The Ministry of Family, Labour and Social Policy have prepared a draft bill on amendment of the Act on the State Labour Inspection. Pursuant to the proposed changes, the State Labour Inspection will have the right to decide whether a customer and a service provider are in fact in a work relationship. The Inspection will be able to examine the relations of the parties in a situation, in which they are parties to a civil law contract (for example, a B2B service contract) and a suspicion arises that the contents and conditions of this cooperation correspond to those of an employment relationship.

Decisions of the State Labour Inspection will be implemented immediately as regards the effects that the labour law provisions provide for an employment relationship and obligations relating to taxes and social security, as of the day of issuing the decision. This means that as of the day when the Inspection issued the decision, the self-employed person becomes an employee and their counterparty – an employer. In such a situation, the employer will have to meet a number of employee requirements, such as start a personal file, refer the person to a medical examination, pay social security contributions and advancements on personal income tax.

The audited entity and the person who has concluded a B2B or other civil law contract with it will both have the right to appeal against the decision within 7 days from its issuance. Unfortunately, the appeal does not withhold the execution of the decision issued by the State Labour Inspection.

The obligations regarding taxes and social security contributions due for the period until issuing the decision by the inspector will have to be paid upon the lapse of the deadline for filing an appeal against the decision (i.e. after 7 days) or, if the entity or the person remaining in a business relationship with the entity files an appeal – upon the final completion of the court proceedings.

The changes are revolutionary and may cause a lot of trouble and bring a lot of additional obligations to entities operating with B2B contractors. The additional obligations include, among others, converting the invoice sums into salaries as well as calculating and paying social security contributions and advancements on personal income tax. The changes will also cause numerous problems with VAT on invoices.

The new provisions are due to enter into force on 1 January 2026. It is worth verifying the signed contracts in terms of their transparency of obligations and scope of cooperation, and to get prepared for possible audits of the State Labour Inspection.