Law / Ech... I have a problem concerning paying tax and ZUS [13]


As far as I can tell from the relevant legislation, the discount isn't restricted. All the literature I have on the subject makes no mention of a restriction - and I know quite a few Americans have taken advantage of the reduction, so it certainly shouldn't be a problem for you.

Poland tends to shape their laws to include anyone who has legal residence in Poland, as opposed to applying things for EU nationals.

Language / Numbers in the Polish Language [39]

Well, it's worth 10000, it must be worth lots!

Take it to your local bank :)

Law / Tax Guidelines in English for Small Business Owners in Poland? [11]


So how do you propose to 'run away' from a Polish tax system that has no scruples about freezing people's bank accounts and will happily do so over minor discrepancies? Poland has been very quick to enter people's details onto SIS4All - someone with frozen bank accounts who is wanted in Poland over tax issues will find themselves blacklisted from Schengen as a result. It's also quite possible for Poland to issue a European Arrest Warrant over this - and these are enforcable throughout the entire EU.

I'm sure it's possible to defraud the Polish tax man - but I'm equally sure that it's diabolically stupid to attempt to do so when they'll have plenty of information about you on file that can be used to issue a European Arrest Warrant and a nice 'hit' in SIS4All.

Law / Ech... I have a problem concerning paying tax and ZUS [13]


The accountant is wrong - for a start, it would be unlawful to only offer the discount for Polish citizens as all EU citizens have to be treated equally.

As for source - pit.pl/zus_dla_nowo_zakladanych_firm_760.php

I'd suggest getting a new accountant sharpish - if they aren't familiar with the very well known ZUS discount, then their other abilities are questionable.

Law / Tax Guidelines in English for Small Business Owners in Poland? [11]

Clearly Senach (Hi, RevokeNice!) here is somewhat completely unaware of how the Polish taxman works. The guiding principle with Polish taxes is that you are guilty until you can prove yourself innocent. For that reason, you'd be a lunatic not to consider an accountant in Poland.

Law / Tax Guidelines in English for Small Business Owners in Poland? [11]


It's worth doing - what I suggest is to get a friendly Polish friend to find a good local accountant who has never thought of advertising to foreigners - they'll likely be much more reliable and honest. You can often find decent busineses like this in random places - and they'll do exactly the same job as the expensive one in the centre of cities :)

I've heard nothing but horror stories about many English-speaking accountants, which seems to be a good reason to avoid.

Law / Tax Guidelines in English for Small Business Owners in Poland? [11]

Take my advice and get an accountant. The rules aren't clear at all - there are so many regulations and the tax code is changing rapidly - combine this with a very unforgiving Urząd Skarbowy and you have a minefield. You can actually assign everything to an accountant - so that if there's any issues with your taxes, they chase the accountant to solve it rather than you. This could be invaluable if they query something - you'll have to deal with dragons that think English is something that doesn't exist in Poland. I've heard stories of people hauled in over a matter of a few grosz - if you consider that you don't speak Polish, can you imagine the nightmare?

I haven't came across any such documentation - I'm 90% convinced that it doesn't actually exist. There are some materials online about it, but nothing comprehensive that can be relied on.

In all honesty - a good accountant should cost no more than 180zl-ish a month. I'm paying 122zl a month in Poznan - and while she doesn't speak English, she doesn't really need to. Her advice to me is simply to give her everything at the end of the month and she'll deal with it from there :)

Life / Need to get registered for Nip number. [14]


You won't get the PESEL without the 5 year EU residency card though - you need the 5 year permit to obtain the 5 year registration of address, and without the 5 year registration, you won't get a PESEL as it's only for people who are legally in Poland for more than 3 months.

Getting the residency permit is well advised - it makes life much easier as knowledge of it spreads. Any sort of credit relies on the 5 year permit, for instance.

Life / Buying Cigarettes in Poland, Gdansk. [21]


Wouldn't work really - Poland doesn't really have that much in the way of British tourists. German tourists however...

Life / Buying Cigarettes in Poland, Gdansk. [21]

Not anymore. Poland is a full fiscal member of the EU nowadays and thus the guideline (not a limit, that would be illegal :/) for Poland-UK trips is 3200.

But bear in mind that the EU only mandates an allowance of 800 - so taking 3200 across the German border might not be seen as allowed.

News / Clamping down on Internet gambling in Poland? [11]


It's feasible - the Great Firewall of China proves this. But it's at a ridiculously high cost - and even then, the Great Firewall does have plenty of holes. It's certainly nothing that Poland could implement easily - as China has had to regulate almost every aspect of internet use in order to partially succeed.

The best bet is looking at how the USA has implemented their ban on online gambling - with the answer being that they've failed miserably.

Poland could block access by simply demanding that ISP's in Poland refuse access to websites with 'gambling', 'poker' and so on - but this is very technically easy to bypass.


Can't argue with you there at all. The fact that the Duzy Lotek has now become 'Lotto' with a higher priced ticket and higher prizes says that the Government are incredibly hypocritical on the matter.

News / Slavic linguistic union inside of EU; Polish language official [95]

Of course, the fact that many Czechs would rather cut their own throats than speak Polish means nothing, does it?

And Croats and Serbs speaking the same language? Sure.... this is from two countries where they're so stubborn that they'll pretend not to understand the 'other' language.

News / Clamping down on Internet gambling in Poland? [11]


If America couldn't stop online gambling, what hope does Poland have? Absolutely none.

One armed bandits hurt no-one as well - if anything, they're an idiot tax. Certainly, they keep "kurwa boys" quiet in train/bus stations, and there's absolutely nothing wrong with them. There might be a cause to limit the top prizes to 100 zloty or so, but they are fundamentally harmless. In fact - the real problems are caused by them being unregulated, combined with having large prizes. If the chips were sealed and subject to check at any time by Customs - with dire punishments for unsealed machines, then things would be fine.

I can't help but think that Tusk has seized upon this as something that will appeal to educated-but-uneducated Catholic voters who might be swayed by PiS language and yet has no potential of hurting his core base of support.

The ban on online gambling is ridiculous - people like me who have no problems dropping 50zl on online poker and having fun with micro tournaments are just going to be alienated, while there's unlikely to be much social issues with those that are high rollers.

Work / I'm 19, born in Poland, raised in the U.S. Moving to Poland..or not? [25]

More to the point, if you're in Poland with no degree and not working towards one - you're not going to find it easy.

A two year degree won't be enough in Poland, that much is certain.

Life / SHOCK HORROR...good customer service in Poland [10]


I'm starting to wonder about this - I called the tax office today, asking them if they could possibly tell me about what PKD codes I had registered, fully expecting a "we don't tell you you over the phone" snotty answer. But no, they were more than willing to help and actually wanted to know if they could be of any further assistance.

Crazy times!

News / Man Why Do People Like PO Instead Of PIS [120]


The question might be more - will they find employment? I know some educated people who are openly saying that they wouldn't give employment to someone who worked in a totally unrelated trade in the UK just for the money - as there's plenty of graduates in Poland who might not have experience, but have the desire and hunger that those that emigrated don't have.

It's funny how the standard PiS line is that 'anyone that's against us must be a communist' - have they still not realised that people are not so stupid as to fall for that line anymore?

Having said this, the stupidity of Tusk's 'war on gambling' is shocking - at a time when they're screaming for revenue in the budget, I'm struggling to see who is going to vote for a party that bans gambling!

Life / Polish bureaucracy - it went to a new level, they ask to pay for search [21]


And worse than in Poland - compare and contrast (like a Higher English paper...!) the difference between contacting government agencies in the respective countries.

Here, if you don't get your dole payment, you go and shout at them in the Urząd Pracy. In the UK, you have to spend half an hour on the phone (at your expense, of course) and try and sort things out.

Or what about registering as self employed? Queue up in Poland at the office, give them the documents, go to the tax office, voila. In the UK? Expect hassle, missing documents and a hell of a lot of stress, especially if they screw up. Don't expect them to actually receive any documents as well - unlike in Poland, where a stamp proves that they were given a copy.

I won't even mention the 18 month waiting time for an EU resident permit in the UK as opposed to the 6-weeks-wait-at-most in Poland.

Polish bureaucracy is mind boggling at times, but it's certainly no worse than in the UK.

As far as my experience goes - you give the Polish what they want and the system is painless. But if you don't know what to give them because you didn't read the instructions (like many!) - then expect trouble.

Travel / In the footsteps of the 51st Highland Division (but by motorcycle) [13]


Do you hold a valid EU residence permit?

If not, forget it.

Life / What Do Poles think of Finns? [50]


I think offically, it's considered Nordic but not Scandinavian, just like Iceland.

Although I did see that some people were proposing that an independent Scotland should join the Nordic Council along with Estonia - as both countries clearly have shared heritage.

UK, Ireland / Who can keep right to speak its own language in UK [22]


I saw a particuarly striking example of this in Edinburgh a few years back - information was available in loads of languages, even Polish (and this was pre-EU) - but not in Gaelic!

Thankfully, the Scottish Parliament as a whole seems to be pushing Gaelic much more heavily these days. Caledonian MacBrayne even have an equality policy in that everything published by them is bilingual, which is good :)

(wonder if you can access information in Great Britain in Ulster-Scots?)

Travel / New Year's Eve in Warsaw. How to spend it? [26]


I'm positive this is related to the (to me) mental habit of having to go to some sort of formal occasion on New Year's Eve - hence why I've decided never to spend another in Poland. For some reason, people wearing formal clothes is suddenly an exchange to charge a small fortune for something that's absolutely rubbish.

Travel / Going to Szczecin - other airports in Poland [18]


It's not an issue, apart from with state-owned transportation companies, which often have absolutely arcane rules surrounding this sort of thing.

Private companies often don't care less - I traveled round Bieszczady this summer with a Euro-26 card and managed to get student tickets without a problem from bus drivers, even though it wasn't technically allowed.

UK, Ireland / What is good about being in the UK? [140]


I don't blame you at all actually - it would be like saying "sorry, we don't deliver to Polska" or "sorry, we don't deliver to Sverige"...absolutely pointless - the name of the country is Ireland!

I've also never understood the BBC's insistence on using "Irish Republic", even nowadays.

UK, Ireland / What is good about being in the UK? [140]


I miss pub lunches that turn into 'christ, i've been here since lunchtime, might as well get some dinner in and just one more beer....i swear' occasions. Archie Simpsons was somewhat terrible for that happening to you :(

Poland badly needs the concept of 'cheap pub that sells food and where you have lunch and end up going home ruined at 7pm' :D

History / Did Ukraine really "steal" Polish land? [302]


Civil unrest is unlikely to happen in Western Ukraine - it's got decent agriculture and people won't go hungry there. They've also got the benefit of bordering several richer countries and really won't struggle - all they would have to do is scrap Customs checks and introduce simplified passport controls and money would pour in.

Eastern Ukraine might - but if the state did split, then you'd probably see a 'strong' leader take over the Eastern part and persue very pro-Russia policies, so no civil unrest there.

As I keep saying - Ukranians would rather starve to death than accept any sort of annexation by Poland.

Anyway, Poland is struggling to pay for the poor East as it is - how could they afford to incorporate even poorer territory?

Law / I'm British, do I need to apply for a permit to work in Poland? [7]

Nope. You'll have to get a NIP (same as UK NI number) - but this is painless.


Officially, yes. No consequences if you don't - however, it does make life considerably easier if you intend to stay here.

UK, Ireland / Driving to Warsaw from UK [13]

Yep. Although the A2 doesn't make it to either Swiecko or Warsaw, so ;)

Work / Questions about Volunteering in Poland [12]



That's absolutely ridiculous, and I strongly, strongly suggest that you shouldn't pay such money. 2600USD is about 7500PLN - and for that kind of money, there's no reason why you shouldn't be able to come here for longer (you'll have 90 days visa free). The flights to Europe can be had for as little as 500USD return at the moment, especially from New York (I've seen 300USD!). That would leave you with around 6000PLN, which is more than enough to live here for 6-8 weeks comfortably, including living as a tourist.


It should be more than enough - in fact, I'd be willing to bet that you wouldn't need any Polish whatsoever.


What I'd suggest is just coming over and looking once you're on the ground. There's enough good people around that can help when you're actually in Warsaw - and even turning up on the doorstep and asking if you can volunteer should get you positive results. There's plenty of 'angielski dla dzieci' schools about - and I'm positive that 99% of them would love to have a native person helping them out for a few weeks.

Unfortunately, Polish people are notorious for not replying to e-mails. I think it's exceptionally rude of them, but it's the way it is. Face to face often yields much better results :)

Especially in Warsaw, you should have no problem at all :)

Life / ITV/C4 can't get these channels in Konstancin [12]

A 2m dish should see you allright, but it's probably much easier just to buy a TV that you can connect to the computer like I've got - live streams of BBC/ITV/etc are quite easy to find :)

Life / ITV/C4 can't get these channels in Konstancin [12]

Kostancin...is your "mate" Chris Bradbury by any chance?

You won't even get those channels in Poznan on a 1m dish!

Astra 2D footprint - BBC/ITV/C4 are all on it.