ZUS insurance for the conclusion of a management contract

The management contract belongs to the group of contracts the subject of which is the provision of services. In practice, this obligation is often associated with a management contract for people who manage the workplace. Interestingly, this contract also belongs to the so-called unnamed contracts under the Civil Code, and its conclusion is possible under the principle of free contract, of course within the law.

It is worth noting that there may be circumstances in which the managerial contract begins to bear the features of an employment relationship, then it may be considered an employment contract for which a different legal regime, included in the Labor Code, is provided for.

However, it should be borne in mind that, in principle, the manager's contract is a civil law relationship, as pursuant to Art. 750 of the Civil Code, the provisions on mandate apply accordingly to contracts for the provision of services that are not governed by other provisions.

How to classify management for ZUS purposes?

If a managerial contract is devoid of any features of an employment relationship, then it is qualified for the purposes of social insurance in the same way as a mandate contract. Therefore, the person who provides this type of services is subject to insurance on the same terms as the contractors, that is:

• retirement, disability and accident insurance,

• health.

It is worth noting that sickness insurance is voluntary, and accession to it is conditional upon the submission of an application by the insured person. The income generated on the basis of the concluded management contract will be the basis for the assessment of social security contributions.

Economic activity and a management contract

Based on Article. 13 point 9 of the Personal Income Tax Act, income from performing managerial functions qualifies as income from activities performed in person. This principle also applies when the management is carried out in the course of the business activity conducted by the manager. However, the manager's legal and contribution situation may develop in two ways, which will be discussed in more detail later in the article.

The manager performs the contract as part of the conducted activity, and obtains income only from this contract

In the discussed case, the managerial contract implemented as part of the conducted business activity should be qualified with a separate title to social insurance, and not as a contract performed as part of the activity performed.

Then the manager is subject to insurance, which is indicated via the code 04 11 - the person performing the agency contract, contract of mandate or contract for the provision of services.

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In this case, the enterprise that employs a manager (it is a payer of ZUS contributions) is obliged to calculate and pay social and health insurance contributions to ZUS, and if there are no circumstances for dismissal, also to the Labor Fund and the Guaranteed Employee Benefits Fund.

Income from the contract and the activity conducted - overlapping insurance titles

In a situation where a person runs a non-agricultural business and simultaneously obtains income from a managerial contract, one can talk about the so-called confluence of insurance titles.

According to the general rule contained in Art. 9 sec. 2 and 2a of the Act on the Social Insurance System, such a person is subject to compulsory social insurance on this account who was first established, i.e. from activity. However, at his request, the manager may also be covered by retirement and disability pension insurance from the remaining ones - he may be covered by insurance under the contract, with the proviso that the basis for the assessment of contributions must be the same as the basis for insurance from activity.

If the remuneration under the management contract is the basis for assessing social insurance, and the amount turns out to be lower than the lowest assessment base applicable to him, the manager will be subject to compulsory social insurance on the basis of non-agricultural activity.

Thus, when a contract is concluded within the framework of an activity, and revenues are obtained solely from this contract, then the obligation of social and health insurance arises only on the basis of this contract.

However, when income is received from both sources, the manager will be insured for the previous title or for which the basis of premiums is higher.