Work / What is deducted from a salary in Poland apart from Income tax? [155]

Hi, I live in Southampton now and I have friends from many countries - they always ask similar questions about earnings in Poland. I was working in Poland for years and I still have registered business there - still know a lot about taxes, law etc.

So I made simple calculator for this purpose: calculla.com/salary_in_poland - I hope the explanation there is enough to understand the subject :)

Work / IT job offer from Wroclaw - advice on flats needed and other questions about Poland [17]

Hi there,
13.000 zloty gross is quite good for Wroclaw, but it's nothing out of the usual market. It's possible to get up to 15k/month for senior-level engineer in some specialties (node.js - quite popular).

13.000 gross will give you around 8800 net (according to calculla.com/salary_in_poland). It's because this is big enough to get into high band of income tax.

My advice is to ask your employer if you can work on B2B basis. In Poland this is usually not a problem, however some corporations don't do that for strange reasons. If this will work for you, you'll pay only ~500 of national insurance (ZUS) monthly and then 19% linear tax of your profits (so, you can also reclaim money for expenses, like mobile bills, travels, car etc.) - giving you at least 10.000 take-home money. On contract you can even negotiate higher...

As for flat - just take a look on some rent website and you'll see - in Wroclaw you'll get nice flat for 1500 - 3000/month depending on details (try gumtree, direct link to Wroclaw: gumtree.pl/s-mieszkania-i-domy-do-wynajecia/wroclaw/v1c9008l3200114p1). Typical flat is 40-80 sq meters, so if you need something bigger, you'll find less choice, but you'll find something anyway.

About UK and Holland - definitely there is bigger money to take, but also higher expenses (rent, bills, food etc.). And if you're not EU citizen, remember UK is NOT a part of Schengen Area (en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Schengen_Area), which means there is standard border check when you're going there even from Poland or any other EU country. Don't worry about Holland - it is a part of Schengen...

And don't worry about atheism - everything is all right there (20% atheists ?). It's a normal country - as long as you're not muslim with strange things on top of your head and you're not going to pray on the middle of a street, assume no one cares.

Work / Gross Salary & ZUS in Poland (2,500 Euro per month). Getting paid ZUS back? [9]

In all the EU the rule is simple: you HAVE TO pay national insurance contributions (and income tax) in the country you're working in. There are some exceptions, but it's not likely you can avoid ZUS. And there is no way and no reason to get it back.

Work / Got a raise in Poland. Is my tax gonna change? [10]

You'll probably see no big difference in tax itself. For example if you were paying around 30% of tax of your salary, you can expect it will stay on similar level, or it will change slightly when crossing some levels (like 85k/year).

Simpy try this one to see what you'll get: Calculla: Salary in Poland - in English !
calculla.com/salary_in_poland
There is also some basics of taxes/ZUS explained (in English of course).

Law / Bank commissions in Poland - are there some standard fees, and where can I find them [10]

It differs a lot depending on loan type, amount of money, your connection to a bank (do you have an account there ? is your salary going to that bank ?), risk factors (collateral ? mortgage ? loan for a car ? all different), the way you earn in Poland (salary ? self-employed?)

Just to give you a hint - go to any bank website and look for "Kredyty". Just by example go to BZWBK (disclaimer: I'm not in any way connected with that bank, I just have the account there) and click "Kredyty" - you'll see 3 different things typically in bank's offer:

- kredyt gotowkowy - just cash for anything
- limit kredytowy w koncie - a loan "inside" of your bank account. In UK similar thing is called "Overdraft" - and this has nothing to do with credit card,

- kredyt mieszkaniowy - typical mortgage

Now, if it's not enough, click a small button below saying "wszystkie produkty" (all products) - you'll see how many different loans they have in offer.

This is typical for any bank in Poland I believe.

So, you said "personal loan" - with 4% it may be a not bad, what's the rate after that (what you mean "good rate" :) ) ?

Also, before actually taking the loan, look for two things they HAVE to provide (by law):
- RRSO - it's a very important number, a summary rate for all fees and rates of a loan. This is your biggest important factor to compare loans. RRSO is "Roczna Rzeczywista Stopa Oprocentowania" which roughly means "Real Annual Rate". When they'll charge you any fees, rates etc. and it will become more than the RRSO declared - you will be covered

- the re-payment schedule - the list of your payments month-by-month. Get that on print - and compare with some online loan calculator calculla.com/loan or something similar