Life / Is it possible to earn honestly some greater fortune in the present day Poland? [40]

Yes it is - but expect PiS to take a huge lump of your cash and shovel it into the hands of their voters, plus some into their own koryta

Off-Topic / Stock Market and Trading Talk [1011]

Eh ? I just outlined that Poland is the worst performing stock market in the world, having overtaken Pakistam and Turkey. And I just explained the Polish laws and taxes that caused that, which have no parallel in the US

News / Poland to officially demand $1.32 trillion WW2 reparations from Germany [457]

Despite being an engineer you don't know that in Poland (and Germany) a period separates thousands ?

Still in your lifestyle hundreds are about as high as you need - wait till inflation hits those sprats

Off-Topic / Stock Market and Trading Talk [1011]

This is a thread about the stock market and whatever thx rest of the economy is like, the terrible performance of the stock market is definitely down to PiS

Early on they decided that anyone who had money to invest in the stock market was not one of the voters anyway and they didn't have to care about them.

So it's not just this year, it's been going badlysince 2015

The things that they have done recently to help take the market even further are

- a mortgage holiday that put a huge dent in bank profits (Banks are about a quarter of the index)

- threatened more taxes and more fines on retailers (retailers are one of the only kind of companies you can invest on the Polishstock exchange, which are not subject to any government interference or don't have PIS flunkies on the board).

- are now talking about a 40 percent tax on anybody who has, by some miracle, made any profits on the stock market. That to go into the pockets of some PiS voters in East Poland

So yes, thank you PiS

Off-Topic / Stock Market and Trading Talk [1011]

So Poland's stock market is now the worst in the world in 2022 - August was terrible, down 11 percent

News / R. Trzaskowski, current mayor of Warsaw, future President of Poland [354]

That was a different thing. Not the drinking party

Why would I get upset about the sex life of a grown man ? And how are PiS going to persuade people to get angry about that ? Will whiter than white priests declaim him from the pulpit on the Sunday of the election ?

News / R. Trzaskowski, current mayor of Warsaw, future President of Poland [354]

She didn't apologize.

And for those Finns that did have an issue I think it was about whether she would be ready to handle a crisis if she was drunk. But in any case what hapoens in Finland is irrelevant - I am talking about Polish voters who wouldn't care what he did so long as it was legal, and if it was not legal would wonder why it hadn't been prosecuted until 5 days before an election.

I have seen Trzaskowski a number of times at functions and he is always very well controlled and professional,

PiS politicians tend to spend weekends as far from Warsaw as possible and get taxpayer funded jets and limos to get there. That's an issue for me, but for not for you as you don't pay any tax here.

News / Poland to officially demand $1.32 trillion WW2 reparations from Germany [457]

Well surely Russia (as legal successor to the USSR) should also pay us reparations

Come on Nazi murderers - get your hands on your pockets and give us some of your worthless rubles

News / Options for Poland and Europe if Russian border reaches delta where Danube river meets the Black Sea? [7]

I have tried bringing stuff into Europe through Constanta and though it was difficult it was steadily getting better. Corruption and delays were being addressed but the onward road transport was really slow and expensive.

The Danube is never going to take off as a trade waterway as long as it passes through two Russian client states - Serbia and Hungary. We are sick of tinpot countries holding trade to ransom

News / R. Trzaskowski, current mayor of Warsaw, future President of Poland [354]

If PiS started to fight an election based on someone's private life it would backfire.

The 15 percent of Poles who might care are already PiS voters and the stupid tactic would drive turnout higher in the other 85 percent.

Love / There's a Polish guy I like, will he be worth it? [28]

Tell him you like him - no sense waiting around. poles are rather direct about that

Unless he is an English teacher or a Russian troll there isn't much chance of him being on here :)

Law / ZUS taking tax and insurance from my UK pension [4]

You might be able to open a bank account in Channel Islands or Isle of Man with HSBC or Lloyds etc

You will still be liable for the Polish tax - it is just that it win't be deducted automatically, so you could either
' forget" to declare it, or more moral, tell them about it in April every year, when you will at least benefit from the inflation

Travel / Poland in photo riddles - part 2 [1680]

In English the collective noun is a charm of Goldfinches

News / North Koreans working in Poland and in Denmark [36]

There are all kinds of workers in Poland now doing manual work, often in illegal conditions - Indians, Bangladeshis, Central Asians, Chinese and even Mexicans. A lot in warehouses, construction and agriculture

Work / Divorced - am I legally bound to inform employer [7]

You definitely have to tell the tax office - so make sure that doesn't fall through the cracks, and if you were joint filing then make sure your ex also informs them.

I can't find anything explicitly stating you should tell your employers

News / Will Poland be badly hit by Recession ? I don't think so. [70]

But the winner, with a 6 percent fall in GDP and more to come is er....Russia

We don't need or want the oil or gas from murderers and rapist thieves. We will be dine and recover quicker than Hungary - bigger internal market, more liquid currency and tasty Norwegian gas

Life / Is it worth returning to Poland in old age? [168]

For - more natural food and access to fresh air
Against - less organized things for old people, no art groups or evening classes though those things are starting out now

Off-Topic / Stock Market and Trading Talk [1011]

Their model will not make profits in Europe - in the big markets, France, Germany and Italy they will be forced to allow unions and proper minimum wages. Plus free delivery will never be profitable and their cloud rental business will breach EU monopoly laws eventually.

Off-Topic / Stock Market and Trading Talk [1011]

Yes US stocks are picking up a bit - just like in 2008 the US govt is being far more proactive than the EU in responding to the crisis. Still confident in this one however

Work / How can employer ask me to work on a larger scope than agreed in employment contract [6]

If you want a pay rise then it's best to just ask for one rather than start a legal dispute. Also if you want less responsibility then ask them.

Legally you are protected if they ask you do something outside the scope. In real life it's not going to happen - courts or lawyers won't be interested in such trivia and will expect you to sort it out "w cztery oczy" with your boss.

It sounds like they are losing staff so prepare yourself for a meeting with your boss and be clear about what you are asking for and what you will do if they so no.

Law / Polish tax situation when working for a British company. [2]

You will have to pay Polish tax if you are here for mor than 180 days. There are Polish tax calculators online but you will have 8000 to 9000 net.

A few tax consulting firms have spring up in Poland concentrating in this mobile work thing and might be worth a few quid for you to investigate and get a proper answer

Chances of the Polish tax authorities catching up with you are very low - they have a huge backlog of work and have been on strike plus now dealing with a huge and disastrous overhaul of the tax system which means they never pick up the phone to call you.

Food / Where can I find good coffee and Cuban cigars in Stalowa Wola area? [10]

Yes there is a small community of cigar smokers - the FB group I am in has about 1000 members

There are maybe 10-15 lounges in Poland. 3 in Warsaw and others in Katowice, Poznan, Gdansk etc. There is also a national tobacconists called Smoke thar have shops in most bug towns and though the staff don't know much about cigars, the guy who owns it has out together a reasonable selection

Love / I am a black girl in a relationship with a Polish man but I have many questions. [21]

1. Four years is at the upper end of the range. If he refuses to even discuss it that is an issue
2. Yes, virtually all Polish couples cohabit before marriage. And if he hasn't lived with you he might be right to be cautious about marrying yoh

3. No idea - he is probably just somebody who thinks posting is not important and superficial

Off-Topic / Funniest stuff said on PF! Please post the funniest convos, remakes, responses, name calling or whatever. [93]

Rich pretending to drive a Lexus

Dirk and his Ivy League education

The Serbs thinking their future is with their Russian brothers while all the time their old cellmates in Croatia and Slovenia get richer and happier

Real Estate / Forced to pay for an accommodation without a contract? [3]

No - there is nothing legally he can do about it

Life / Comfortable Salary in Poland to get by and save? [10]

Some benchmarking here - in Polish but sure you can stick it in google translate

kodilla.com/pl/blog/ile-zarabia-programista

Life / Comfortable Salary in Poland to get by and save? [10]

The only people earning more than 22k in a typical corporation would be very senior in the organization.

For someone who I guess is in their early 30s without management responsibility then it's a lot - certainly way more than I pay for IT staff (though that is outside Warsaw)

Language / Is there an equivalent for the name 'Wayne' in Polish? [11]

Wozniak and lots of variants on that

Real Estate / 60% increase in rent (Warsaw, open-ended contract) - do I have to agree? [9]

The landlord js bound by the original contract which the landlord also freely signed.

The contract is subject to Polish law, which provides some protections for tenants.

The rule of law and democracy helping a fair society - smells beautiful !

Maybe one day that will be possible in Russia

UK, Ireland / Boris Johnson - is the new British PM a popular figure in Poland? [150]

Yes I understand that but I'm talking about it's modern usage - the Guardian even started writing a column called "wide awoke" celebrating this trivial trend.

Understandably, people react negatively to the suggestion that they are "asleep" or ignorant. And not just misanthropes or "billionaire newspaper owners". (Which BTW is a nonsense in itself - Bezos owns the most liberal paper in the US). I can deal with footballers kneeling down no problem but I do start to resent it when I see "woke" issues starting to impinge on my business or daily life.

You have taken thar view (maybe like Starmer) that it's not a real thing and if you ignore the daft questions about whether men can have ovaries then the whole thing will go away.

But I think real leaders on the left would rather have engaged with the issue, made it clear that they were not aligned to it - it's difficult to imagine Clinton or Blair or even Kwasniewski prevaricating over those questions