Each person can run only one sole proprietorship. However, there are solutions that allow you to run different forms of business at the same time.
Sole proprietorship and civil partnership
One of the possibilities is to run a sole proprietorship and at the same time be a partner in a civil partnership. The same person may be a partner in different civil partnerships. There are no restrictions here. A civil law partnership is a separate VAT taxpayer from a sole proprietorship. A civil partnership does not have legal personality. Therefore, the entry in CEIDG will include the partners of a civil partnership. Importantly, the partners are jointly and severally liable for the obligations of such a partnership. According to the regulations, it is the individual natural persons forming the company who are entrepreneurs who jointly pursue an economic goal. The purpose is to obtain financial benefits, and running a business in the form of a civil partnership will be a means to achieve it. However, partners in a civil law partnership can also be legal persons, or even defective legal persons, such as a general partnership. The issues of the civil partnership agreement are subject to the regulations set out in the Civil Code.
Sole proprietorship and general partnership
A sole proprietorship can also be combined with a general partnership. Such a partnership, unlike a civil partnership, has legal personality, so it can be an entity with which contracts are concluded. This does not release the partners of the general partnership from liability for its debts. According to the law, such liability is:
- personal,
- solidarity,
- subsidiary,
- unlimited.
Subsidiary liability is of the greatest importance. This means that all liabilities should first be collected from the company’s assets. Only when such assets prove insufficient to cover the claims, enforcement will cover the personal assets of individual partners of the general partnership. Joint and several liability is also an important feature. It works both in the case of a civil law partnership and a general partnership after its assets have been exhausted. This is a rule that says that the creditor can collect all or part of the debt from the personal property of any partner. Such a partner is later entitled to seek reimbursement from the other partners in the form of a recourse claim.
ZUS when merging a sole proprietorship and a civil or general partnership
A partner in a civil law partnership or general partnership is treated as a person conducting business activity. Therefore, he must pay social security contributions. However, he can take advantage of the concurrence of insurance and pay social contributions only on one account. An entrepreneur running a SOLE PROPPRIETORSHIP is obliged to pay social contributions. Therefore, there is no longer a need to pay additional social contributions for participation in a general or civil partnership. The exception is the use of the Relief for a Start or preferential ZUS contributions in a sole proprietorship. This will mean that such a person, as a partner in a civil law or general partnership, will have to additionally pay social contributions in the full amount. In this case, the coincidence of the title to insurance will work in such a way that the person will no longer have to pay these premiums in their sole proprietorship. It may sound complicated. However, for us it is our daily bread. Our accounting office also deals with the settlement of social security contributions of persons who are partners in civil and general partnerships. If you outsource accounting to us, you will not have to worry about it.
