Entrepreneurs operating a single-person business may be deprived of all funds in their bank account from day to day. The legal gap does not defend their alleged deduction-free amount, which frequently leads to the liquidation of companies and individual dramas.
No deduction free amount for single-person activities
Pursuant to Polish labour law, persons employed under the employment contract are protected in the field of bailout execution. Only a certain percent of income can be deducted from the remuneration for work – and even in the case of maintenance, there must be a part of the funds that allows the individual to hold the existential minimum.
However, this is not the protection of the operator one-person business. Their company account funds – frequently the only individual account – may be taken in full, without even leaving a buck. This gap concerns respective 100 1000 active activities in Poland and has not yet been removed by the legislator.
– all day entrepreneurs may lose everything: money for fees, salaries and taxes, as well as for food or maintenance of relatives if they usage only 1 bank account. The bailiff takes the account and doesn't leave a buck on it. They are frequently dramas of full families – alerts mec. Adam Kaczor from KPR Kancelaria Restructuralzacji Kaczor Madejewska.
How does individual protection work – and why does it not include self-employed?
Labour Code, in Articles 87 and 871, it shall lay down in item the rules on deductions from remuneration for work. It introduces amount free of deductionsto safe the employee's existential minimum. Currently, the minimum gross remuneration is PLN 4666, so the bailiff cannot take up the full employee's wage – but for maintenance benefits that can cover up to 60% of the salary.
For another deductions lower limits shall apply:
- 50% of remuneration – in the case of claims another than maintenance,
- 75% this amount for deductions of cash advances,
- 90% – for fines.
In full-time, this means that the worker must stay at the disposal of the worker at least PLN 3,499.50 grossUnless we're dealing with alimony execution.
However, as stressed by the NRP, all these provisions apply only to persons employed on the basis of employment relations. Self-employed, even though they frequently work in a akin way to those employed, are not subject to akin protection.
The consequences of the gap: the elimination of activities and household drama
According to CEIDG data, only in 2024 188,8 000 people have applied for the closure of one-person business. Although the causes may be different, experts point out that repo activities of all funds in the bank account This is 1 of the crucial reasons for leaving the company.
– specified a situation leads to a situation where the entrepreneur is incapable to continue, even though he could possibly repay his obligations if he had the means to proceed operating. This is frequently a vicious ellipse – the deficiency of payment from the counterparty leads to a deficiency of liquidity, and this to the debt and bailiff – explains Mr Duck.
In practice, this means that:
- the entrepreneur cannot pay his own contractors and employees,
- is incapable to regulate taxes and contributions,
- his business is terminated and his household loses its livelihood.
In many cases the debtor is forced to declare Consumer bankruptcy.
The problem of payment congestion deepens debt scale
One of the main sources of business debt is payment congestion – a situation where the company does not receive dues from its contractors, even though it has performed the service itself or delivered the goods. The deficiency of these funds leads to the inability to regulate its own liabilities and to emergence financial problems.
It's in situations like this that you're going to gotta execute the repo. completely deprive the entrepreneur of access to funds, are peculiarly severe and destructive.
Request for change of regulations
According to Adam Kaczor, the legal loophole should be removed as shortly as possible. It calls for the introduction of rules akin to those applicable to workers in order to securing an existential minimum for entrepreneurs:
– In the opinion of our law firm we should change the legal regulations in a way that would guarantee that individuals conducting single-person economical activities defend at least part of the funds in the bank account – the lawyer points out.
In the current legal state, if an entrepreneur uses 1 account for both business and private purposes (which is common practice), may at 1 minute be deprived of the means of life. The introduction of a minimum amount free of seizure in the case of JDG could reduce the negative effects of specified situations and, in the long term, reduce the number of bankruptcies and enforcement proceedings.
Continued here:
The bailiffs come and knock on the door. They want to take everything
