Service Business

Grants from the employment office for setting up a business

Probably everyone dreams of a fantastic job, in line with their interests, a nice and generous supervisor and flexible working hours? It turns out that the fulfillment of such desires can be your own business. Today it's basically a standard - you can name a lot of people who have done it and are now enjoying the success of their company. A shortage of capital may be an obstacle to starting a business. As it turns out, this barrier can also be circumvented - there are many ways to obtain funds to start a business, and one of the most popular are subsidies from the employment office (PUP).

Grants from the employment office to start a business

A chance for future entrepreneurs is applying for a subsidy to start their own company, which is granted by the poviat labor office. The money obtained in this way can be spent on, for example, ordering office infrastructure, creating a new job, legal and tax consultancy, and even on internet advertising.

This is a great thing for those who have been unemployed for a long time. Support granted from the Labor Fund is non-returnable - the exception is VAT deducted on purchases that were financed with subsidies.

The game is worth the candle, as the amount of the subsidy from PUP may amount to 6 times the monthly salary in the enterprise sector. In 2017, the average salary was slightly over PLN 4,200, which means that the maximum amount of the subsidy may be about PLN 24,000.

What conditions must be met to be able to apply for subsidies from the employment office?

The main condition that grants the right to apply for ex officio funding is being an unemployed person, registered with the PUP. In addition, the following may apply for subsidies from the employment office for setting up a business:

guardians of a disabled person,
graduates of the social integration center.

The time from registration, after which the application can be submitted, depends on the regulations of individual offices - usually it is one month, but sometimes it is extended to 3 months.

The following are excluded from the group of persons eligible to apply for subsidies:

full-time students,
persons running a business in the period of 12 months before submitting the application,
persons who, in the 12 months preceding the submission of the application, refused to accept an offer of employment, internship or apprenticeship without justifiable reason,
persons who, in the five years preceding the date of submitting the application, received a grant or a loan from the Labor Fund or other public funds,
persons who, in the two years prior to the submission of the application for funding, were convicted of offenses against economic turnover.

A person who wants to apply for a subsidy to start a business and has registered as unemployed and is not in the above-mentioned group, has the right to start the procedure of applying for subsidies from the employment office to start a business. The procedure usually takes a little over a month - everything depends on the efficiency of a particular institution. The procedure starts with the submission of a properly completed application to the relevant poviat or municipal employment office competent for the place of residence or stay, or due to the place where we want to run a business - just wait for the office's decisions.

You need to remember a few important things in order for the submitted application to be effective. The point is, for example, that although the own contribution is not obligatory, even a small amount may have a salutary impact on the attitude of officials, as it is a sign of commitment to the project under construction. Another thing is to provide a good business plan - either together with the application or with other documents, it all depends on the regulations of a given employment office. A business plan allows you to show officials the vision and ideas for the development of the company. Although it is not always mandatory to include it, it is worth doing to show yourself in a good light.

Another important issue - the application should contain information about any obtained certificates, authorizations or references confirming the applicant's experience. However, they are not necessarily related to the nature of the company - the entrepreneur does not have to be an omnibus.But you need to know that in the course of examining the application, the professional education is always checked. It should also be added that the entire grant must be spent within 30 days of being granted, so it is reasonable to set aside some money for a moment when it is urgently needed - e.g. to pay the rent for the office.

Start a free 30-day trial period with no strings attached!

Post-grant obligations

If the future entrepreneur receives a positive decision, it is time to conclude an agreement between him and PUP and guarantors, i.e. entities that secure a possible refund of the grant in the event of failure to comply with the contract by the applicant. The funds are transferred to the applicant's account within a few days from the conclusion of the contract.

The contract with PUP includes all regulations regarding rights, obligations and deadlines, therefore it should be read carefully.

Important!

Only after receiving the subsidy (on the bank account) and signing the contract with the office, you should start a business that must be run continuously for 12 months (this period includes breaks in its conduct due to illness or using the rehabilitation benefit) and it cannot be suspended nor take up other employment.

Setting up a business before receiving a subsidy results in losing the status of an unemployed person, i.e. breaking the rules for applying for subsidies.

Within 2 months from the date of incurring the expenses (actual payment) financed with the subsidy, you must settle accounts with the employment office - provide it with evidence of expenses incurred, e.g. bills, invoices, etc.

The funds received for starting the activity should be spent in the gross amount, i.e. together with the VAT included, even if we register as an active VAT payer. PIT income tax is not paid on the received subsidy.

During the first 12 months after the start of the business, the new entrepreneur must:

submit to the office every quarter evidence of payment of social security contributions,
provide, after 6 months of conducting business, a certificate from the Tax Office confirming the fact of conducting this activity and a certificate from the Social Insurance Institution on the periods of being subject to social insurance for running a business,
report to the office after 30 days from the end of the 12-month period to confirm compliance with the terms of the contract,
inform the office about all decisions and facts affecting the economic situation of the activity,
provide the labor office, upon request, with the documentation of its activity.

When should ex officio received subsidies be returned?

As a rule, subsidies received from the employment office for setting up a business are non-returnable. However, they are reimbursed when the applicant breaks the terms of the contract or fails to comply with the obligations.

After receiving the subsidy, the main obligation is to operate continuously for 12 months. If we resign from running the company during this time, we must return the received subsidy to the office together with statutory interest accrued from the date of its receipt, at the request of the staroste, within 30 days from the date of delivery of the request.

The other situations in which the grant received should be reimbursed are: