The government has adopted a draft law aiming to introduce changes to the rules for calculating health insurance contributions for self-employed individuals. The new regulations are scheduled to come into force in 2025.

 

 

Sole traders who settle their tax using the general tax scale or the flat rate tax will not have to include income from the sale of fixed assets in the calculation of health insurance contributions. However, for those using the lump-sum income tax, the draft law provides that income from the sale of fixed assets will be excluded from the income limits that affect the amount of this contribution.

 

 

The draft amendment proposes to exclude income from the sale of assets used in business activities, including fixed assets, from the base for calculating health insurance contributions. Furthermore, the proceeds from the disposal of these assets will also not be taken into account when determining the amount of income on which the amount of health insurance contributions for taxpayers taxed under the lump-sum system depends.

 

In particular, the revenues from the sale of the following assets will be excluded:

• Tangible fixed assets and intangible assets with a value exceeding PLN 10,000,

• Assets of an initial value exceeding PLN 1,500 (up to PLN 10,000) and those that, due to an expected useful life of one year or less, have not been classified as fixed assets or intangible assets,

• Assets constituting a cooperative right to commercial premises or a share in such a right, not entered in the register of fixed assets or intangible assets, used in business activities,

• Assets being movable property, used for the purposes of business activities under an operating lease agreement.

 

 

While revenues from the sale of fixed assets will no longer affect the amount of the health insurance contribution, sole traders will also lose the ability to reduce it. Excluding the sale of fixed assets from the health insurance contribution base will limit the possibility of including their unamortized portion in costs. Nevertheless, sole traders will be able to include depreciation allowances when calculating the health insurance contribution, which may constitute a certain form of relief.

 

 

The planned changes in health insurance contribution calculations will not be beneficial in every case. For example, if a sole trader on the general tax scale purchased a fixed asset for PLN 200,000 and fully depreciated it, and then sold it for PLN 160,000, they will not have to pay health insurance contributions on the income from this sale after the changes are introduced. Currently, they must pay PLN 14,400 in contributions. On the other hand, if they purchased a fixed asset for PLN 200,000 but only depreciated it by 10%, and then sold it for PLN 160,000, they will not be able to reduce the income that forms the basis for calculating the health insurance contribution by the resulting loss of PLN 20,000 after the changes. They will lose PLN 1,800 on the changes. The changes are scheduled to come into effect in 2025.

 

Patrycja Mieczkowska, Tax Consultant, ATA Tax Sp. z o.o.

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patrycja.mieczkowska@atatax.pl