The law on the succession of the company went forward with the passing of the law on the succession board. However, there is still a need for legal and tax changes.
On 7 June. The Sejm passed another law, prepared under the package "100 changes for companies". The Act on the Management of a Successive Business of a Natural Person regulates many of the issues that have so far fallen apart while waiting on legislative shelves. However, we need further changes that will fully address the question of succession, for example in the case of companies.
Liquid transfer
The need to regulate the transfer of ownership of the company after the death of its owner became pressing due to the problem of an ageing population.
When the Central Register and Information on Economic Activity (CEIDG) began to flow about monthly 100 reports of the death of company owners, and statistics showed that this number would increase, the government decided to finally react. The passed bill simplified the succession of a company managed by a natural person.
Currently, after the owner's death, the company retains the NIP, the continuity of tax settlements. The heir may exercise the concession, obtain permissions obtained by the predecessor and his commercial contracts.
Appointment of a succession administrator
The Act also introduced the possibility of setting up a so-called succession administrator to deal with succession proceedings.
It can be established by an entrepreneur still alive (in writing under the rigor of invalidity and by filing for CEIDG) or by his successor (a form of notarial act is required, consent of the manager and entry in CEIDG). The KRDP points out that tax advisors will work very well in this role.
A person who knows the company, and at the same time is not emotionally related to the owner, can manage the succession more efficiently than a member or friend of the family. Furthermore, advisors are not subject to liability insurance, which significantly reduces the costs of the succession board.
Experts stress that the institution needs to be expanded, as succession is often a complicated process, requiring financial, legal and tax considerations.
For example, Austria or Luxembourg, a more helpful solution than the manager, would be the possibility of creating family foundations or trusts that would respect the company's operating rules, as defined by the transferor.
Challenges for Government
Family business, on which Polish entrepreneurship stands, is not only companies of natural persons, but also those under the management of legal persons, which also require legislative solutions in the event of the death of the main person or one from managers. There is still a lot of work to be done, and the changes could include, among other things, facilitating the transformation of the form of companies, as well as preferential transfer taxes,
Author:
Katarzyna Kołbuś - Editor leading RB Magazine. From Over 10 years related to industry press, including the Financial Gazette and portal ipip.com.pl, which is devoted to finance, taxation, law, politics and the economy. She graduated from Polish philology at the UMCS and the language editing of the text at the University of Warsaw.