The president signed an amendment to the act on special solutions related to the prevention, prevention and combating of COVID-19, other infectious diseases and the crisis situations caused by them, which regulates the settlement of funds received by entrepreneurs wz. with a pandemic, the President’s Office reported.
In order to comprehensively supplement the rules of accounting for measures supporting entrepreneurs and other entities employing employees in connection with the crisis caused by the COVID19 epidemic and to increase the safety of services provided by tourism entrepreneurs, in the Act of March 2, 2020 on special solutions related to the prevention, counteraction and combating of COVID -19, other infectious diseases and emergencies caused by them, including:
– the deadline for settling the support granted has been specified – 60 days from the date of submitting the correct and complete settlement and documentation confirming the data contained in the settlement,
– it was possible to carry out an inspection by the voivodeship labor office during the period of receiving the subsidy and in the period of 3 years after the end of this period, not only at the seat or place of business by the entity benefiting from the support, but also at the seat of the voivodeship labor office,
– it was possible to demand the return of all the aid granted by voivodeship labor offices, when the entity that received the aid did not meet the criteria for granting the aid, which exclude the possibility of receiving it, i.e. social insurance at the end of the third quarter of 2019 or on failure to meet the conditions for declaration of bankruptcy,
– the directors of voivodeship labor offices have been enabled to call for the settlement of the funds received within an additional 30-day period, under pain of the obligation to return all received aid,
– obligated to return the entire subsidy received for the employee’s remuneration together with interest, in the event of failure to terminate the employment contract for reasons not related to the employee during the period of receiving benefits for subsidizing the remuneration,
– it was indicated that the decision on the return of funds for the payment of social security contributions for employees will be issued by the director of the voivodeship labor office, and the appellate instance will be the local government appeals board, and the receivables to be reimbursed will be collected under the provisions on enforcement proceedings in administration,
– obligation to return the entire support received in the case of entrepreneurs using the support granted under the so-called industry shield,
– the deadline for the payment of co-financing for employee salaries, support for co-financing the costs of running a business by self-employed persons and loans was extended until March 31, 2022,
– as part of the operation of the Tourist Aid Fund (TFP): the scope of data and documents required for submitting applications for payment of funds paid to the tourist organizer for the tourist event has been limited; the Insurance Guarantee Fund has been enabled to verify the payment application by requesting additional documents before making the payment to the traveler; obligated the entrepreneur to return the payments from the Tourist Return Fund (TFZ), also after deleting such entrepreneur from the relevant register referred to in the Act on package travel and related tourist services; it is possible to account for the contributions of tour operators for future payments in the event that contracts are terminated or changed in a way that affects the amount of contributions due to TFP; a fine for tour operators has been introduced for persistent failure to pay installments to TFZ or TFP, as well as for undercutting the amount of the contribution due to TFP,
– allowed the Social Insurance Institution not to charge interest on the unduly collected parking benefit for the period from the day after the decision was issued to the repayment date specified in the decision, as well as to deliver decisions and other letters regarding the unduly collected parking benefit in electronic form on the information profile created in the ICT system made available by ZUS.
Relevant changes were also introduced in the Act of 20 April 2004 on employment promotion and labor market institutions, the Act of 8 March 2013 on counteracting excessive delays in commercial transactions and the Act of 24 November 2017 on tourist events and related travel services.
As a rule, the Act will enter into force on the day following its promulgation.
