German Desk insights

Shortly after the results of the US presidential election were announced, Kamala Harris, the first female Vice-President in the history of the United States, said: “While I may be the first woman in this office, I will not be the last, because every little girl watching tonight sees that this a country of possibilities” and this message travelled the world with a lightning speed. With these words, she empowered American women and encouraged them to take up key positions.

Entrepreneurs from German-speaking regions are more frequently asking us about getting A1 certificates for their employees. Let us remind you that an A1 certificate is issued to confirm the social security legislation that applies to its holder. Therefore, this certificate is very important for all those who travel around the European Union, European Economic Area or Switzerland because of their professional commitments, e.g. expats.

In previous posts, we presented a handful of basic information that may be useful for foreign investors planning to start their business in Poland. Undoubtedly, a crucial thing here is the the choice of the legal form of such business, as we discussed e.g.: here. The next big step on the way towards developing a business in Poland is to hire employees. This, in turn, involves an entire range of additional obligations for the employer, such as occupational health and safety, personal income tax and social insurance.

Research shows, however, that Poland is among the leaders in Central and Eastern Europe in terms of the number of foreign direct investments and investment attractiveness. According to the Doing Business 2018 report, prepared by the World Bank and being one of the most comprehensive analyses of conditions of doing business, Poland ranks 27th in the world in terms of business-friendly environment.

As promised earlier, I will try to present some practical solutions prepared by the German Desk Team of RSM Poland which make it easier for foreign investors, in particular entities from German-speaking countries, to start or expand their business in Poland in the context of complex and often changing legal and tax regulations.

As business cooperation between Poland and Germany grows, there are more and more domestic entities that make and further enhance their strong presence on the market west of the Oder River, as well as more and more German companies that decide to launch or intensify their business operations in Poland. What form do foreign investors choose for their business in Poland?

The efforts to make the collection of the value-added tax more effective are an evident tendency in all of the European Union, including Germany. The tax administrations perceive goods coming from outside Europe, mainly from Asian markets, to be a serious problem at present. These vendors often do not pay taxes, which significantly distorts the competition and, what is more, it depletes the budgets of EU countries.

What makes Poland such an attractive place for investment? Are German companies, from the perspective of time, satisfied with having invested their capital in Poland?

Finding a "common language" in business relationships at the crossroads of two cultures is an extremely difficult task. Persons from different countries, cultures, environments, do not have common experience and despite the fact that sometimes there is only the Oder River or the proverbial boundary strip separating us, it happens very rarely that the world view, traditions and belief systems are intertwined.

As we are getting back to "normal" life after Christmas relaxation and New Year's Eve attractions, many of us are wondering what the new year will be like and what it will bring. At the same time we summarise the past year − what we did, what proved to be a success and what went wrong. On the occasion of this reflection, we cannot ignore that in many situations, including success in business, a major role is played by factors independent of the interested parties, such as legal conditions, the situation on the labour market, currency fluctuations as well as supply and demand in the industry. In this context, how was the year 2016 for foreign entrepreneurs who have decided to invest or continued their business in Poland?