140 thousand Poles lost money from ZUS. Ministry promises help

“A few days ago I received a letter from ZUS about the exemption from paying contributions for May, but not in the amount from the declaration, or PLN 1354,64, only PLN 1309,98. Why? That’s because I had an overpayment on my account that they lost and accounted for as partly paid contributions. It is not worth having any overpayments, because it may turn out that May will be considered as paid in full,” writes the owner of a small travel agency at the tourist forum.

Another 30 people wrote similar stories under her entry.

“I also wrote an appeal to ZUS on the same matter and I wait. Today I read an article about these practices and do it according to the law (Regulation). The ZUS ladies say I was unlucky, I’m overpaid. The reimbursement of overpayments could have been applied for until May 10, and I only learned of the overpayment that I did not know about on May 27, which is already late. I can’t believe I’m gonna do anything, but I sent them a refund application,” adds a woman

As the Social Security Office counted, people who had overpayments in their accounts and applied for exemption from fees in the Social Security Office for three months under the crisis shield, there were a total of 300 000 out of 2.1 million applications that had been received in total since April.

Read more: No more exemptions in ZUS

Out of this group, 160 000 people had already filed for reimbursement in time. One billion zlotys returned to these entrepreneurs. 140 000 people, on the other hand, did not apply for reimbursement of the surplus. They accumulated a total of PLN 0.5 billion.

If you divide this amount by the number of payers, it would appear that ZUS should return PLN 3,57 on average. Of course, there are people in this group who had a surplus of two monthly contributions – they suffered the most because they counted all the surplus on late and current repayments and received no help.

According to the President of ZUS, Prof. Gertrude Uścińska, the bet acted in accordance with the law to settle surpluses in accounts in the first place, and then to grant entrepreneurs an exemption from the remaining amount that remained to be paid.

– That was the intention of the legislator – she explained in the Wednesday program “Money. That counts” Prof. Uścińska.

However, many entrepreneurs demand that their money be returned, even though it is late. ZUS therefore asked the Ministry of Labour and Social Policy to interpret the regulations.

As money.pl learned, the Ministry of Labour will most likely be willing to pay back the money to entrepreneurs.

– If it is possible in legal terms, we will go out in front of this group of contributors – said Deputy Minister of Labour Stanisław Szwed.

According to ZUS, the exemption from fees was the most popular among entrepreneurs among all solutions implemented in the framework of crisis shields.

Both self-employed, whose income did not exceed PLN 15,000, micro-entrepreneurs employing up to 9 employees and social cooperatives, could benefit from this aid. Half of the contributions may also have been exempt from small companies with up to 49 employees.

In total, they received aid of PLN 11.3 billion. As Prof. Uścińska admitted, there will be a powerful tear in the ZUS budget.

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