Christmas at KSP - the results of the arts competition "Magic of Christmas 2016"

With great pleasure, we present the results of the arts competition "Magia Świąt 2016 r." ("Magic of Christmas 2016"). Like every year, the quality of works was excellent! After long discussions and a stormy vote, the KSP team selected three winners. We rated the aesthetic value of the works, as well as the idea, the theme presentation, and the technique. And now, we wish to announce the official results:

1 place – Daniel Zabliszewski

2  place – Kamil Dragon

3 place – Paulina Pyzik

We wish to thank all Young Artists from the John Paul II Special Schools No 9 in Katowice for their participation in the competition and for creating the unique cards for KSP, which you can see in our gallery: http://prezi.com/jssisx0-yirt/?utm_campaign=share&utm_medium=copy.

On this special occasion, we would like to wish our Clients, Colleagues and Friends of our Law Firm, a Peaceful Christmas and a Happy New Year 2017!

Partners and the Team of KSP Legal & Tax Advice

Coffee with a lawyer - Restrictions on sale of real estate. Real property as security - 24 November 2016 - KSP

 The experts of the KSP Law Firm of Katowice, legal advisors Piotr Krupa and Hugo Bałaziński, will host a “coffee with a lawyer” meeting organised in cooperation with Katowice Lodge of the BCC, to be held on 24 November 2016.

The meeting will be dedicated to some aspects of restrictions on real property sale. We will demonstrate that even with a seemingly simple transaction involving a sale of shares between related entities or an in-kind contribution of shares to a new SPV one needs to remember about the restraints on the real property sale, as they may delay the transaction or even block it entirely. We will discuss the following topics:

• Trading in real property taking into account the specific nature of agricultural and forest lands;
  • Practical comments on the preemptive right of the municipalities, the Agricultural Property Agency, the State Treasury and special economic zones;
  • The aspects of real property acquisition by foreigners;
• The sale of an enterprise or an organised part of an enterprise including the ownership or perpetual use of real property - practical aspects;
• Issues to taken into account when selling shares in companies/partnerships governed by the Commercial Companies Code;
• Real property as an in-kind contribution to companies/partnerships governed by the commercial companies code;
• Restrictions affecting the possibility to use the real property as a collateral; 

The session is addressed to managers in entities which:

• need and/or intend to buy real property in connection with their development,
• are in the course of restructuring of the their operations - creating holding structures, establishing SPV (e.g. in order to manage their assets),
• intend to sell real property,
• acquire either companies or organised parts of undertakings, and use the real property they own as a collateral for their investment projects (for bank loans, bond issues, etc.).

You are welcome to attend the meeting in KSP’s head office in Katowice at 150 Chorzowska Street on 24 November 2016  at 9:00 a.m. The meeting will take around 1.5 hour and it is free to attend  (please enroll by email to malgorzata.popek@ksplegal.pl until 21 November 2016, the number of participants is limited).

From 2 November 2016 we have a new address in Katowice - Silesia Business Park, Chorzowska 150. Welcome to our new office!

We  would like to inform you that our law firm is moving to a new office building in Katowice. From 2 November 2016 we are available for you at:

Silesia Business Park

Budynek B

Chorzowska 150

40–101 Katowice

Please, click here to check the location.

Other contact details, including our office phone numbers, remain unchanged. You are more than welcome to visit our new office.

We run an employment law BLOG

We have the pleasure to inform you that in September this year we started a new employment law blog. This is the third thematic blog run by KSP lawyers (in addition to our tax blog and law-and-intellectual-property blog). The new blog discusses aspects of working time, salaries, staff monitoring, trade unions or employment-related taxes. We present the cases we have handled and the latest news from courtrooms. We encourage you to visit our employment law blog, ask questions and comment on the entries, e.g.:

• Letter of intent versus preliminary employment contract
• Bailiffs will not seize salaries in total
• The same offence attracts the same penalty?

Municipal waste management tenders in 2017. An invitation to training sessions to be delivered in Warsaw, Poznan and Wrocław

In October 2016, Tomasz Srokosz is going to conduct a series of training sessions on municipal waste management tenders and application of the public procurement law combined with the act on keeping cleanliness and order in municipalities.

• ToR: lump-sum remuneration paid to waste collecting entities and underestimation of the waste quantity, criteria other than price in practice: quality, services, BAT, waste recovery,
• Consortia in waste management: can personal performance of certain parts of the contract be reserved therein?
• Does self-cleaning also apply to collective entities?
• A change to the terms and conditions of a contract (additional supplies, services, unforeseen circumstances) during its efective term: how to word the contractual clauses?

The sessions will be held on: 7 October 2016 in Warsaw, 13 October 2016 in Poznan and 14 October 2016 in Wrocław. For more information, the registration form and the agenda, visit the Organiser’s website. We look forward to seeing you!

KSP becomes an INFOR.pl expert

KSP Legal & Tax Advice has become one of the experts of INFOR.pl., a business portal addressed to entrepreneurs, bookkeeping professionals, human resources managers and state officials, which publishes the latest news in the areas of law, taxes and management methods. KSP lawyers, acting in their capacity of INFOR.pl experts, publish articles on service websites dedicated to: Law, Accounting, Human Resources, Business and Public Sector. The most recent article: A Contest with Prizes – Tax Effects authored by Elżbieta Stawarczyk is available online. We encourage you to read our publications.

Unified Control File (UCF) Training

On 1 July 2016 regulations on the Unified Control File entered into force. At the moment, these apply to large enterprises only. However, starting on 1 January 2017, the obligation to submit the VAT register on a monthly basis in the form of UCF to the Minister of Finance will also apply to small and medium-size enterprises.  In practice, implementation, application and compliance with the UCF requirements raise a number of questions and considerable controversies. The legal regulations in this respect are extremely scarce and the explanations and clarifications provided by the Ministry of Finance do not dispel the doubts.

Therefore, we would like to invite you to attend UCF-related training organized by KSP tax advisors. During the training sessions we will present UCF-related obligations, analyze when and to what extent they affect individual entrepreneurs, present different UCF structures, and - last but not least - we will answer the questions bothering you, as representatives of entrepreneurs. Our training courses are tailored to meet the needs of each entrepreneur and their intention is not only to present problematic issues, but first and foremost to settle doubts arising in practice.

If you are interested, please contact Ms Elżbieta Lis by phone or via e-mail (tel. 32 631 6850, e-mail: elzbieta.lis@ksplegal.pl).

What’s new in public procurement law? A conference, Katowice, 19 July 2016

With respect to the long-expected amendment to the Public Procurement Law, KSP Legal & Tax Advice in cooperation with the Regional Chamber of Commerce of Katowice would like to invite you to a conference entitled What’s new in public procurement law?  A long-awaited amendment to the PPL. 

During the conference, KSP experts will comment on the aspects of the amendment essential for entrepreneurs. Tomasz Srokosz will discuss the implementation of the in-house mode, i.e. the option given to local authorities to award contracts without tender to their own municipal companies, and Łukasz Pożoga, KSP legal advisor,  will present some aspects of electronic documentation (JEDZ).

The conference is planned for 19 July 2016 at the Regional Chamber of Commerce in Katowice, at 15 Opolska Street.  For more information, the registration form and agenda, visit the Organiser’s website.

We look forward to seeing you!

Fiscal inspection. What to beware of?

We are pleased to present to you a practical guide on tax and fiscal inspection.  Aleksandra Miklaszewska, KSP tax advisor, has prepared a description of steps to be taken during an inspection so as to effectively protect your rights.  If you wish to learn how to professionally handle a tax, fiscal and customs inspection, you are encouraged to read the guide.  Please note that this is the first one of a series of inspection-related guides written by KSP experts. We will inform you about the next ones in due time. 

KSP became a member of Kancelarie RP

We are pleased to announce that in June 2016 KSP Legal & Tax Advice became a member of Legal Network called Kancelarie RP as a partner in Silesia.

A Nationwide legal network "Kancelarie RP" has been established under the auspices of "Rzeczpospolita". It brings together a dynamically developing and independent law firms from all voivodships in Poland. KSP is a law partnership in Katowice. Belonging to the group of "Kancelarie RP" allows us to exchange knowledge and experience between members of the network in order to provide services to an even higher level. Clients of a group can rely on complex legal assistance provided by more than 300 experienced specialists in all fields of law.

Municipal concession– what is it? Tomasz Srokosz’s latest book offers the answer

We are pleased to present to you the latest publication by Tomasz Srokosz entitled “Municipal Concession”. The book is intended to promote the solution of municipal concession, which helps local governments accomplish communal goals in cooperation with entrepreneurs. It is addressed to a broad spectrum of readers representing the academic circles and politics, but primarily to representatives of local government units and entrepreneurs. A concession is a model solution whereby the commune tasks are contracted to economic operators, which is certain to positively influence competition on the communal services market. Enjoy the book! 

The book is available under the links to Księgarnia Ekonomiczna and Wydawnictwo Prym.

KSP wins a case for Poland’s largest carrier

KSP Tax Team represented PKP Cargo S.A in a case regarding damages paid for loss, deficiency or damage to a consignment in transport. The Province Administrative Court of Warsaw, in its judgement of 13 May 2015, vacated an adverse interpretation issued by the Minister of Finance to our client.

A question was posed whether the amounts of money paid or to be paid in the future as damages for loss, deficiency or damage of a consignment can be recognised as deductible costs in the light of the tax regulations. In his interpretation, the Minister of Finance did not address the situations described by the taxable person, but denied the right to recognise such costs as deductible in general, and indicated that they were associated with a defective service. The Province Administrative Court held that a situation where a consignment is lost, e.g. as a result of theft, does not involve a defective performance of a service but rather its non-performance. Thus, the provisions of Article 16(22) of the Corporate Income Tax Act do not apply to a loss of a consignment. Consequently, if the expense is linked to revenues on a general basis, the amounts paid as a result of the loss can be recognised as deductible costs. 

During the court proceedings, the client was represented by Elżbieta Lis, Partner, Magdaleną Patryas, Partner, and Aleksandrą Miklaszewską, Tax Consultant.

case file: III Sa/Wa 1352/15

KSP In the XIV Ranking of Law Firms of Rzeczpospolita

We are pleased to inform you that KSP Law Office took 6th place among Silesian law firms (we also have a high 100. place in Poland). 296 law firms took part in ranking announced by Rzeczpospolita this year. Nowadays, KSP is a team of over 20 lawyers, who take demanding challenges with passion – thank you that you are all with us!

Congratulations to the winners and we wish you further success.

Employment Law - a Morning Meeting: a seminar with KSP experts, 26 April 2016  

We would like to invite you to a seminar to be delivered by KSP’s Employment Law Team, dedicated to the principles of personal data processing by employers, and employee search and monitoring issues (such as body search, sobriety testing, email monitoring, workplace monitoring).

Piotr Krupa, Dawid Mielcarski and Maciej Pietrzycki will discuss the issues of personal data collection and processing by the employer as well as the legal requirements for personal data disclosure to third parties (e.g. within a group of companies).

The second part of the meeting will be dedicated to broadly understood search and monitoring of employees by the employer, including the main rules and legal restrictions such as the necessity to protect the employee’s personality rights). We will also present the most essential standpoints expressed by courts and administration bodies.

The meeting is addressed to employers and employer representatives , directors and HR staff.  The event is free. If you are interested in the seminar, please complete the attached form and return it to us by 22 April 2016 to: malgorzata.popek@ksplegal.pl Please note that places are limited and will be allocated on a first come first served basis.  The agenda, the registration form and profiles of the lecturers are available PDF.

Prohibition of competition and exclusivity agreements - we encourage you to join our ‘coffee with a lawyer’ meeting on 6 April 2016 at 11:00 a.m. in 

Another one of the ‘Coffee with a lawyer’ meetings, arranged in cooperation with Katowice BCC Lodge, is going to be dedicated to the issue of prohibition of competition. We intend to discuss the following aspects, among others:

• requirements and restrictions regarding the prohibition of competition for employees and management,
• exclusivity agreements signed with business partners,
• non-competition for trade representatives.

The meeting will be hosted by: Legal Counsel Łukasz Pożoga and Adam Roszyk – KSP Law Firm Senior Associates.

The meeting will be held on 6 April 2016 at 11:00 a.m. in the KSP’s head office at 50 Chorzowska Street in Katowice, and it is planned to take about 1.5 hours. The attendance is free of charge (please enrol by email to malgorzata.popek@ksplegal.pl until 30 March 2016, the number of participants is limited).

Revolution in Transfer Pricing: How to Get Ready for the Change - a seminar, Katowice, Head Office of KSP Law Firm

On 3 February 2016, Magdalena Patryas and Michał Wilk members of the Transfer Pricing Team, hosted a meeting dedicated to changes in the documentation of transfer pricing among related parties.

The experts discussed primarily the practical aspects of the legislative changes concerning transfer pricing; the attendants wanted to know how to get ready for the new documentation-related requirements. KSP tax advisors presented the following issues:

• Transactions performed - it is time to review their prices for compliance with the arm’s length principle;
• Group-level Master File – documentation compiled by a Group, with the responsibility resting upon the subsidiaries’ managers;
• Mandatory benchmarking - how to do it and what data to obtain; 
• Reporting - what has to to disclosed to the tax authorities in the annual return and how the authorities can use the information.
• The deadlines for drawing up the documentation - responsibilities of the company managers;
• Transfer pricing audits - the anticipated practice of fiscal authorities, the tools they employ;
• Penal liability - what penalties can be imposed for missing tax documentation or for pricing non-compliant with the arm’s length principle.

If you are interested in documenting intra-Group transactions, and you would like to attend a practical workshop focused on the skill of preparing tax documentation, please contact us (Magdalena Patryas, tel. +32 731 68 53, magdalena.patryas@ksplegal.pl). 

28 January: Data Protection Day - see if your data processing is compliant with the laws

In practice the obligations pertaining to personal data apply to nearly everyone: entities and persons who issue invoices or hire personnel, as well as those who, for any purpose, collect data such as the first name and surname, personal number (PESEL), tax ID number (NIP), address of residence or business address, electronic address, etc. 

The  Data Protection Day should lead to answers to the following questions:

• Does my company process its customers’ and employees’ personal data in compliance with the law?
• Have the personal data subjects been adequately notified of the processing?
• Have we adequately secured the personal data filing systems?
• Do we have a valid Personal Data Security Policy?
• Have we accurately authorised the parties which/who handle the personal data processing on our behalf?
• Are we aware of the sanctions for inappropriate personal data handling? 
• Are we aware of who we can be inspected by, when and how? Do we know what the entitlements of the State Labour Inspection (PIP) and the General Inspector for Personal Data Protection (GIODO) are in this respect?

We hope that, as most of our customers, you act in compliance with the Personal Data Protection Act.  However, if, having given it more thought, you decide that it is worth to find out more or to check the corporate policy in this respect, you are welcome to contact our experts:  Grzegorz Olszewski(grzegorz.olszewski@ksplegal.pl) oraz Adam Roszyk (adam.roszyk@ksplegal.pl).

Business breakfast Tax and Accounting Changes in 2016 in a pill for the management - Katowice, 28 January 2016

KSP Law Firm and Global Accounting organise a business meeting for management board members, company owners, commercial proxies and persons managing or responsible for company operations, including tax accounts, payroll or reporting.

During the meeting we are going to discuss how to effectively implement the new tax, accounting, personnel and payroll regulations in force since 1 January 2016.
The meeting will be hosted by experienced tax advisors – Magdalena Patryas i Elżbieta Lis of KSP as well as Małgorzata Tomera of Global Accounting.

If you are interested to attend, please contact Anna Szmidla (anna.szmidla@ksplegal.pl).

Awards in “My Magic Christmas” contest went to the winners! We would like to thank the pupils of the Special Schools Complex no 9 in Katowice

We have a great pleasure to inform you that in December 2015, KSP Law Firm transformed into a real art gallery!  All this was the doing of the pupils and students of the Special Schools Complex No 9 in Katowice, who sent to us their works for the contest “My Magic Christmas”.

The contest was divided into two parts, so that everyone could demonstrate their skills.

Part one, the Arts, took our breaths away! The works were so colourful and cheerful! The jury had a hard task to make their decision, as there were 89 works to choose from!

The joint winners in the category of Christmas trimmings were: 

Sabina Dromowicz, Wiktoria Dromowicz and Dominik Kołbuk. 

The second place was awarded to Kamil Szymański, and the special award for an impressive Christmas tree went to: Martin Adamoszek and Mateusz Gutowski.

The winners in the category of Christmas cards were:

1st place: Grzegorz Przybyła, 2nd place: Angelika Tyrcz, 3rd place: Jacek Pietrzak and Nicola Bąk.

The winners in the category of Christmas drawing (painting) were:

1st place: Mateusz Ściborski, 2nd place: Estera Zielińska and Milena Balewska.
 

In the second part of the contest, the pupils prepared and presented a performance of their choice. The young artists presented poems, songs and a nativity play. No first place was awarded in this category. We would like to strongly emphasize that, in our opinion, all participants of this event are winners, and each performance was exceptional and moving! The young actors, reciters and choristers were given rewards and diplomas commemorating the event.

We would like to thank all the artists and wish them success in realisation of their artistic passions in 2016.

Presented below are the winners’ works and a photo with the performers.