485.31,
- with sickness insurance PLN 1,600.32.
Preferential ZUS contributions – although higher than ever in 2024 – are still a source of significant savings for entrepreneurs who are just starting to run their own business. Using the small ZUS translates into savings of approximately PLN 14,500 per year.
Important!
Regardless of whether you use the Start-up Relief, Small ZUS, or pay standard social security contributions straight away, you must add a health contribution to your expenses – in the current legal form, its amount depends on the income earned and is 9% of the assessment basis. contributions for those settling their taxes according to general principles, 4.9% for flat-rate tax payers and 9% of the lump-sum basis for entrepreneurs on a lump-sum basis on recorded revenues.
Little ZUS Plus
Finally, it is also worth mentioning Mały ZUS Plus. This is a sure alternative to the Small ZUS. Under it, the entrepreneur pays social security contributions not on the basis of the average or minimum wage, but on the basis of the income obtained in the previous tax year – for this reason we do not discuss this topic in detail. New entrepreneurs are not eligible to benefit from Mały ZUS Plus. One of the key conditions is to run a business in the previous year for no less than 60 days. However, you can switch to Mały ZUS Plus after the period of using the Startup Relief or Mały ZUS.
