Service Business

How to open a nursing home for the elderly?

The social welfare center deals with the provision and provision of living and care services to the extent and form that tenants need. How to open a nursing home? We answer below.

Housing services are understood as ensuring:

place of stay,
food for residents,
maintaining cleanliness of the premises.

On the other hand, the caring functions are understood as:

providing help in basic life activities,
care, also during illness,
hygienic care,
assistance in dealing with personal matters,
ensuring contact with the environment.

The way in which services are provided by a social welfare home should be consistent with human rights.Take into account the right to dignity, freedom, intimacy and a sense of security as well as the state of health, physical and intellectual fitness as well as the individual abilities of the person staying in the facility.

Depending on the destination, nursing homes can be divided into different types. However, the most popular houses are those intended for the elderly.

The authorities of the commune or poviat run social welfare homes. However, apart from public nursing homes, there may also be private institutions of this type. They can be run by legal persons (e.g. foundations, associations, social organizations) or natural persons.

Fees for staying in a private social welfare home are agreed with the entrepreneur on the basis of a contract for the provision of care services.

Social welfare home - prerequisites

In order for an entrepreneur to set up a social welfare home, it is necessary to obtain a permit from the voivode. In order to receive a favorable opinion, the performer must:

meet the conditions set out in the Act on social assistance;
meet the standards referred to above;
introduce:

application for a permit,
documents confirming the legal title to the property on which the house is located,
certificate of the competent authority confirming the possibility of using the facility specified in category XI of the Annex to the Act of July 7, 1994 - Construction Law,
the concept of running a facility,
information on the method of financing the facility and not having arrears with payments to the Tax Office and contributions to the Social Insurance Institution,
information from the National Criminal Register about the clean criminal record of the person who will be in charge of the facility and a certificate that, due to the state of health, it is fit to run the facility.

Before issuing the permit, the department of the voivodeship office competent for social assistance inspects the premises where the social welfare home is located.

PKD term for a social welfare home

PKD for nursing homes is:

87.30.Z - social assistance with accommodation for the elderly and the disabled. This class includes social assistance that provides round-the-clock care for the elderly and people with disabilities, implemented in:

retirement homes,
social welfare homes with minimal nursing care,
nursing homes without nursing care.

87.10.Z - social assistance with accommodation providing nursing care. This class includes social work and accommodation services that provide nursing care in:

social welfare homes,
rehabilitation homes,
other social welfare institutions.

Acceptable forms of running a social welfare home

A nursing home can be run in any form, except for a partnership, which is reserved for professionals. When establishing a sole proprietorship or civil partnership, this fact is reported to CEIDG. However, when establishing a general partnership, limited partnership, limited joint-stock partnership, limited liability company or joint stock company - we register in the National Court Register.

How to open a social welfare home

In Poland, economic activity may be conducted, inter alia, in the form of sole proprietorship, civil law partnership and commercial companies, regulated in detail by the provisions of the Commercial Companies Code.

Social welfare home and sole proprietorship

This type of activity is conducted independently - the entrepreneur is the sole owner and representative of the company. However, it may hire employees. No initial capital is required to set up a sole proprietorship, and the accounting records are very simple.

Social welfare home and civil partnership

To establish a civil law partnership, at least two natural or legal persons are required. This company is not subject to registration in the National Court Register, partners report it to CEIDG. Again, no initial capital is required.

A social welfare home and a different type of company

Other types of company, that is:

general partnership,
a partnership,
limited partnership,
partnership Limited by shares,
limited liability company,
a joint-stock company

require an entry in the National Court Register kept by district courts competent for the registered office of the company being created.

The best form of taxation for a nursing home

When running a nursing home, an entrepreneur can choose between two forms of taxation: on general terms and a flat tax. In the case of this specific activity, it is not possible to settle settlements in the form of a lump sum, i.e. in the form of a lump sum on recorded income or a tax card.

Social welfare home and general rules

General rules are the primary form of taxation. Up to the amount of revenues in the amount of PLN 85,528, the entrepreneur pays 18% of the tax, but if it exceeds this amount, the tax will be PLN 14,839.02 plus 32% of the surplus over PLN 85,528. The general rules allow the use of tax reliefs provided for in the Act and joint settlement with the spouse.

Social welfare home and flat tax

The flat-rate tax is recommended to entrepreneurs whose revenues will reach over PLN 100,000. zlotys. The amount of tax in this form is fixed and amounts to 19%. The disadvantages of the flat tax are certainly the fact that the entrepreneur cannot settle accounts with his spouse or take advantage of the reliefs provided for in the act.

Social welfare home - with or without VAT?

Services provided by social welfare homes entered in the register kept by the voivode and the related supplies of goods are exempt from VAT pursuant to art. 43 of the VAT Act.

ZUS contributions of the social welfare home

The taxpayer is obliged to register for insurance at ZUS - he does this no later than 7 days after setting up the business in print:

ZUS ZUA (if the social welfare home is the taxpayer's only workplace) or
ZUS ZZA (if, in addition to the social welfare home, he also works in another place and is subject only to health insurance).

Entrepreneurs who have just set up a business may benefit from preferential ZUS contributions for a period of 24 (full) months - for two years they will pay reduced social insurance contributions (without voluntary sickness insurance). Taxpayers using preferential ZUS contributions also do not pay contributions to the Labor Fund.

Business account for a social welfare home

The regulations do not explicitly require the entrepreneur to have a separate company account. He can use his private account, but it must be its sole owner.

However, making or receiving payments related to the activities of a social welfare home must be made through the entrepreneur's bank account whenever:

a party to the transaction from which the payment results is another entrepreneur and
the one-off transaction value, regardless of the number of payments resulting therefrom, exceeds the equivalent of EUR 15,000 converted into zlotys at the average exchange rate of foreign currencies announced by the National Bank of Poland on the last day of the month preceding the month in which the transaction was made.

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Housing conditions for a social welfare home

In order for the premises to be converted into a nursing home, it must meet a number of sanitary, hygienic and care requirements.

General construction conditions

In terms of living conditions, the nursing home must meet the following conditions:

the building and its surroundings cannot have architectural barriers,
a multi-storey building must have an elevator installed,
be equipped with a call and alarm system and a fire alarm system.

The building in which the facility is located must also be properly marked with an information board, which will contain data on the type of permit held and the entry number in the register of facilities providing round-the-clock care for elderly people.

Conditions for the premises

The following rooms must be available in the nursing home:

single and multi-person residential rooms,
daily stay rooms,
dining room,
emergency medical office,
auxiliary cooker,
auxiliary room for washing and drying,
Guest room,
a place of religious worship consistent with the denomination of the home inhabitant, if he / she cannot participate in services outside the home,
other technical rooms serving the sanitary needs of the house's inhabitants.

Sanitary conditions

There must be at least one bathroom for every five inhabitants. One toilet must be used by no more than four patients and must be fitted with handholds to facilitate the use of these rooms by less able-bodied people.

Documentation of people staying in the nursing home

When running a social welfare home, an entrepreneur is obliged to keep detailed documentation of people staying in the facility. This documentation should include:

an agreement for the provision of services at the facility,
identification data of people staying in the facility, such as: name and surname, place of residence, PESEL number or number of a document confirming the identity of the person in the absence of a PESEL number,
name and surname of the legal guardian or probation officer of the person staying in the facility, if one has been established,
information on the health condition of the person staying in the facility.

When setting up a nursing home, first of all, you need to remember that the institution meets sanitary and construction requirements. In addition, the place requires experienced staff who, in addition to professional education, will have qualities suitable for working with older people.