Food / What's your favorite Polish coffee? [73]

At home then Jacobs and Tchibo between them have almost half the market. Rest is Nescafé and some ownbrands from Lidl, Biedronka etc.

Outside the home then I can't think of any other item that has had such price inflation since this thread was opened in 2011. McDonalds is the market leader and coffee is 6-9 zloty when it used to be about 3. In a gas station you will be lucky to find coffee under 5 zloty when it was 2 until a few years ago. In Starbucks or Costa is can be 10-15 zloty a cup and if you add a poor quality cake you can quickly spend 25 zloty - for that cash you could buy a couple of t shirts for your kids or an awful lot of groceries.

But Poland is still one of the least coffee drinking countries in Europe - tea is still quite popular.

Real Estate / Economical room by the month in Lublin? [24]

You mean Lublin or Lubin ? lubin is quite small and a one company town. It's also I think the richest town in Poland per person (certainly used to be) on account of the high wages at the copper mine

Law / Polish Company Sp. z o.o. (Deposit sum and local check from the authorities) [7]

You can withdraw your capital but you will have to pay at least 19 percent tax whatever way you do that - if you pay a salary, if you pay a directors fee or if you pay dividends (which you can not do for one year at least anyway).

Law / Polish inheritance law in Canada [37]

It depends if the Darowizna was in notarial form and then what was the wording of the darowizna and the will. Only your lawyer will be able to give you a good answer. However if your uncle was of sound mind when he made the second will and his girlfriend was actually his wife then you are going to struggle. A good notary would have looked at the darowizna before she stamped the second will.

As for what is reasonable steps to contact a relative; well it's still alive issue in Polish law whether that duty exists for the court. However, if I had written to you at your last known address, then that might be enough. Certainly as a Polish taxpayer I think that is sufficient ! There is certainly nothing yet in Polish law obliging them to trawl through your Facebook or LinkedIn to find you. I think if that were to be discussed in court then a sensible riposte by the other side would be that it is up to the related parties to stay in touch with each other, and not really the business of the state. Ask your lawyer but if you had up to date records at the Polish embassy maybe they should have been consulted.

Law / Polish inheritance law in Canada [37]

If you mean a document entitling someone else to live there and enjoy the benefits then yes there are several forms of that which you can execute before a notary and include some tailor made conditions e.g. About who is responsible for upkeep, paying taxes, cleaning the snow etc. People often do this at the same they make a donation of the property to a relative (called a darowiza).

What happens in the event of death of the owner depends on the will and wording of any other notarial documents - you need to discuss with a lawyer.

News / Germany After the EU and the Russian Scenario - future of the European Union and Poland [310]

Why ? Her only credible opponent is also strongly pro EU. The right wing parties are down to single digit and sinking fast

Food / Poles prefer pizza & kebab? [73]

Yes I have lived in a chippy nation for many years.

If you go to London now you would struggle to find a chippy in the centre of town. The same would apply to many gentrified city centers in the U.K. I know this because a month ago I felt like fish and chips and on googling found not many options.

You would quickly find a kebab place in any Polish town and in 80 percent of shopping malls.

Google also tells me that there are 21.000 kebab shops in Poland and only 11.000 chip shops in the U.K. Per head then the devotion of Poles to this awful food is much stronger than the British love of chips !

Food / Poles prefer pizza & kebab? [73]

Ha ha yes love that - but really dig fish tacos :)). A good burrito needs meat or fish but plenty of really fresh veg and salsa

Food / Poles prefer pizza & kebab? [73]

A good burrito is much better than a kebab :) it is one of the things I really miss about living in the US. There are a few burrito places of various quality open in Poland now though.

Food / Poles prefer pizza & kebab? [73]

Oh I like meat alright and I had a lot of Polish food at family occasions when I was a kid. Golonka, kotlety, karkowka, kaszanka are all wonderful.

My issue is with the obvious poor quality of those kebabs with their greasiness masked by salt and sugar - I know it is cheap but if you want to fill yourself up as cheaply as possible then a pack of vifon is better.

I think the number of kebab shops in Poland is far higher than the number of chip shops in Britain. A bit of googling shows 10.500 chip shops. In the town where I have my summer house there are at least 6 kebab shops in a population of 25.000. I read online that 1 in 3 licensed food outlets in Poland serves kebabs - sometimes as the main event and sometimes as part of a wider offer of pizza, burgers etc

Food / Poles prefer pizza & kebab? [73]

Beats me - I like a good kebab but in Poland you need to be very drunk to enjoy those. Some are way more than 1000 calories according to something I saw in the paper. On the occasions when I have no other option to eat quickly I will normally get the felafel.

Law / Polish inheritance law in Canada [37]

Well I think I am right but Eva can check that with her lawyer :)

It is not the common law thing that creates the girlfriends right. It is the fact that there is a will naming her. In such cases then the reserved portion only applies to children, grandkids, spouse and parents. It does not apply to nephews and nieces. That definitely used to be the case. However I am no longer au courant about this part of the law.

Eva - sorry about that - just feel its not good to wash your linen in public. Anyway there have been a number of recent cases about whether the court has a duty to find relatives named in wills. One was in the Supreme Court in January but I don't know if s verdict was reached. Again you can check it with your lawyer.

Law / Polish inheritance law in Canada [37]

You need to speak to your lawyer because there is a good chance that your uncles partner has a valid claim.

My not expert view is that if there was no will then the estate is divided between relatives according to 4 levels of relationship. However in cases where there is a will then the only people who can claim a statutory portion are wife, children and parents. We had a similar case in my extended family and that is how it ended up (though I don't think the matter is finally settled yet).

The common law thing won't make much difference, but the fact that she was mentioned in a new will and your uncle was probably not crazy when he signed it might put her in a good position. In addition she has created some facts on the ground that will be difficult to overturn - she is presumably in the building with media connected and paying local taxes etc.

Your lawyer will be able to give you a much clearer view than any of us !

BTW I think you are out of line posting all the details and names of a family financial matter on a public forum - your uncle and his girlfriend are probably consenting adults who did nothing wrong. Would you feel good if your own name was made public on a Canadian forum like that ?

News / Poland's post-election political scene [4080]

@johnny reb

Well we know he likes golf because even though he promised to work weekends it turns out that he has spent more time N the gold course than any other president in history so far. I can understand that though - sometimes it's easy to put off work you know you are not cut out for.

In this case it turns out that he called May personally and said he did not want to come if there would be large scale protests. There is no way the British govt would ban him from coming - the official invitation was from the Queen and she would never perform such a political act. The orange infant probably thought it would be a few days of cute photos, like Obama with Prince George in his bathrobe. Once he realised the streets would be full of unwashed anarchists and that even the decent people of Britain would protest then he pulled out.

News / Poland's post-election political scene [4080]

Hillary has been here many times - as First Lady and as Secretary of Stare. Obama has been twice I think and famously worked out in the hotel gym with the regular guests. No chance of the sagging orange idiot doing that - of course he is welcome here as the head of state of Polands most important ally but he will be kept well away from the public and he will be happy with that because he despises protest - I see he is now too much of a coward to visit Britain.

Life / Are Polish Women very promiscuous towards foreigners and refugees? [197]

I think stupidity and naivety rather than political correctness. Levels of education about AIDS were quite low in Poland after the end of communism. I know that's not the version you want to hear but it's more likely.

News / Polish LGBT activists perform tribute to George Michael [38]

Not my cup of tea but after he died there were many tales of his anonymous generosity to those less fortunate and unrecognised. That should be food for though for would some of the people who spout here about Chirstian values

Work / South African wants to move to Poland, please provide some input? [59]

You are going to struggle to get a work permit unless you have something already lined up with a company here. Without Polish then your options will be really limited unless you have some special skill.

There are a few big SA investors here (but the biggest two Naspers and SAB have both just sold up) but you could try some of the others on the off chance, but again they will probably only want Polish speakers. Others I can think of here are Old Mutual, Pepkor, a whole load of real estate companies and I think the cable business in Warsaw is also SA owned.

News / Poland's post-election political scene [4080]

You can google PZU and PiS and read that while I am asleep and you can take a look at the sharp downturn on share price starting with Duda being elected.

To be fair they are doing ok this year - mainly due to changes in some insurance rules

News / Poland's post-election political scene [4080]

No, I said it was cleaner than all of its neighbors.

The price in 1999 was low because Unicredit did not have full control - Allianz had a large stake and the govt had a golden share. There were some other serious bidders including Citigroup who offered lower prices. I worked briefly on one of the failed bids.

There are many reasons it has gone up in value - for a start and a huge reason all of the zloty deposits there are worth more in hard currency than they were in the 90s. Secondly I think the Italians and Polish managers did a great job to position it with Polish consumers and small businesses.

The Polish govt has also benefitted very much from Pekao dividends and from the taxes on them.

Anyway, now Kaczynski can appoint some PiS official from the Parks and Gardens dept of Pacanow and they can do a better job than the Italians :)

News / Poland's post-election political scene [4080]

And there are new employers there now. Actually making things people want to buy and paying wages and benefits at a level far higher than those rust piles they replaced.

How many of those Commie factories have you really visited in the 90s ? I saw many, in Poland and in other countries - they idea they could be viable is in most cases nonsense. Where they were viable then I would rate the Polish process for selling them in auctions off as cleaner than Czech, Slovakia, obviously anywhere in the USSR or Yugoslavia and about the same level of cleanliness as in Hungary.

News / Poland's post-election political scene [4080]

@Polonius3

I think its reasonable to expect people to be qualified to do the job that they are getting paid for. So I am not going to respect people who should not be in the room in the first place.

News / Poland's post-election political scene [4080]

Add to that accountability to the people - that the person who has her face plastered on election posters, with the word Premier, is the person who is in charge. That power is exercised via state functions, and that being President or Prime Minister is a higher function than being party leader.

Real Estate / What is the process involved in selling a house in Poland from abroad? [17]

Its not just the issue about a buyer not getting a mortgage. I think when the plot numbers are not clear then the notary will hesitate to register it until the issue is resolved, I have encountered such a situation myself. It is not a minor missing piece of data, it is a potential deal breaker.

So possibly the only person who would buy it "as is" is someone who has enough cash but does not care about title. Typically rich people get rich by caring about the details.

You should speak to a lawyer which will cost you about 1000 zloty, or you could just stick it on gumtree and see what the result is, but I strongly think you should sort out he plot number.

News / Poland's post-election political scene [4080]

Absolutely true - it's a sideshow and the artists were not helpful but that got out of hand due to Kurski's mismanagement and lack of human touch. It's the same all the time with PiS - when they appoint "lawyers" in crumpled suits, farmers and small town Soltys to run major corporations then chaos quickly ensues.

UK, Ireland / Why Polish girls working in UK as escort more than other Eastern European girls [89]

Really ? I thought it was a myth that most Brexit voters were uneducated bigots.

Let me guess - unlucky in love with a Polish girl ?

News / Poland's post-election political scene [4080]

@gumishu
I'm looking for the report you mentioned as genuinely interested where those numbers are from - it's not on any EU publications website and on the SGH site I get a 404. I think those number are nonsense even though they are in the kosher gazette. But would love me to read the report. Morawieckis estimate of CIT evasion is 10-15 m zloty per annum - I could believe 10

News / Poland's post-election political scene [4080]

@gumishu
The numbers concerning Poland are far less than 10bn yearly - that would be more than twice the annual take from corporate income tax.

There were about 20 companies on the list, and the biggest transgressors were Polish businesses - CCC and Sowolow. Most of the rest were real estate developers who, like internet companies, seem to make tax evasion part of their business model.

Absolutely definitively the tax evasion by EU investors is dwarfed by the receipts from EU membership. The Brits thought they would be better off outside the EU but they are having to borrow huge amounts to make up for a tax shortfall and the govt is running a mile from their promise of spending the resulting savings on healthcare.

News / Poland's post-election political scene [4080]

@Polonius3
I agree that it's immoral to evade tax. My question is whether that is hapenning in the case of the foreign investors you are haranguing ? It would make little sense to export profits - France, Germany, Italy and Holland all have higher tax rates and the U.K. Is the same as Poland. The main users of tax ruses are Polish owned businesses.

Any evidence that foreign investors bribe tax inspectors ? I think they are far less likely to do so than a local business owner. Most of their managers are here to earn a few bob, get some experience and have fun - committing serious crimes is more than their job is worth.

It's also wrong that small tax payers have more inspections - the US obviously spends more time and resource looking at big amounts and many large foreign investors have 5-10 controls per year. In sensitive sectors like banking, brewing, retail there is more or less a permanent onsite presence.

It's a tiresome myth that EU membership is not benefiting the Polish economy.

News / Poland's post-election political scene [4080]

No, but if they are Sp z o o or SA, they have to file their accounts with the KRS, so the data on their effective tax rates is publicly available. Are there any cases of tax evasion by a multinational on the scale that you suggest ? I follow tax news quite closely and tag only real example I can think of is Zywiec.