6
BUSINESS
www.wbj.pl
JANUARY 21-27, 2013
Currency
The proposal would see cash transactions rounded up or down to the nearest z∏.0.05, and could save the bank millions For the National Bank of Poland, producing z∏.0.01 and z∏.0.02 (one- and two-groszy) coins far exceeds their nominal value. The NBP is therefore exploring ways to at least reduce, if not completely eliminate, the coins from circulation. Withdrawing the coins from the market altogether would be easiest solution, but would also be strongly opposed by retailers, who prefer to use prices ending in “.99” as a marketing
tool. Customers would also likely oppose the measure, expecting prices for such products to rise. Instead, the NBP is proposing that the prices be rounded up or down on cash payments only. “Our main goal is to make the cash transactions easier and more efficient. Our proposal would round the final cash payment to z∏.0.05,” said the NBP’s Aleksander Proksa, who wrote the proposal. The NBP hopes its idea will satisfy both retailers and consumers, while saving z∏.40 million in coin-production costs. According to the proposal, prices would remain intact, but the total payment would be rounded up or down. For
example, instead of paying z∏.10.97, a customer would pay just z∏.10.95 in cash. Payments made with credit cards, debit cards or by bank transfer would remain the same. “There are currently 7 billion one- and two-groszy coins on the market, out of a total of 13 billion coins. These low denomination coins often go unused, and they rest in people’s drawers. Nearly a third of Poles admit this,” said Barbara Jaroszek, deputy director of the NBP’s cash & issue department. The NBP claims that the move would not affect inflation. “According to our analysis, rounding the payments would have neutral effect on
Legal News Contact: Miros∏aw Stefanik ms@pnplaw.pl
Remittance of unpaid ZUS contributions On January 15, 2013, the act of November 9, 2012 on redemption of liabilities incurred from contributions unpaid by persons conducting off-rural business activity (Dz.U.2012.1551) came into force. A person conducting off-rural business activity could be understood, among other things, as a shareholder of a one-person limited liability company, a partner in a general partnership, in a limited partnership or partner company, as well as a natural person conducting a business activity. Upon a motion of a person liable for compulsory pension, disability and accident insurance for conducting an off-rural business activity in the period from January 1, 1999 until February 28, 2009, unpaid contributions for these types of insurance may be remitted for the above period. Moreover, the overdue interest on the above contributions, extension payments, costs of reminders, additional payments, and costs of enforcement as calculated by a Social Insurance Institution (ZUS) division head, a tax office head or an enforcement officer may also be remitted. The motion on redemption may be submitted within 24 months upon the date of the act coming into force. It may be submitted as well by an heir or by a third person if ZUS has decided that person is responsible for these liabilities.
Penalties for failing to submit financial statements of companies With the beginning of a new calendar year it has to be remembered that in accordance with the Commercial Companies Code, an ordinary shareholders’ meeting of a limited liability company or a joint stock company should be held within six months upon the end of each fiscal year. The subject of such a meeting should be,
among other things, the approval of the financial statement for the last fiscal year. In the case of most limited liability companies, the fiscal year coincides with the calendar year. When that is the case, such a meeting should take place no later than on June 30, 2013 and the management board of the company is obliged to submit the financial statement for 2012 to the court and to register an entry about it. Many members of management boards of limited liability companies and joint stock companies do not fulfill these obligations. Failing to submit a financial statement to the court is punishable by a fine or restriction of freedom. In some cases a court may decide on a ban on occupying specific posts, for example in companies’ management boards or supervisory boards. Moreover, if, despite the fine imposed by the court, a management board of a limited liability company or joint stock company does not fulfill the above obligation, the court may appoint an administrator for the company for a period of time not longer than a year.
CPI. The individual customer would probably spend several dozen groszy more per year at most,”added Marcin Kaszuba, director of the public relations and marketing department at the NBP. The retailers understand the problem, but they have some concerns of their own. “There is the cost of rounding the payments, and there will be costs involved, whether you’ll round the payments up or down, and these will be paid by the market. And that includes both customers and retailers. We don’t like being the only ones that would have to pay for it,” Mr Maria Andrzej Faliƒski, president of the Polish Trade and Distribution Organization (POHiD) told WBJ. “There will be many instances in which the same product will have a different cost in the same place,” added Mr Faliƒski. “For example, when I buy something and pay cash for it, I could pay a different amount than if I were paying for it with a credit card. Also, something bought individually could have a different
SHUTTERSTOCK
NBP unveils plan to eliminate low-denomination coins
Soon to be a thing of the past? price than the same thing bought in bulk,” he said. He suggested that this could pose problems in accounting and taxation, and that he would like to see some regulations in tax law that would prevent potential disputes with the Tax Office. Similar regulations have been implemented in other countries, where the production of low-denomination coins had become unprofitable. For example, in the Czech Republic all coins with
a denomination lower than 1 Czech koruna were withdrawn from the market, but prices in stores still end in “.99” “We can suspect that Polish stores would keep the ‘.99’ prices intact, for marketing reasons, or even lower them to ‘.95.’ ” Mr Kaszuba said. The proposal was sent to the Ministry of Finance, where it will be reviewed. If passed by parliament, it would come into force from January 1, 2015. Jacek Ciesnowski
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Providing transport to and from workplace constitutes employee revenue The value of a benefit received by an employed person in the form of transport to and from work provided and paid for by the workplace constitutes revenue from employment for the employee, according to an interpretation by the Head of the Treasury Chamber in ¸ódê no. IPTPB1/415520/12-2/KSU. In the opinion of the Head of the Treasury Chamber, the occurrence of tax liability on the part of a taxpayer is not influenced by the number of times that this employee has traveled via transport organized by the workplace, but instead by receiving from the employer the benefit as a possibility to enjoy a given service. ●
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