Originally Posted by
KT1988
@Hawker400: So why do you believe the company deal with invoices are ridiculous? The deal is that you are hired as a company and you will get paid more cause the company hiring you will not have to pay tax for you to the state, and you can pay less tax also. Why should it be ridiculous that pilots working for one company should be able to pay the same tax as 100s of thousands of other professions in that national state who deliver their work as companies. Why do you believe a pilot should have to pay more tax than for example a doctor does? Where is the logic that you should give more money to the government because you work for one company? So if the national law allows for it why should pilots miss out on their salary?
Yes, it's ridiculous that pilots working for one company should be paying more tax than 100s of thousands of other professions in that national state who deliver their work as companies - but not for the reason you mentioned, quite the opposite in fact. I have a surprise for you - those thousands of professionals do it illegaly too! The law is simple - if you work on your own account: you decide, when, where and how much you work, you use your own tools, and most importantly - you take the "business risk" - then you are a company, and you can be taxed as a company. If, on the other hand, you work for one (or even a few, doesn't matter) company regularly, on their terms, they dictate your hours, your schedule, etc. - then you are an employee and ought to have a contract that reflects that.
Actually the Polish labour law says that in such situation, if you meet the criteria for being an employee, it is an employment contract, irrespective of what it says on paper. That means that theoretically if anyone went to the court to argue that they signed a "contractor agreement", but in fact they were an employee, the court should rule in their favor. The problem is that nobody wants that, because nobody knows what would that mean for past taxation - if it would need to be paid and by whom. And that was the problem that you were describing with the latest developments in Poland - the situation has gone way too far, and now too many people stand to lose too much money if the law was suddenly started to be enforced.
Also, one more thing to consider - as an employee, you have a limited liability towards the company of 3 monthly salaries (excluding gross misconduct or willful damage). As a contractor - there is no limitation, that means if for example you damage the aircraft even accidentally (hard landing, runway excursion, not to mention an actual accident), you can be sued for the full amount - are you ready to pay a few millions if anything happens?