Law / Tax deduction in Poland - joint settlement with spouse [3]

yes you should check that - will also save admin time and costs if you make one return and there will be that small saving.

The govt did promise to increase the tax free allowance up to PLN 8.000 which would have given you a much bigger saving. But they announced today they are not going to do that. Maybe some time in the future :)

Real Estate / Cost of a flat refurbishment per sqm in Poland [18]

that is a very high price - for the most basic furniture then start at about 800 per sqm. However you could get a full kitchen including simple appliances for about PLN 15.000 if you used Ikea stuff.

Travel / In Poland, Can I cash an American Check? [14]

Just reviving this one ! I have got a check for 80 dollars from the state treasurer - an old amount of money owed to me by my alma mater :) I will not be back in the US until Spring - is there a way to quickly deposit that in a Polish bank or should I just leave it at the bottom of my suitcase ?

Work / Tax Return English, I worked in Poland for two years (2011 & 2012) [3]

No that is not possible - just as I doubt the Irish tax office would produce a Polish language one on request. You can get the Polish version and an official translation which would cost about 40 euro.

The easiest thing to do might be to tell the Irish tax office that there will not be an English language version available and let them decide what to do. Unless you have been seriously naughty I doubt they will care much and I doubt its the first time they heard that.

Law / Polish citizenship for de-facto relationships [14]

John there is no way a Polish bank would accept your house in Oz as collareral so you would need instead to refinance it in Oz. Note that for large amounts you also have to go through some buraucracy to bring the cash into Poland - but its not as bad as it used to be.

you do know that you can have a civil wedding with no priests involved ? That would make your life very much easier vis-a-vis the questions you are asking.

Real Estate / Question about Czynsz (Building maintenance fees/utilies) in Poland [129]

I would suggest not paying anything more, start to look for another flat and make sure Czynsz is known and then just move out.

It's not true that landlords do not declare their rent income. I have done so for 10 years - not because I am especially honest but more because I don't want hassle over small but undeniable tax bills that might in future affect bigger less clear cut tax questions in the rest of my affairs - better to be straight. I imagine a lot of people think the same.

Life / How popular is Radio Maryja in Poland? [163]

Why is it that the hateful nutjobs never register and only post as guests ?

News / Poland -- Europe's only counterweight to Russia [271]

land of thunder I think that our soccer team is also controlled by the zionazis

Robert. Lewandowski = Ruben Levinson
Kuba Blaszczykowski = Jacob Blashwitz
Lukasz Piszczek = Leopold Fishcake

Law / How will the Zloty be against the British Pound over the next 6-12 Months [45]

well yes but the shares have rocketed in pounds :) in USD is there a huge difference ?

did laugh at an article in financial times saying the Pound was now HM's official opposition since Labor are in such a bad condition.

Law / High Interest Savings Account in Poland [5]

Well if you want to buy land in Poland then better to put your cash and save in zloty but if you are not quite sure about this why not put 50% in zloty and leave the rest until you have firm plans ?

In either currency you will get poor interest - in Poland for a 6 month you will be lucky to get 1,20% after tax. Also note that some of the banks offering higher rates are a little shaky - Poland has had its first bank bankruptcy for 20 years last year and I would not be surprized to see a couple of the weaker players also looking a bit dodgy.

Currency is an issue for both Pound and Zloty - I can't be bothered to check but I am sure that both would be in the top 5 for weakness over the last 12 months alongside Russia. No coincidence that both British and Polish govts are in the grip of ignorant economic illiterates.

Life / Questions on unlocking a sim in Warsaw [10]

Sorry Jon - got straight on a plane and forgot to thank you - the guy was very good - had a new screen in 30 mins without missing my plane and cost 200 zlots.

UK, Ireland / P60 UK Upload - Brexit and Polish people's contribution to the British economy [48]

TicTacToe, you claim to be an educated person but your grammar is poor, your spelling full of mistakes (plurals do not require an apostrophe) and your arguments are not far advanced from the playground. You speak German ? Big whoop. Most of us here speak several languages.

Irrespective of that, in 30 years time you can tell your kids that you sided with the dumb, the gullible, the senile and the racist loonies. Yes, you got your Brexit, good luck with it - it will be a train wreck. Theresa May complains that we are condescending to Brexit voters - but what does she expect ?

Work / Advice about salary level Unix admin in Poland [9]

This shared service center thing is mad - companies get a bunch of EU and Polish grants to establish them and then use that cash to import Indian programmers (many of whom struggle to use google for these queries) and overpay them thus forcing up Polish wages and making the services inefficienct for the customer.

or am I missing some important point ?

Life / Questions on unlocking a sim in Warsaw [10]

Merged: Unlocked phone in Warsaw, phone service

Just smashed my phone screen and need it badly for the next 3-4 days. Do you know where in Warsaw I can find somewhere that will extract the SIM without damaging it more and I can buy a cheap simple phone - I'm in the middle of town near Dw. Centralny.

thx for any help !

UK, Ireland / Transfer Money from UK to Poland [36]

with all of these guys please note that they have no insurance and are not covered by the same regulators as the banks. So you get lower fees but one reason for that is that they are less safe. There have been a few online forex players who have gone bust over the years.

Classifieds / Polish nurses and medical staff wanted for work in the UK [45]

Just a thought gents but maybe it would have been good to establish facts, or chalk it up as something a bit inappropriate but basically harmless BEFORE you formed the lynch mob.

PF is a very unfriendly place at the moment.

Work / Advertising for Hotel manager in Krakow [8]

I recently lost an employee who went to work on reception at a hotel and I was paying her 3000 zloty so probably you could get something like 3500 in Krakow if you speak English.

Certainly more than 10 zloty an hour - nobody works for that in big cities any more, and in fact the minimum wage is going up to 12 in January.

Classifieds / Land for sale in Southern Poland [15]

Thats very pricy - certainly at the top end for that region and unless you have the media already connected I would have thought around the 50 zloty mark would be right. why are you going in with such a high price ?

Love / Impressing a Polish girl who's not talking to me much anymore? [19]

she is not going to know by telepathy that you like her. Send her an email or even better ring her up, make it clear you like her. You have nothing to lose by doing that - and there is no specific way to handle Polish women except that they like confident, chivalrous guys.

Real Estate / Brit buying Polish land [7]

Sound advice - the new law has also made it very difficult to take a mortgage on farmland as it is far less liquid so banks dont like using it as collateral any more.

It will be very difficult to get a mortgage here without Polish zloty earnings. for the money you are talking about you might be better off spending the time working as intensively as possible in the UK and put in every hour of overtime you can - if you could get that 25k down to 10k then it might be possible for your wife to get an unsecured loan here. As it stands no bank is going to go out on a limb and bend their mortgage rules for a 120.000 zloty transaction.

Suggest you also take a look at build costs - they are increasing very quickly in Poland as construction wages are going up, so maybe revisit whatever calculations you have done.

News / Petru wants Tadeusz Mazowiecki monument in Warsaw [25]

Thanks Atch :) no I'm not Irish though I do like the Whiskey ! Polish emigre parents, born in the UK, teens and college in the US and in Poland/CEE for the last 20 - if someone asks where I'm from I normally say British. But I love all 3 countries very much and if Donald continues his surge then they will sadly all have been taken over by shallow populists by the end of the year :(

I understand the analogy and I think in the UK then splits that started under Thatcher continue today, the Clinton wars may continue for another 15-20 years too. Most people just want a government that helps them lead a happy and dignified life.

News / Petru wants Tadeusz Mazowiecki monument in Warsaw [25]

Good god, will it ever end ? am I only the only Polish taxpayer who wishes both sides would stop arguing about monuments and digging up graves and just to normal stuff - build roads, buy some new equipment for schools, some new police cars

Life / Warsaw or Wroclaw - for better cost of living? [19]

You will get some answers here but that's a very lazy question :( - what is more important as terri says - career or cash ? as an accountant you can surely find out the gross/net info on your own ? how old are you ? are you coming here on your own with family ? which company will look better on your CV ? what are the other benefits like ?

with no other info I would say you would have a more comfy life in Wroclaw - its a great town and quite a lot cheaper than Warsaw. Also gives you good access to other cities for weekend trips and mountains for fun.

News / Poland's resentful and frustrated poor losers' camp still at it [53]

Well I hope those kids enjoyed their holidays because they will be paying for this deficit well into middle age.

The gap to fill is PLN 20bn - the retail tax is PLN 2bn and in any case probably going to be disallowed by the EU (rightly or wrongly). Tax evasion controls might add another PLN 4-5bn but that is still going to leave huge unfunded amounts.

Work / Finding work as an EU citizen (Polish) in another EU country [21]

Use linkedin but in a targeted way - if you have good experience and talent as you say it should give you good leads. This is 2016 and it is by far your best tool.

As for resume - well people will have looked at your linkedin often before they bother to open it - make sure the two sets of data tie up. No problem to add a picture in Poland and age is kind of expected on your CV if we are talking about people in 20s or 30s then how could I identify career gaps without seeing age.

Life / I am moving to Warsaw. (Could anyone tell me about life there?) [49]

cheapest clothes are not in a mall but rather in a supermarket like Tesco or Auchan or in stores like Pepco or Kik. These are normally fine and better value than in a mall. But if you want an ordinary mall try Wola Park, Janki or Rembielinska - they are all a bit out of town but accessible by public transport. Mid level clothing stores are H&M, Reserved, Cropp, Orsay.

Real Estate / To live in flat in Hoża street (Warsaw Srodmiescie) or Single room in Warsaw university's dorm? [4]

Yes its safe and has a great location - I lived there myself for a few months. There are a lot of studenty pubs close by. The only dicey thing about the area is sometimes hookers are in the streets close by but that never caused me any hassle.

But dorms might be more fun

News / Talks on re-polonising Pekao bank under way [58]

and Hong Kong was wedged between China and the British Empire but still managed to give birth to two of the worlds largest banks, Holland was stuck between Germany, France and Britian but still has a strong well run banking sector. in both cases the reason is that the govt kept theor hands off and left banking to professionals.

News / Talks on re-polonising Pekao bank under way [58]

because the banks management have a duty to their shareholders and to their depositors.The money in there is not owned by the rulers of Poland but rather by the peope who trusted the bank enough to leave their cash there. i don't care if they are Jewish, catholic, Polish, German or French. i do care that they are competent and transparent in managing a bank.

they can go ahead and Polonize whatever they want but the results will be inevitable - significant cash withdrawals, ratings falls for the banks concerned, more pressure on the zloty and more free lunches for geriatric PiS functionaries who are more used to running gminas in Lubuskie than handling a complex business.