How to restart a business in CEIDG after a period of suspension

How to restart a business entered in CEIDG

Restarting business activity means starting to run a business again after a period of suspension.

Please note! During the period of suspension, you do not need to pay any advance tax, lump-sum tax or the tax card payments. You do not submit any VAT declarations or declarations to ZUS, either. However, you may not earn any revenues from your business. The period of suspension is counted when calculating the period during which you may use the Relief for New Businesses (in Polish: Ulga na start) and the 24-month period of reduced contributions.

Check how to suspend one-person business activity.

Upon restarting a business, all obligations towards the authorities start to apply again, especially towards the Social Insurance Institution (ZUS) and the tax authorities.

You can restart your business at any moment of your choice, provided this is no earlier than 30 days after the date of its suspension. This means that if you decide to suspend your business, you can do it for a period no shorter than 30 days.

You may not restart your business within 30 days from submitting the application to suspend your business, as at that point your business is not suspended yet. If you want to submit an application to restart a business before 30 days from the suspension date have passed, in your application you need to state a date for restarting your business that falls at least 30 days after the date of suspension.

If you have changed your mind about suspending your business before 30 days have passed, apply to CEIDG to update your entry, indicating that you resign from suspension.

You can choose and state the date of restarting your business already when applying to suspend your business. In this case, your business will be restored in CEIDG automatically on the date indicated in the application. If in the meantime you change your mind and wish to restart your business on a different date than the one initially indicated, you need to submit a separate application stating a new date of restarting your business.

If you do not state the date of restarting your business in your application to suspend business activity, then such suspension will be valid indefinitely – your business will remain suspended until you apply to restart it.

Check how to apply to restart a business entered in CEIDG

The date when your business is to be restored in CEIDG, regardless of whether such date has been indicated in the application to suspend a business or to restart a business, is forwarded by CEIDG to the Social Insurance Institution (ZUS) and the tax office.

Please note! Those authorities will register your business using the details they had before the suspension period. If during this period your details have changed, for instance your 24-month period of reduced ZUS contributions has ended, you need to notify the relevant authorities. If your period of reduced ZUS contributions has ended, you need to notify ZUS on your own, within 7 days from the date of restarting your business.

How to resume business activity of a civil law partnership

A civil law partnership is suspended and restarted in the Statistics Poland (GUS) and the tax office of its registration. The application to CEIDG has to be submitted only once the formalities with GUS and the tax office are completed and after the actual date of resumption of business activity.

The period of suspension indicated by the partners when applying to suspend the business activity in CEIDG is of non-binding nature. This means that a business operator who has suspended such business activity for a year may resume it in the form of a civil law partnership, for instance, after three months. Such business activity remains suspended until the date when the application to resume it is submitted.

If you want to resume business activity of a civil law partnership, you need to notify:

• Statistics Poland (GUS), using the RG-OP form, within 7 calendar days from the date of resuming business activity of a civil law partnership. Submit the application together with the information on the partners in the civil law partnership, using the RG-SC form.
• the head of the relevant tax office, using the NIP-2 form
• CEIDG – as a partner in a civil law partnership, you need to update your entry in CEIDG by marking the fields related to a civil law partnership or the relevant fields in the CEIDG S.C. part of the attachment

Just as in the case of business suspension, resumption of business activity of a civil law partnership must be notified by all partners.

Resuming regulated business activity

If you pursue a regulated business activity that requires a licence or a permit, the notification on restarting your business submitted to CEIDG may not be automatically forwarded to the relevant office responsible for supervising this type of activity. If this office requires a separate notification on suspension of business activity, it must be also notified of its resumption, or it may be necessary to register your business again. This is the case for businesses offering personal or property protection services – they need to notify resumption of business activity to the Ministry of the Interior and Administration.

Please note! Upon resuming your business activity, check whether your licence or permit has not expired.

Accounting after restarting a business

If you decide to restart your business, you should keep your accounting records according to the same rules as before the suspension. You do not need to separately notify the tax office about restarting your business.

As a general rule, a business is restarted on the date indicated in the application submitted to CEIDG. Revenues and costs should be recorded starting on the date of restarting a business.

If you keep a book of revenues and expenditures or a revenue registry for lump-sum tax, you need to start a new book only if you restart your business on 1st January or during the next year (following the year in which the business was suspended). You do not need to start a new book if the business is restarted in the same year in which it was suspended.

If you keep full accounting records, after restarting your business you need to open the books if your business is restarted at the beginning of the accounting year and if the books for the year in which the business was suspended were closed.

For more details see the text on accounting records upon suspending, restarting and liquidating a business.

Taxes after restarting a business

After restarting a business, taxes should be settled in the same manner as they were before the suspension period.

If you have chosen to calculate your tax based on the tax rate (17% and 32%) or the flat-rate tax of 19%, after restarting your business you need to pay advance income tax, for each month by the 20th day of the following month. If you have restarted your business during the year, when calculating the first income tax advance payment you need to include any revenues earned during the suspension period, or any tax deductible expenses incurred during this period. You can also settle those in your annual tax return.

If you pay tax on registered revenues without deductible costs, any revenues earned during the suspension period should be calculated and paid to the account of the tax office after resuming business activity. Tax on registered revenues without deductible costs for the suspension period in the given year should be paid as follows:

• if you have paid such tax monthly – by the 20th day of the next month
• if you have paid such tax quarterly – by the 20th day of the month following the quarter in which you have restarted your business.

If you have restarted your business in the last month of the calendar year, then such tax on registered revenues earned during the suspension period must be paid by the end of February of the following year.

If you trade in excise goods, upon restarting your business you will be subject to official inspection by the customs authorities. You need to notify those authorities of restarting your business in advance.

For more details see the text on income taxes upon suspending, restarting and liquidating a business.

Obligations towards ZUS upon restarting a business

Registration of the contribution payer and applying for insurance for the business operator

Once you have submitted your application to restart your business to CEIDG, the Social Insurance Institution (ZUS) will be notified automatically – you do not need to submit any additional documents. Based on the notification, ZUS will register the contribution payer and grant the payer insurance coverage, according to the same rules that applied before the suspension period.

Upon receiving the notification that your business has been restored in the register, ZUS will draw up:

• application to register the contribution payer (ZUS ZFA form)
• application for insurance for a business operator, using the ZUS ZUA or ZUS ZZA form, respectively – in line with the last application filed before the suspension.

Please note! Automatic registration for insurance with ZUS is possible only if during the suspension period there have been no changes having impact on the insurance obligation or the contribution amounts. You need to register with ZUS on your own, within 7 days of the date of restarting your business and using new insurance codes, if during the suspension period:

• your period for using the Relief for New Businesses (Ulga na start) or reduced ZUS contributions has ended
• you have started to work under an employment contract
• you have been awarded the pension entitlement
• the title to obligatory insurance has changed.

Applying for insurance for employees, collaborating persons and family members

If after restarting your business you intend to employ staff, you need to sign employment contracts with them and apply for insurance for them to ZUS.

Also, you need to also apply for insurance for any collaborating persons or family members whose insurance coverage with ZUS ended as a result of business suspension. You can submit the relevant documents to ZUS in paper or in electronic form. This depends on the number of persons for whom you are to pay contributions.

If you are to pay contributions for:

• no more than 5 persons – you may submit the documents in paper form
• more than 5 persons – you need to submit the documents in electronic form.

Documents in paper form should be submitted directly to the ZUS branch or sent by post.

If you need to submit your documents in electronic form, this may be done with the software that ZUS offers for free:

• Płatnik computer programme which you can use regardless of the number of your employees
• ePłatnik application (for those employing up to 100 persons), combined with your payer profile on the ZUS Electronic Services Platform (PUE)

You can also use other computer software which meets the conditions specified by ZUS.

The following forms need to be submitted to ZUS:

• ZUS ZUA (application for insurance) or ZUS ZZA (application for health insurance only), for persons subject to the insurance obligation, for instance any collaborating persons and contractors
• ZUS ZCNA – application for health insurance for family members

Please note! You need to file the forms for yourself only if during the suspension period there have been changes having impact on the insurance obligation.

For more details see:

• How to apply for insurance to ZUS (PL) for an insured person
• How to apply for insurance to ZUS (PL) for a family member

KRUS upon restarting a business

Upon restarting your business, you need to notify the Agricultural Social Insurance Fund (KRUS) within 14 days, by submitting a statement on choosing the agricultural social insurance.

See how to submit a declaration of the farmer (household member) on not having exceeded the limit amount of income tax on revenue from business activity (PL)

You must also attach a certificate from the tax office on the amount of the tax for the previous year. If such certificate was already received by KRUS by 31 May (during the period of suspension), you do not have to submit it to KRUS once again in this calendar year.

Please note! Each instance of restarting a business is treated as a new business and you need to meet all obligations towards KRUS again.

In order to remain registered with KRUS after restarting a business, you need to meet several conditions at once:

• be subject to full insurance with KRUS for at least 3 years continuously and at the same time conduct agricultural business activity or work permanently in an agricultural holding with the agricultural land of over 1 comparative fiscal hectare
• submit a declaration on continuation of such insurance within 14 days from the start date of non-agricultural business activity or collaboration in such activity. A declaration on continuation of agricultural social insurance may be also submitted by including it in the application for an entry in CEIDG. Submitting this declaration in this form to this authority is treated as meeting the deadline for submitting the declaration to KRUS.
• you may not be an employee or be in a service relationship (for instance by working for uniformed services)
• you may not have a determined entitlement to old age or disability pension, or an entitlement to social insurance benefits
• the amount of income tax due for the previous tax year on the revenues earned from your business activity does not exceed the specified limit amount. This amount is adjusted every year and announced by the Minister of Agriculture.

If you do not meet the formalities or the conditions for insurance with KRUS, you need to register for social insurance with ZUS.

Check how to apply to restart a business entered in CEIDG