The Business Centre Club (BCC) positively evaluates the willingness to alleviate public legal burdens for the smallest businesses. The BCC emphasizes that in the current reality, these burdens are too heavy, generating many adverse effects in the job market, and suggests supplementing the project and expanding benefits.
After becoming acquainted with the draft of the Social Insurance System Amendment Act and some other laws, BCC experts expressed their opinion and drew attention to the need for supplementing the proposed legislation.
If changes to the social insurance system are to provide real assistance to micro-entrepreneurs, the exemption should be more extensive.
It was emphasized that so-called “premium holidays” will have a very narrow application. Exemption from paying contributions does not apply to, for example, the health insurance contribution, which, with its method of calculation, is the most severe for many micro-entrepreneurs.
The BCC pointed out that if the proposed exemption is to genuinely assist micro-entrepreneurs, it should cover at least social insurance contributions and the health insurance contribution. Moreover, it should be considered whether the exemption should not also cover amounts paid for employees employed by micro-entrepreneurs.
Experts also drew attention to Article 17a, paragraph 3, according to which a micro-entrepreneur performing non-agricultural business activities for a former employer in the previous or current calendar year will not be able to benefit from the exemption from paying contributions. This record is intended to oppose the negative phenomenon of “pushing into self-employment”. In this case, the BCC opposes assuming by the legislator a priori unlawful actions of entrepreneurs.
The BCC argues that it’s the role of regulatory bodies to discover behaviors inconsistent with the law, and lawmakers should not assume such behavior as a kind of “standard”.
BCC experts emphasize that the Project lacks regulations regarding a situation in which a request for exemption from contributions will not be recognized before their payment deadline, or an appeal procedure will be initiated.
BCC suggests introducing regulations that, in the event the Pensions body fails to recognize the application on time or an appeal procedure is in progress, the entrepreneur is not liable for non-payment of contributions and may withhold their payment until the end of the procedure. The project must be supplemented with the indicated aspects. This is particularly important in the context of sickness insurance.
