These are scary times for small businesses and entrepreneurs. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, many entrepreneurs have had to close their businesses temporarily. If this continues for long (as it is predicted), they might soon be bankrupt. But, there is still hope! The Self-government of the Pomeranian Voivodeship and authorities of the cities of Gdańsk, Gdynia and Sopot have put together a support plan to support these businesses.
The Pomeranian authorities have, among other measures, redirected some of the earmarked EU funds towards hospitals and local companies, while the Pomerania’s cities are introducing a number of vital measures to relieve the local companies. These include everything from reduced municipal waste management fees to payment deference and tax reliefs.
We’ve summarised the support packages for you – but expect more measures to be announced
Gdańsk
The City of Gdańsk has agreed to implement a few tax reliefs in the payment of rent for municipal premises and part of the taxes for entrepreneurs.
The first part of the Gdansk Entrepreneur Support Package includes:
a) Cancellation of rent in communal premises for one month with the option of prolonging for the next two months
b) Waiving the fees for commercial transactions
c) The deference of instalment payments
d) Cancellation of property tax
e) Suspension of perpetual usufruct fees for three months
f) Exemption from municipal waste management fees. Entrepreneurs with limited or no business activities can submit a corrective declaration to avail this
In the next days, City Hall is planning to present further actions. They also intend to restore the full service for entrepreneurs in the City Hall as soon as possible.
For more live updates, click here: https://www.gdansk.pl/wiadomosci/koronawirus-gdanski-program-wsparcia-przedsiebiorcow,a,166934
Gdynia
The President of Gdynia, Wojciech Szczurek, announced that companies which, have been forced to close down their business temporarily because of the new regulations can apply to the City Hall for:
a) Exemption from rent for the period covered by the ban on conducting business activity for tenants of premises belonging to the city (after submitting the application, according to formal requirements)
b) Deferment of payment of local taxes for the period from March to June 2020
c) In exceptional cases, it will be possible to write off tax liabilities for the above mentioned period (on a case by case basis)
d) Deferment of municipal waste management fees for the time of the ban
e) Cancellation of arrears of municipal waste management fees caused by the closing of the premises (after resuming operations, entrepreneurs should submit an application to cancel the arrears)
For more live updates, click here: https://www.gdynia.pl/co-nowego,2774/jak-skorzystac-z-ulatwien-dla-firm,548536
Sopot
The Mayor of Sopot also decided to help struggling entrepreneurs by offering a possibility to postpone the payment date of the fees for the Municipality of Sopot. It applies to:
a) The annual fee of perpetual usufruct of real estate for 2020,
b) Costs for transforming the perpetual usufruct right into the ownership of the real estate,
c) Rent in communal premises. Applications must be submitted before the due date.
For more live updates, click here: https://www.sopot.pl/aktualnosc/8118/wazne-dla-sopockich-przedsiebiorcow
Wejherowo
The city of Wejherowo also decided to help local entrepreneurs and announced two postulates:
a) Tenants of gastronomic premises that belong to the city, whose activities have been banned under the Regulation shall be exempt from rent 2020
b) Entrepreneurs who conduct gastronomy activities that have been banned can apply for postponing the payment of local taxes for the period from March to June 2020
In both cases, it is required to submit an application.
For more live updates, click here: http://www.wejherowo.pl/artykuly/miasto-wspiera-przedsiebiorcow-a7143.html
You can even check out Map of local governments that offered entrepreneurs help with rent payments across Poland
You might also be interested to learn about other measures introduced by the government to help entrepreneurs cope with the economic impact of the pandemic. The new ‘anti-crisis shield’ package provides, among other things, 3 months exemption from ZUS (or the social insurance contribution) for businesses fulfilling certain criteria.
Find out more about the new ‘anti-crisis’ package:
https://www.pap.pl/en
https://samorzad.pap.pl/kategoria/prawo/publikujemy-rzadowe-projekty-ustaw-dotyczacych-tarczy-antykryzysowej
https://www.gov.pl/web/rozwoj/pakiet-dot-tarczy-antykryzysowej-przyjety-przez-rzad
These measures are just the beginning of an exhaustive support package to enable business continuity for small and medium entrepreneurs. We will update this article as things develop.
