If you run a business, you pay contributions to the Social Insurance Institution (ZUS):
- social security ( old-age, disability, sickness, accident )
- health insurance
- Labour Fund (FP)
If you hire employees, you also pay contributions to the Guaranteed Employee Benefits Fund (FGŚP) and possibly to the Bridge Pension Fund (FEP).
What documents do I submit to settle my accounts with the Social Insurance Institution (ZUS)?
I settle the contributions only for myself
You pay your contributions to the Social Insurance Institution (ZUS) as a payer (for yourself, your co-workers and employees) in the monthly settlement declaration ZUS DRA. ZUS DRA settlement declaration is a document in which you show the settlement of contributions and paid benefits.
Important! When you do not hire employees or you are self-employed, you do not submit other documents (personal reports). You only have to submit a ZUS DRA declaration!
Important! You are obliged to submit a declaration both when you pay contributions in a standard amount (full ZUS) and when you take advantage of the benefits (relief for starting a busines, small ZUS).
I settle contributions for myself and my employees.
If you hire employees, you can also attach to the ZUS DRA declaration the reports of ZUS RCA, ZUS RZA, ZUS RSA for each of the insured persons.
- ZUS RCA - personal monthly report on contributions due and benefits paid - to settle social and health insurance contributions and/or benefits paid for your employees (i.e. the insured persons)
- ZUS RZA - personal monthly report on health insurance contributions due - to settle health insurance contributions for your employees who have a different entitlement to social insurance
- ZUS RSA - personal monthly report on paid benefits and interruptions in the payment of contributions - to show paid benefits and interruptions in the payment of contributions for your employees
By what date do I send my declarations to ZUS?
You submit your declarations and contributions on a monthly basis:
- by the 10th day of the following month - if you pay contributions solely for yourself
- by the 15th day of the following month - if you pay contributions for yourself and for the person you cooperate with or for the employees you hire or if you are a partner in a civil law partnership, a registered partnership, a limited partnership, a professional partnership, a single-member limited liability company
If this period ends on a holiday (statutory holiday), Saturday or Sunday, the last day of the period is considered to be the next business day.
When do I send my first declaration to ZUS after setting up my company?
You submit your first declaration in the month following the registration (by the 10th or 15th day of the following month). You will also have to pay contributions at the same time.
- If you start your business on the first day of a month and register with the Social Insurance Institution (ZUS), you submit a settlement declaration ZUS DRA for this month with the full amount of contributions.
- If you start or resume activity during the month, you submit for this month settlement declaration ZUS DRA with the proportionally reduced amount of contributions for social insurance and Labour Fund and full amount of health contributions. (health contribution is indivisible and you have to pay it for the whole month). For the next month you submit ZUS DRA with full contributions.
Do I have to send ZUS declarations every month?
You do not always have to submit ZUS declarations every month. You do not have to do it if:
- you pay ZUS contributions exclusively for yourself (you do not hire any employees), you pay ZUS contributions from the minimum base (both on a small and full ZUS) and the data presented in the last submitted settlement declaration have not changed
- the provisions concerning e.g. the minimum wage have changed, which resulted in a change of the basis for calculating the contributions (i.e. the change occurred not of your own will)
Here it also matters whether you have set up a company and applied for insurance since the beginning of the month or during the process. If you submit only the first declaration on the first day of the month and do not have to do it later (unless you have decided to pay contributions from a higher base).
However, if you start your business during a month - then you must submit ZUS DRA for an incomplete settlement period and a second for a full month (the same rule applies in the case of resuming your business during a month).
You only have to submit declarations and reports monthly if:
- you hire staff
- you pay contributions above the minimum level (for small and full ZUS)
- you have changed your contributions (you want to pay more or you have used sickness for example)
- you change from small to full ZUS (then you can return to the option of not submitting a monthly declaration)
- suspend/resume activity
How do I send my declaration to ZUS?
You can submit your insurance documents to the Social Insurance Institution (ZUS) in paper form or electronically. It depends on how many people you settle the contributions for.
If you pay contributions for 5 or fewer people, you can submit your insurance documents on paper. Paper documents are submitted directly to the Social Insurance Institution or sent by post.
If you pay contributions for more than 5 people, you are obliged to provide us with your insurance documents electronically. In exceptional cases - with the consent of the director of the ZUS branch (competent for the registered office of the contribution payer) - they may be sent in paper form or on IT data carriers (e.g. CD) from the current version of the Płatnik program or other interface software.
If you are sending documents electronically, you have two options. You can use it:
In the case of the "Płatnik", you must use an electronic signature (qualified certificate) to sign the documents.
Płatnik programme
It is used for preparation of insurance documents and exchange of information with the Social Insurance Institution (ZUS). You can use it regardless of how many people you employ.
Thanks to the programme:
- you can create insurance documents
- import data from HR and payroll system
- you will verify the set of documents before sending them
- you will have online access to the data stored in your payer's account and to the data of the persons you employ
- you will send your insurance documents
- automatically create monthly and annual information for insured persons
ePłatnik application
If you employ up to 100 people, you can use the ePłatnik application, which is the Internet equivalent of the Płatnik program. It is related to the payer's profile on the ZUS Electronic Services Platform (ZUS).
Thanks to ePayment through the PUE portal you can, among other things
- create and edit insurance documents with the help of wizards and by yourself
- view, print and send to ZUS insurance documents
- import files from external HR and payroll systems
- pay social security contributions, health insurance, Labour Fund, Guaranteed Employee Benefits Fund and Bridge Pension Fund (the so-called insurance payments), it is sufficient to indicate the documents on the basis of which the payment is to be made, and the application will automatically fill in the payment form and redirect you to the bank's website
- prepare monthly and annual information for the insured person
- freely configure the way the application works
- choose how your documents are to be sent (on paper or electronically) and signed
Important! You can sign documents not only with an electronic signature (secure qualified signature), but also with a free Trusted Profile.
Have you completed the declaration? The next step will be:
Additional obligations when settling accounts with the Social Insurance Institution (ZUS) of employees
Information from personal reports
As a contribution payer you should provide the insured employee with the information contained in the personal reports that you submit for the employee to the Social Insurance Institution (ZUS). You may submit information on special forms or in any other lawful form. Important! You do not have to provide monthly information to your employees. You only give it to the insured person on request.
You provide the employee with an annual report on your accrued contributions by 28 February of the following year.
Additional information on accident insurance ZUS IWA
Are you a contribution payer and pay accident insurance contributions? By 31 January, submit to the Social Insurance Institution ZUS IWA (information on data for determining accident insurance contribution) form for the previous calendar year, if you meet the following conditions:
- you have been reported to the Social Insurance Institution (ZUS) as a payer of accident insurance contributions continuously from 1 January to 31 December of the calendar year for which the information ZUS IWA is submitted, and for at least one day in January of the following calendar year
- you have reported to the accident insurance during the whole calendar year for which the information ZUS IWA is submitted, at least 10 insured persons
- you were entered in the REGON register as at 31 December of the calendar year for which the ZUS IWA information is submitted
Important! You do not need to submit ZUS IWA information if at least in one month of the previous year not a single person for whom you pay contributions was subject to this insurance.
Notification of an employee who has performed work under special conditions
If you employ employees who have performed work in special conditions or of a special nature, you should report on the ZUS ZSWA form "Reporting/adjusting data on work in special conditions or of a special nature". Provide it in the same form as you transfer other insurance documents to ZUS. You must submit your notification of data on work in special conditions or of a special nature by March 31st of the calendar year in question for the previous year.
I made a mistake in the ZUS declaration, what should I do ( adjusting the declaration )?
If you make a mistake, you should submit corrective billing documents to the Social Insurance Institution:
- within 7 days from finding irregularities on your own or from receiving a notification from the Social Insurance Institution (ZUS)
- no later than within 7 days of the decision becoming final and binding - if the necessity of data correction results from the fact that we have identified the irregularities by way of a decision
- not later than within 30 days from the receipt of the inspection report - if the necessity of data correction results from the fact that the Social Insurance Institution finds out irregularities during the inspection
The set of corrective settlement documents consists of
- monthly personal adjustment reports - concerning only those insured persons for whom the corrections should have been submitted
- the adjustment statement, which contains the statement of account for all insured persons for whom the contributions and benefits were due for the month in question
The personalised correction report shall be identified by the same number (in field 01 'Report identifier') as the correction return to which it is attached.
If you want to correct the settlement declaration ZUS DRA for a given month you should submit a new, correctly completed settlement declaration ZUS DRA in the form of an adjustment to the Social Insurance Institution. If you also submit monthly personal reports and the correction concerns only data included in the ZUS DRA declaration, then in such a case you do not have to submit monthly personal reports again, it will be sufficient to correct the ZUS DRA form.
If you are correcting a personal report, submit it only for the employees affected by the correction. The declaration, on the other hand, must include the settlement of all employees for a given month.