Shield 9.0

On April 26, 2021, the provisions of the Regulation of the Council of Ministers dated April 16, 2021, amending the Regulation on Supporting Business Participants Affected by Pandemic COVID-19 came into force. The Regulation provides for further forms of aid to be granted to entrepreneurs conducting business activity with a PKD code listed in the Regulation as a type of predominant activity. The list of PKD codes included in the Regulation was expanded to include other industries as compared to the previous shields, in particular passenger air transport, hairdressing and other beauty services, and by extending the scope of the retail sales industry.

Below are the characteristics of the individual forms of support.

Standstill fee. The opportunity to apply for a standstill fee or re-apply for a standstill fee was provided for entrepreneurs who, as of March 31, 2021, had as their predominant business activity a PKD code listed in the Regulation. In order to obtain the standstill fee the entrepreneur is obliged to prove that the revenue from the business activity conducted by him in the meaning of the tax regulations obtained in one of the two months preceding the month of filing for the fee was lower by at least 40% in comparison with the revenue obtained in the previous month or in the analogous month of the previous year or in February 2020 or in September 2020. Depending on the PKD code of the predominant economic activity, the standstill fee is granted once, a twice, four times or five times at the most.

Subsidy to cover ongoing business costs. Micro and small entrepreneurs who, as of March 31, 2021, conducted, as a type of predominant economic activity, an activity marked with a PKD code indicated in the Regulation and whose revenue from this activity, within the meaning of tax regulations, obtained in the month preceding the month of filing for the subsidy was lower by at least 40% in relation to the revenue obtained in the previous month or in the analogical month of the previous year or in February 2020 or in September 2020, may apply for the subsidy. Depending on the PKD code of the predominant business activity the subsidy may be granted once, twice, three times, four times or five times at the most.

Social Security Exemption. The possibility of obtaining an exemption from the obligation to pay social security, health, Labour Fund, Solidarity Fund, Guaranteed Employee Benefits Fund or Bridging Pension Fund covers periods: 

  • from the 1st to the 31st January 2021 or from the 1st December 2020 to the 31st January 2021 
  • from the 1st to the 28th February 2021 
  • from the 1st March 2021 to the 30th April 2021 or from the 1st to the 30th April 2021. 

The exemption may be applied for by payers of contributions, carrying out, as of  March 31, 2021, as the predominant business activity, a business activity marked with the PKD code listed in the Regulation and whose income from this activity, within the meaning of the tax regulations, obtained in one of the two months preceding the month of filing the application, was lower by at least 40% in relation to the income obtained in the previous month or in the corresponding month of the previous year or in February 2020 or September 2020, if it was reported as the payer of contributions before November 1, 2020.

An additional condition for obtaining the exemption is sending the settlement declarations or personal monthly reports due for January 2021, December 2020 and January 2021, February 2021, March and April 2021, April 2021, not later than by June 30, 2021 (unless the payer of contributions is exempt from the obligation to submit them). 

A benefit to protect workplaces. The provisions of the Shield 9.0 also grant the opportunity to receive the workplaces protection benefit to entrepreneurs who, as of March 31, 2021, were engaged as their predominant business activity in the PKD codes listed in the Regulation. To be eligible for the benefit, the entrepreneur must prove that the revenue within the meaning of the tax regulations obtained in one of the three months preceding the month of application for the benefit was at least 40% lower as a result of COVID-19 than the income obtained in the previous month or in the corresponding month of the previous year, or in February 2020, or in September 2020.