Cost of health care in Poland

Quoting: lef

Thanks for the information, interesting!.. What occurs if you decide to live in Poland, say you bring in 2 million zlote, would you have to pay tax on that? Would questions be asked if you decide to buy a property in Poland with that money? It seems you have to be very careful with bringing money into Poland, otherwise the government will try to get its greedy hands on it.

moses777	Jul 8, 07, 09:45 / #
Good Day, I am new to the forum so please excuse some mistakes that I may make. We are moving to Poland, either Lublin or Legica area. My wife is Polish, I am Canadian we have 1 child. I have visited Poland a number of times and really fell in love with it. My question comes from the amount of misinformation that we are getting about living expenses and how everything in Poland is so expensive. Could somebody please give me a break down of what to expect. How much is health care premiums - unemployed and self employed Any other info would be helpful. I am semi-retired and my wife will be looking for work. Thanks

witek7205Threads: 1 Posts: 80 Joined: Jul 7, 07	Edited by: witek7205 Jul 8, 07, 11:28 / #
Quoting: moses777 How much is health care premiums - unemployed and self employed Any other info would be helpful. I am semi-retired and my wife will be looking for work. Thanks If one of you get job, entire family will be insured. It gives you right to go to a doctor , hospital, do outpatient lab and you do not have to pay anything more for that. Sometimes you have to wait days, or even months to do some lab test, so it is better to go to private doctor, but you have to pay for that. Prices are not too expensive. Remember that all cost of insurance, retirement system, tax etc is about 38% of monthly income. So you will get to your hand only 60% of your money. If you want to be self-employed, it is about 800 zl per month for social services (ZUS). if you plan to move to Poland and stay there you have to pay taxes for you worldwide income. it is 19% if you income is less than 43405 zl ( ~US$15 000) and 30% above that and 40% above US$30K. I think that you can get tax credit to not pay taxes twice, but you have to pay it in Poland which is much more expensive.

moses777	Jul 8, 07, 11:55 / #
Thanks for the quick reply. But what if I just want to retire? Would we have to pay Zus? My pension is not taxable in Canada but we pay a health care premium from our pocket.

slwkkThreads: 3 Posts: 249 Joined: Mar 31, 07	Jul 8, 07, 13:18 / #
Quoting: moses777 But what if I just want to retire? Would we have to pay Zus? No, What about health care... I don't know, but you might be interested in private health care services, in most cases visit cost approximately 20$ - luxmed.lublin.pl

witek7205Threads: 1 Posts: 80 Joined: Jul 7, 07	Jul 8, 07, 16:34 / #
Quoting: moses777 Thanks for the quick reply. But what if I just want to retire? Would we have to pay Zus? My pension is not taxable in Canada but we pay a health care premium from our pocket. There are three parts social servises (emerytura, renta) , paid to ZUS health services(ubezpieczenie zdrowotne), paid to ZUS taxes paid to US (urzad skarbowy) like IRS in the US if you are an employee, you pay all of them by your employer. It is about 38%. or more. I assumed that your tax is 19%. If you are paid well your tax increses to 30% or 40%, If you retired, you pay health insurance and taxes. Both part are normally counted by ZUS and you get your money less tax and insurance. Let me give you example. My mom gets 21619 zl per year. Health insurance is 1599 zl, tax is 1790 zl. If you pension comes from Canada, you have to pay tax (19%, or 30% or 40%) and insurance (9%) every month by yourself and fill-out tax return form (PIT-36) every year in April.

witek7205Threads: 1 Posts: 80 Joined: Jul 7, 07	Jul 8, 07, 17:04 / #
Quoting: slwkk No, What about health care... I don't know, but you might be interested in private health care services, in most cases visit cost approximately 20$ - luxmed.lublin.pl as additions. There is no private health insurance in Poland. It is no allowed by law. Luxmed and others like it are not health insurance firms. They are private doctors and specialists. Private health care services, but in most cases they are not hospitals or emergency service.

lefThreads: 13 Posts: 564 Joined: Jun 27, 06	Jul 9, 07, 01:32 / #
Quoting: witek7205 If you pension comes from Canada, you have to pay tax (19%, or 30% or 40%) and insurance (9%) every month by yourself and fill-out tax return form (PIT-36) every year in April. Not doubting what you say but if you are living in Poland receiving a foreign pension, how can you be taxed twice.. secondly how would ZUS know you are in receipt of a foreign pension? My understanding is that foreign pensions are tax free in Poland.

PuzzlerThreads: 11 Posts: 1,613 Joined: Mar 21, 07	Jul 9, 07, 02:51 / #
Moses, you'd better not move to Poland; it's not your kind of country. Better move somewhere else. Yeah, our healthcare is the most expensive in the world, and our cost of living is the highest in the world. We're all 'antisemites,' 'homophobes,' and vodka drinkers. And we eat exclusively pork. ;)

witek7205Threads: 1 Posts: 80 Joined: Jul 7, 07	Edited by: witek7205 Jul 11, 07, 21:14 / #
Quoting: lef Not doubting what you say but if you are living in Poland receiving a foreign pension, how can you be taxed twice Because when you live in Poland more than 183 days in a year you have to declare your worldwide income. It is a law. Not only in Poland. Most countries do that. Quoting: lef Not doubting what you say but if you are living in Poland receiving a foreign pension, how can you be taxed twice.. It is not taxed twice. You can get tax credit in foreign country, but you have to pay tax in Poland. If there is no tax in foreign country it doesn't mean that there in no tax in Poland. Quoting: lef secondly how would ZUS know you are in receipt of a foreign pension? Not ZUS. Tax is paid to US (Urzad Skarbowy) Answer no 1. Because law says that you have to declare it. Answer no 2. When you buy car, apartment, house first question from US will be how you could buy car if you did not declare any income. Tax for undeclared income is 75%. They can go 5 years back, which gives you 5 x 75% plus interest (about 12% a year) Quoting: lef My understanding is that foreign pensions are tax free in Poland. it is not tax free. It is not my first year when I help fill out tax return. Details depends on agreement between Poland and foreign country. Agreement between Poland and Canada says that it is not tax free.

witek7205Threads: 1 Posts: 80 Joined: Jul 7, 07	Jul 11, 07, 21:54 / #
Quoting: witek7205 Agreement between Poland and Canada says that it is not tax free. as continuation. I found one exception to that but i have to consult that to be sure that nothing has changed in law recently That exception says that pension paid by one country based on "retirement system law" are tax free in the other country as long as it is tax free in that first country. It means that if pension is not taxable in Canada it should also be not taxable in Poland. There are same restrictions which describe what institution must pay pension to be tax free in Poland. I don't know Canada's law. I must ask somebody who knows something more. Moses777. If you are still here. Could you write something more about that. What kind on pensions are in Canada. Are some of them taxed and some of them not. Can you have pension from more than one source. Is it government institution or private.

witek7205Threads: 1 Posts: 80 Joined: Jul 7, 07	Edited by: witek7205 Jul 12, 07, 18:38 / #
Quoting: lef thanks very much for the information to date, I know when you try to clear a cheque in Poland (larger amount) it can take up to 6 months. It is not so bad. 3 to 4 weeks. Because check returns to your bank and your bank must send money to Polish bank. It takes time. Wire transfer takes up to 3 days, but is expensive. The cheapest solution, if you trust the other person, is to send him debit card so he can withdraw money from ATM. It costs 2% for VISA and a couple of dollars for your bank, but amount is limited to about US$1000 per transaction. You can withdraw US$1000 dollars everyday up to the limit on your bank account.

aussie_expatThreads: 7 Posts: 41 Joined: Aug 9, 08	May 11, 09, 14:38 / #
May 11, 09, 18:10 - Thread attached on merging: Cost of Private Health Insurance? So have finally got my decision for my resident permit (and I have been waiting since October!), and my decision says I can stay however, my travel insurance has just expired so I need to get health insurance and bring it to the Office for Foreigners this week. Does anyone know how much Medicover costs? And for how long it is for? I'm only looking for about 6 months, untiul the end of this year... Any help would be much appreciated Thanks

lefThreads: 13 Posts: 564 Joined: Jun 27, 06	Jul 11, 07, 22:15 / #
Quoting: witek7205 Because when you live in Poland more than 183 days in a year you have to declare your worldwide income. It is a law. Not only in Poland. Most countries do that. Thanks for the information, interesting!.. What occurs if you decide to live in Poland, say you bring in 2 million zlote, would you have to pay tax on that? Would questions be asked if you decide to buy a property in Poland with that money? It seems you have to be very careful with bringing money into Poland, otherwise the government will try to get its greedy hands on it.

witek7205Threads: 1 Posts: 80 Joined: Jul 7, 07	Jul 11, 07, 22:20 / #
Bingo. I confirm. Pension from Canada is not taxed in Poland.

witek7205Threads: 1 Posts: 80 Joined: Jul 7, 07	Jul 11, 07, 22:37 / #
Quoting: lef Thanks for the information, interesting!.. What occurs if you decide to live in Poland, say you bring in 2 million zlote, would you have to pay tax on that? Would questions be asked if you decide to buy a property in Poland with that money? It seems you have to be very careful with bringing money into Poland, otherwise the government will try to get its greedy hands on it. It is completely different question. Money you bring in to Poland is not you periodic income. It is your savings. it is money which you received at time when you were not in Poland. It has nothing to do with regular income tax. I would have to check it. I am sure that there is a limit, but I can't exactly say how much you can bring in without tax. I will try to find it.

lefThreads: 13 Posts: 564 Joined: Jun 27, 06	Jul 12, 07, 02:42 / #
thanks very much for the information to date, I know when you try to clear a cheque in Poland (larger amount) it can take up to 6 months. Thanks mate, your a good man.