Starting from 1 January 2021, a payer of contributions or a person commissioning performmance of a specyfic task will be obliged to inform the Social Insurance Institution (ZUS) about every contract for performance of a specific task.Registration will not be necessery only in cases where the contract for performance of a specific task is concluded with:

·        their employer or

·        a person, who within the framework of such a contract, performs work for the employer with whom they remain in an employment relationship.

Therefore, such contracts which are currently subject to social security contributions, will be exempt from registration.

The above-mentioned obligation to provide information will have to be met within 7 days from the date of concluding the contract for performance of a specific task.

According to the draft RUD form, which is to be used to report contracts for performance of a specific task, the contracting party will have to provide personal data, data relating to the work contractor, as well as information about the contract itself, including the date of entering into the contract, its subject matter and the number of work contracts concluded.

The discussed changes were introduced by the Act of 31 March 2020 amending the Act on special arrangements for the prevention, prevention and combating of COVID-19, other infectious diseases and emergency situations caused by them and certain other acts (the so-called First Anti-Crisis Shield).  According to justification of the act, the aim of the amendment is to enable ZUS to verify the existence of social security obligations of persons performing such contracts, known as contracts for performance of a specific task. It goes without saying that the obligation to register contracts for performance of a specific task will result in more frequent controls of entrepreneurs by ZUS in order to verify the concluded contracts in terms of validity of their application in a given case. It should be noted that the registration of contracts for performance of a specific task will not automatically mean that these contracts will be subject to payment of contributions. Only in the event that a particular contract for performance of a specific task and its recognition as a contract of mandate, for example, is challenged, will the entrepreneur have to pay social security contributions, from which contracts for performance of a specific task are, as a rule, exempt. In this case, the Social Insurance Institution can pursue outstanding contributions with statutory interest even up to 5 years back.

Considering the above, we would recommend that the concluded contracts for perfomance of a specific task are subject to an audit in order to verify whether they are compliant with the terms and conditions justifying their qualification. If any doubts occur, the relevant steps should be taken in order to reduce the risk of the contracts being questioned by ZUS, or, alternatively, the contracts applied should be changed to a different type.