Statute of limitations for ZUS claims against entrepreneurs

The obligation of every entrepreneur conducting business in Poland is to pay contributions to the Social Insurance Institution, such as health and social security contributions. However, the entrepreneur does not always pay the due contributions, which exposes him to the risk of debt collection actions taken by ZUS. Is the claim for payment of overdue contributions time-barred or subject to inheritance?

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Przedawnienie roszczeń ZUS względem przedsiębiorcy

Limitation period for liabilities towards ZUS

First of all, attention should be paid to different regulations regarding the limitation period for ZUS claims against entrepreneurs regarding contributions that became due before January 1, 2012, and different regarding the limitation period for contributions due after that date. In the case of contributions that the entrepreneur was obliged to pay before January 1, 2012, the limitation period is 10 years, so these contributions expire no later than in 2022. A different regulation applies to contributions due from January 1, 2012 until now, which then the limitation period is 5 years. The limitation period applies to all receivables of the Social Insurance Institution towards the entrepreneur, while the limitation period may be interrupted, e.g. by suing the entrepreneur for payment.

It should be borne in mind that the Social Insurance Institution does not refer to the issue of limitation when filing a claim for payment of overdue contributions. Therefore, when receiving a lawsuit in this respect, you should check whether the claim has not expired and, therefore, you are no longer obliged to pay the disputed amount.

Author:

Rafał Drzewiecki

Lawyer, Mediator

He specializes in providing legal assistance to natural persons. He attaches great importance to trying to resolve disputes amicably, including in criminal cases. He realizes his professional career in criminal law, because he served his legal training under the supervision of an attorney specializing in this field. He is particularly interested in post-penitentiary issues: the system of electronic supervision, breaks in serving the prison sentence, conditional early release.

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