Job Discussion Forums

scot47 · Joined: 10 Jan 2003 Posts: 15343

Consult Dragonpiwo on the sailing times of the next slave galley bound for the Orient ! At least in KSA and UAE your masters will pay you enough to eat !

Master Shake · Joined: 03 Nov 2006 Posts: 1202 Location: Colorado, USA

dragonpiwo · Joined: 04 Mar 2013 Posts: 1650 Location: Berlin

But remember to leave. You can always go back later. Of course if mum and dad help you out with a house or summit it's a different story.

Infinite · Joined: 05 Jan 2013 Posts: 235

There are two other institutions which schools are totally terrified of - ZUS and the Tax Offices...

What you have to keep in mind is simple - vast majority, if not all contracts, are completely illegal and contain illegal clauses. On top of that, vast majority, if not all schools, are cheating on their taxes.

Always keep that in mind. A long time ago I had a situation, my first contract, where I was forced to pull a quick one. I brought a friend, a student, with me, pretending to be a lawyer. The school owner nearly pooped a brick. ... so yea. Beat them at their own game Wink

Knedliki · Joined: 08 May 2015 Posts: 160

[\quote]

What you have to keep in mind is simple - vast majority, if not all contracts, are completely illegal and contain illegal clauses. On top of that, vast majority, if not all schools, are cheating on their taxes.

[/quote]

Bump!

What are some of the ways that schools cheat on their taxes? Just curious.

Apart from making teachers be self employed to avoid tax responsibility, what else do schools get up to? Any thoughts?

dragonpiwo · Joined: 04 Mar 2013 Posts: 1650 Location: Berlin

IH Bydgoszcz used to pay you through a UK company called Glenrex. Because you earned less than the UK tax threshold income you didn't pay tax. However, it's only appropriate if you work in the UK.

Delph will know more about the next one but there was also a scam involving you declaring you write materials and this is somehow categorized as an 'artist' or something, which means you pay less tax than a teacher. Twojstartup pull this one and they cooperate with Empik. If you spend most of your time teaching, you are a teacher not a materials writer. Making a worksheet here and there doesn't cut it.

Profilingua's unscrupulous contract states that if you quit, you owe them double the rate they pay you for your remaining classes. That's not tax cheating but an example of how shyte these language schools are in Poland.

Master Shake · Joined: 03 Nov 2006 Posts: 1202 Location: Colorado, USA

Schools have all sorts of tricks up their sleeves to avoid paying taxes and benefits.

Up until a few years ago, it was common practice for language schools to incorrectly employ foreign teachers on umowa o dzieło (contract of result) rather than on umowa o prace (employment contract). Doing this enabled schools to avoid paying additional tax and EU mandated employment contract benefits such as sick leave, paid vacation, etc. etc..

There was a crackdown on this practice and, rather than start using umowa o prace, many schools now demand that teachers start their own companies in order to employ the teachers as contractors. This is another way to avoid giving employment contract benefits. Instead, the teacher (i.e. contractor) pays all accounting, tax, health and social insurance obligations and invoices the school for all work done. The British Council even went down this road in 2010.

Knedliki · Joined: 08 May 2015 Posts: 160

Interesting stuff. It's always good to hear about how schools operate.

Infinite · Joined: 05 Jan 2013 Posts: 235

The most common way is - take money out of your pay and not pay for ZUS.

This was actually something that I've had to deal with couple of years ago. Actually it happened about 6 years ago but ZUS finally caught on and after a short look into the books of this particular school... well, let's just say that over 100 teachers were involved.