Job Discussion Forums

[Master Shake]

Fair enough about the 90 day rule, Spiral. It's good to know I'm not going through the headache of renewing my karta pobytu completely in vain - someone may actually ask for it someday.

[sparks]

When I signed the contract with my accountant, I believe I signed something which made her responsible for errors in my accounting. She even said that if there were a problem, she would take care of it. In all the years which she did my taxes, I never had any problems or issues with taxes. ZUS was a different story, not giving me my documents for not paying, like, 12 groszy. Just utterly horrible people.

[Sgt Bilko]

I was audited by the tax people here for 2007. A year later they said I had underpaid and demanded about 7000zl. My accountant was furious because they wrote to me not her and sent them a stern letter. Nothing more was heard for a year then they did exactly the same thing. I checked all my documents but they wouldn't tell my accountant what they had found that I hadn't declared. She sent everything to them once again and, finally, I had a demand for just over 100zl at the end of last year. I paid it and the problem seems to have gone away. I guess if it's your turn to be audited, they are determined to find something wrong. We never did find out what the money was for but it seemed a small price to get them off my back. Hopefully my name won't come up in the random draw for a few more years.

As far as I'm aware, and this may be totally wrong, if they do find something wrong, you just have to pay what you should have paid, not a fine.

[delphian-domine]

[sharter]

I worked for IH 15 years ago in Bydgoszcz. I was not a new teacher then and I remember the pay was dreadful, in fact sometimes less than my phone bill. They paid yus through an English company called Glenrex and because they did that we didn't pay tax. Why not? Well, IH paid below the minimum UK taxable threshold. The rules about residency may well have changed......but I think we were also classed as voluntary workers, which sounds about right for IH.

As for this 'you can life a wonderful life' nonsense...oh behave. If you can live for 2 weeks on 20 quid you must be a vegan, teetotal, single, childless, skinflint who just gawks at the net all night. Where do you stay when you do all this travelling? Do you ever eat in restaurants (not milk bars) and do you drink top-shelf? 100Zl per day is a shite existence.....and certainly not doable if you've got a kid or a gold digging (needy student) Polish chick.

[iknowwhatiamtalkingabout]

My goodness.

When I worked there (much less than 15 years ago!) I was put up in a decent flat with rent and bills all paid by the school, I ate out as often as I ever did at home (same for going shopping), I had 2-3 big nights out per week, I had a good social life, I wanted for nothing.

[dynow]

[sharter]

...and the cow jumped over the moon!!
Last night I was online trying to book a room for a holiday in Poland next August. Average rent for a holiday studio was 10,000Zl for 29 days. The Blowup Hall Hotel was a cool 25,000Zl, average hotel cost was 7-8 thousand Zl. Last May I went to the Red Sea for 14 days all-inclusive and stayed at a 4* resort for 560 GBP (less than 3,000Zl) all in, including flights.

Poland isn't cheap at all. Supermarket food aside, pretty much everything is the same as or more than the UK now.

Go figure.

[iknowwhatiamtalkingabout]

People kept telling me that Poland was expensive, yet when I left Poland and went to the UK for the summer I noticed that my money started to evaporate!

It's not dirt-cheap, but it's not bad either. As for the kind of thing you quote, I never stay in studio appartments at home so I'm not interested in doing it in Poland.

People seem to talk about the price of luxury hotels, pricey cigars etc. For most people these things are not a concern - in Poland or at home! Living in Poland is easy on a teacher's salary, especially with a school that pays your rent and bills. Anyone who says otherwise is scaremongering. I managed fine, all my mates managed fine. Some of the best times of my life.

[delphian-domine]

[Master Shake]

[sharter]

I think I need to clarify a few things because I speak from the perspective of a divorced father who once worked in Poznan for a long time, who then left, works overseas and earns quite a bit but who now has to go there to see his son. What a terrible sentence! The meaning is clear though.


Accommodation

I have 3 options for accommodation. I can rent a studio, stay in a hotel or get a room. The fourth option of staying in a shared room in a hostel just isn't for me. The prices I quoted in my above post are all real and just two days old. The Blowup Hall price was one end of the spectrum, 2000 in a shared room is the other. 7-8 thousand for a month in a single is about average. That is expensive, especially when you see the average room. I know, I've been doing it for the past 8 years. Poland isn't by the sea and these are year round prices...ie they don't fluctuate. My Red Sea holiday was in the high season as no-one goes there in August as it's too hot. That's some perspective. It's easier to find cheaper hotels online in the UK...again, I know cos I do it all the time.

Food

It's cheap in Tesco and cheaper in Biedronka but eating out is overpriced and generally disappointing. The Economist Big Mac index is roughly equal. I must say, the restaurant food in Poznan is poor and the service generally awful.

Drink

Beer is cheaper than the UK unless you like Wetherspoon's. Shorts are much more expensive than the UK. A house double in my local in the Uk is 2 quid, which is 10 Zloty.

Electrical goods and clothes

These cost more in Poland for the same quality and brands.

Transport

Trains and buses are cheaper in Poland but petrol is nearly the same.

Bills

Mobile phones cost more in Poland and cost more to run.

However, the national average salary in Poland is somewhere around the 8,000 quid mark and in the Uk it's around 30K.

Outside London, rents and prices are more or less the same.

I work in the Middle East but flit between Poland and the UK.

[delphian-domine]

[sharter]

You will insist on arguing.

Have it your way. You can earn tonnes of money in Poland, it's really cheap and I obviously talk tosh. A 3-bedroom, 30 year-old terraced house on the south coast doesn't cost 160k in my city and a similar house in Poz doesn't cost the same in Osiedle Zodiak, on the outskirts of Poz near M1. Rent for similar quality flats ain't the same either. Pub food in the Rynek at exclusive 'restaurants' doesn't cost more than your average pub food outside London. Nonsense.

C'mon man I have a Pole sorting my stuff out and she's a great friend. Public transport is way cheaper yes and fast food, but a crap hotel in the Uk costs what a crap hotel in Poland costs. The Hotel Merkure went from 40 quid a night to 180 Euros a night in a couple of years, so I don't go there anymore obviously.

There is very little that's exclusive when it comes to quality in every day Poland aside from vodka. Those new build flats are a joke. The old kamienice type ones need rewiring, replumbing and a whole host of other upgrades, so they ain't cheap. Yes' whishy is expensive, but so is wine (ridiculously so) and imported beer.

You must go out of your way to find the cheapest places in town....I just work by averages. The noclegi off Ogrodiska is 65 a night but it's crap....I've stayed there. No hot water and a freezing room. Before you quote these low end prices go and look at them mate.

I know Poznan backwards.

You must be one of those people who regularly drinks in Dragon, where the toilets are a health hazard, the staff miserable sods and the 12Zl cider is flat. I remember it when it was an African restaurant which tried to palm off soup inside a loaf of bread as an African dish.

Actually, for the budget minded, the Vikings is a good, small, clean pub and Tylko Onas does good cheap lunches. There's a place to stay called Florka on Garbary too.......it's a crap building but the rooms are en suite and newly renovated. Hania will cut a deal there...but she's as mad as a box of frogs.

What's an average Polish salary? Spill the beans....I keep asking.

I work for oil companies.

[dynow]

delphian-domine wrote: