Law / How to register a new business in Poland [129]

sobieski, does your accountant have time for one more? I'm in Warsaw, need to open a business and could use a friendly accountant myself.

BTW, what is a decent monthly fee for accounting services for a small, one-person business with less than ten clients? I heard 150zl/month somewhere...

Law / How to register a new business in Poland [129]

Thanks for the advice, delphiandomine.

I did find an accountant in Warsaw - a former student of a teacher friend of mine. He agreed to help me for 200 zł/mo. including VAT. I think this is a fair price as his English is at least upper-int and he's doing most of the legwork to start the company himself.

I needed to start this company in order to work at the British Council. As of this Fall, the BC require all teachers to have their own companies.

Law / How to register a new business in Poland [129]


Future problems?? Hmm....

So two years from now, the tax man looks at my companies' reported average monthly income of 1000 zł, scratches his head, and wonders: 'How on earth is he supporting himself and his company on that? It must be tax evasion!'

Is this what you're driving at? :-)

Law / How to register a new business in Poland [129]

I did not know this. I've had conversations with my accountant and my school B director (the school I have had a contract with) and neither of them mentioned this fact. They said it didn't matter whether I was under a contract with school B or invoicing school B thru my company. They also said the tax I would pay would be about the same either way.

I will look into this...

Law / How to register a new business in Poland [129]

So I just ran into a major hurdle with setting up my company. I submitted my EDG-1 'notice of starting economic activity' on Aug 10th. Finally, they contacted my accountant yesterday about the status of my application - it's a negative.

I'm a U.S. citizen, have been working and living in Poland legally for over a year now and I have a karta pobytu valid until December of this year (which I would extend, naturally).

But apparently because the residency decision was based on my having a contract with a language school, I am not allowed to start a business. I can live and work legally, but cannot start a business unless I have 'long term' permission to reside in Poland (i.e. for study or family reasons, etc.).

I'm going to go to the Urząd Wojewódzki in Warsaw first thing tomorrow to try and get this sorted out, or find out how to get 'long term' permission.

Has anyone ran into a similar obstacle? I'd really appreciate some advice. Most of my clients/students this semester require invoices!

Law / How to register a new business in Poland [129]

Thanks for the ideas Harry. I do know someone with their own company. He agreed to let me 'use' his company to issue invoices. That will work for the time being.

The problem isn't the kind of activity of the company, it's setting up the company itself.

The people at information on Długa 5 told me today that I CANNOT set up a company under my current visa. This is because the visa was done through a language school and starting a company is PROHIBITED under this kind of visa. If I want to start a company, they said, I will have to RETURN to the USA and apply for a business visa at the Polish consulate in the USA.

The only way an American can set up a small business in Poland (sole proprietorship) is under a visa which was issued as a result of 1) marriage to a Polish citizen 2) having Polish relatives 3) having permission for a 'long stay' in Poland.

That's it, as I understand it. So Americans without Polish wives are sh*t outta luck if they want to start a biz from within Poland. And that's really lame.

Someone please correct me if I'm wrong!

Travel / Rock/Metal Bars in the Tri City / Gdansk area and Warsaw? [8]

Merged: What's a good hard rock / heavy metal themed bar in Warsaw?

I was in Jazz/Rock Club in Krakow last Sat night and loved it. Great music (tool, Rage Against the Machine, Nirvana) and a cool, relaxed atmosphere. I haven't found any good bars like this in Warsaw. Rock Cafe is stuffy, overpriced and full of foreigners.

Any Ideas?