How to fix a B2B contract under PIP 2026, a 12-point checklist

How to fix a B2B contract under PIP 2026, a 12-point checklist

• Why fixing a contract isn’t about rewriting a sentence
• The 12-point checklist
• What you can fix on your own, without the client’s consent
• What requires the client’s consent, the four critical points
• Order of action if time is short
• What to do if the client refuses to change the terms
• Frequently asked questions
• What to do with this checklist
• Sources

Why fixing a contract isn’t about rewriting a sentence

Lawyers at competing firms usually write a checklist for the employer: what the company should do about its contractors. But if you’re a self-employed JDG (Jednoosobowa działalność gospodarcza, the Polish sole proprietorship) working for a single client, your situation is different: you don’t run the client’s company, and you can’t simply order a change to the schedule or the payment method. You need a contractor’s action plan, not an employer’s, and that’s exactly what follows.

The main mistake people make when trying to fix a contract is changing only the words on paper while leaving the actual working practice untouched. After 8 July 2026, an inspector assesses the practice itself: do you report daily, do you have a desk at the client’s office, does pay depend on the outcome⁴. A contract that says “the contractor independently determines the time and place of work” but in practice means being present from 9:00 to 17:00 at the client’s office protects no one.

Fixing a contract means changing your working practice, not the text on the first page: an inspector looks at how you work, not at what’s written there.

We compiled the full list of seven signs of disguised employment, which you can use to check your own situation before starting to fix it, in the series article “7 signs your B2B contract is disguised employment”. Risk profiles by type of cooperation are broken down in the series article “Who risks losing B2B status after the PIP 2026 reform”.

The 12-point checklist

The weighting is indicative, based on MojaFirma’s practice in similar cases, not a direct rule of law: an inspector and a court always assess all the criteria together⁵. But the four critical points (1-5, including the right of substitution, which is also critical) correspond to the four criteria for an employment relationship under Article 22 § 1 of the Polish Labor Code: the type of work, subordination, place and time, and pay for the mere fact of working¹. Reinforcing points without the critical ones barely lower the risk on their own.

What you can fix on your own, without the client’s consent

Six of the twelve points don’t require re-signing the contract or reaching an agreement with the client. This is the fastest way to get started while the conversation about the rest of the points continues.

A second client (point 1). The minimum recommended number of clients to lower risk is two or three⁶. Even a small project from a freelance platform or for an acquaintance’s business removes the strongest sign of an employment relationship: “one client generates nearly all your income”.

Example. Maksym has worked for one client for two years, receives a fixed amount every month, and works from home on a flexible schedule. In parallel, he takes on a small website layout project for another client, which contributes 10% of his annual income. Does this fully remove the “single client” sign? Partly. The main client still accounts for 90% of income, which is still a high figure⁷. The sign weakens but doesn’t disappear: an inspector will look more closely at the remaining criteria, and Maksym should look for a client with a bigger share, not a symbolic one.

Counter-example. Oksana does bookkeeping for five small companies at once, each contributing between 12% and 30% of annual income, and none of them sets her schedule. Does Oksana have the “single client” sign? No. Income spread across several independent clients, with no single one dominating, makes this sign practically absent for any of these contracts taken individually.

Your own equipment, documentation, and distance from the client’s team (points 6, 9, 10, 11). Buy your own laptop instead of using the corporate one, set up a separate email account under your own domain instead of the client’s mail, and leave internal channels reserved for full-time staff (general department meetings, subscriptions to corporate newsletters). Take out your own business liability insurance (OC), and keep invoices for your own expenses: coworking rent, software subscriptions, courses. None of this removes any of the four core signs of an employment relationship on its own, but together they build an “independence evidence file” that an inspector and a court check alongside the contract⁸.

Chief Labour Inspector’s ruling (point 12). After 8 July 2026, you can file an application with the Chief Labour Inspector (GIP, Główny Inspektor Pracy) with a detailed description of the actual cooperation. Cost: 40 zł per described situation, response time: 30 days⁹. A favourable ruling protects you from sanctions if you have followed the described state of affairs, even if PIP later runs an inspection. But this is a fallback, not the first step: it’s best to file the application after you’ve already fixed your working practice, with a description that matches reality rather than a desired outcome.

What requires the client’s consent, the four critical points

Six of the twelve points can’t be fixed unilaterally: they require a new agreement, usually in the form of an amendment to the contract. This is the hardest part, because a contractor rarely has an equal negotiating position with a client.

Pay for outcomes instead of a fixed amount (point 2). A steady monthly payment, independent of the amount of work, is a sign of a salary rather than a business’s fee for a service¹⁰.

Example. Ihor suggests renaming the monthly payment of 12,000 zł to a “subscription for availability”, while leaving the amount and frequency unchanged. Does this fix the pay sign? No. The name changed, but the substance, a fixed amount regardless of the volume of work, stayed the same. An inspector assesses the substance of the payment, not the name on the invoice.

Counter-example. Maryna agrees with a client to be paid per completed project milestone: 8,000 zł for the design phase, 15,000 for development, 5,000 for testing, with an invoice issued only after each milestone is accepted under a handover record. Does this fix the pay sign? Yes. The amount varies with the scope and the milestone, and pay is tied to the outcome rather than to presence during the month.

Flexible schedule and change of workplace (points 3, 4). Replace “the contractor is required to be available from 9:00 to 17:00 at the client’s office” with “the contractor independently determines the time and place of providing the services, subject to the deadlines set out in the milestone schedule”. You can use ready-made clauses of this kind as a starting point for negotiations, but what settles the matter isn’t the text, it’s actual practice: if, after signing a new amendment, you’re still at the client’s office every day at 9:00, the change on paper carries no weight.

Right of substitution and subcontracting (point 5). Add a clause allowing part of the work to be delegated to a subcontractor or another person, with or without the client’s approval. The obligation to perform work personally, without the possibility of substitution, matches directly one of the four criteria for an employment relationship under Article 22 § 1 of the Labor Code¹. Even a right you never use lowers the legal risk simply by existing in the contract.

Daily reporting and wording in the contract (points 7, 8). Replace the mandatory daily standup with a weekly status call or a report after each completed milestone. Check the contract text for wording typical of employment contracts rather than service contracts: “position”, “leave”, “working hours”, “subordination to a manager”, “sick leave”. None of these words alone is proof of an employment relationship, but their presence in a B2B contract looks like a hint to an inspector, even if the rest of the contract is drafted correctly.

Order of action if time is short

Not all 12 points carry the same weight, and it pays to fix them in order of importance rather than in the order they’re listed. Start by finding a second client (point 1) and agreeing on pay for outcomes (point 2): these are the two fastest, highest-impact steps, and they lower risk the most even on their own. In parallel, negotiate a flexible schedule and place of work (points 3, 4) and the right of substitution (point 5). Roll out the remaining seven points over the following weeks: they don’t replace the first five, but without them the “evidence file” will be incomplete during a real inspection.

One additional client and a change to the payment method lower risk more than any new sentence in the contract text.

What to do if the client refuses to change the terms

A contractor doesn’t own the client’s company and can’t order a change to the schedule or the payment method. If the client refuses, three options remain, and none of them calls for panic.

Option 1: show the client their own risk. After 8 July 2026, the client risks at least as much as you do: if an inspector rules that an employment relationship exists, it’s the client who pays the backdated ZUS contributions and a fine of 2,000 to 60,000 zł for a first violation². Proposing to switch to milestone-based pay or allowing subcontracting isn’t a concession from the contractor, it’s a shared interest of both sides.

Option 2: agree on partial changes now, the rest later. If the client isn’t ready to accept all six points at once, agree on the two or three most important ones (pay for outcomes, right of substitution) and return to the rest over the following months. A partial fix is better than none, and it lowers risk in proportion to the number of signs removed.

Option 3: consider voluntarily switching to an employment contract. If the client refuses to change the practice at all, and the signs of an employment relationship are clear across most of the twelve points, it’s cheaper and safer to switch voluntarily to an employment contract before 8 July 2027: this releases you from the fine under Article 281 § 1 point 1 of the Labor Code, though it doesn’t release you from backdated ZUS contributions and taxes for the past period³. For a JDG owner whose residence card is based on running a business, this decision also affects the basis for their stay in Poland, and both consequences, not just the financial one, are worth working out together.

Frequently asked questions

Do all 12 points need to be fixed at once? No. The four critical points (a second client, pay for outcomes, flexible schedule and workplace, right of substitution) deliver the biggest effect and deserve priority. The other eight strengthen protection gradually, over the following weeks after the critical ones.

How long does fixing a contract take? Finding a second client and agreeing on a new amendment to the contract usually takes a few weeks. Building an independence evidence file (records, invoices, insurance) can be done in a few days, in parallel with negotiations.

What should I do if the client refuses to sign a new version of the contract? Start with the points that don’t require their consent: a second client, your own equipment, an independence evidence file. At the same time, explain to the client that the risk after 8 July 2026 is shared, not yours alone: it’s the client who pays the fine and the backdated ZUS contributions.

Does a Chief Labour Inspector’s ruling protect me if I’ve already started fixing the contract? It protects you, but only within the limits of the state of affairs you described: if actual practice differs from what you described in your application, the protection doesn’t apply⁹. It’s best to file the application after fixing the practice, with an exact description of it, not before.

Can I fix only the working practice while leaving the contract text unchanged? Technically yes, but it’s risky: if the contract text contradicts actual practice (for example, the contract talks about independence while you’re at the office every day), that contradiction itself becomes a signal for an inspector. The text and the practice need to match in both directions.

What happens if I fix the contract but PIP still rules that an employment relationship existed in the past? Fixing the contract lowers risk going forward, but it doesn’t eliminate the past period: the new law also applies to relationships that were already ongoing before 8 July 2026⁴. That’s exactly why starting the fix earlier always pays off more than starting it later.

What to do with this checklist

The checklist gives you a plan of action, but the exact weight of each point depends on your specific contract, not on a general table. A separate article in our series on B2B contract audits ahead of PIP gives a detailed assessment of each of the twelve points against your real situation, with a priority list of what to fix first, and that’s exactly the check every one of our audits starts with.

If you work through your own JDG. The basic format is the online B2B audit: you fill out a questionnaire based on these twelve points, and within 48 hours you receive a report with a risk category and three priority actions for your contract.

If you own or run HR at a company with several B2B contractors. Systemic risk requires a bigger format, the B2B operating model audit: it reviews contracts, invoices, internal communication, and HR processes all at once against all twelve points, rather than a single contract in isolation.

See also: PIP 2026 in Poland: the complete guide for B2B contractors, 7 signs your B2B contract is disguised employment, The “two companies” model, why it does not protect you from PIP.

Sources

1. Kodeks pracy (Polish Labor Code), Art. 22 § 1
2. Act of 11 March 2026 amending the Act on the National Labour Inspectorate and certain other acts, Journal of Laws 2026 item 473, Art. 3 (amendment to Art. 281 § 1 and § 2 of the Labor Code, doubling of fines)
3. Journal of Laws 2026 item 473, Art. 16 (voluntary adjustment period until 8 July 2027)
4. Journal of Laws 2026 item 473, Art. 14 (transitional provision, application to relationships ongoing on the effective date)
5. Kodeks pracy, Art. 22 § 1 (Supreme Court case law on the combined assessment of the criteria for an employment relationship)
6. MojaFirma’s own analysis, based on Art. 22 § 1 Labor Code doctrine and PIP case-law practice
7. Kodeks pracy, Art. 22 § 1 (criterion of predominant income from a single entity)
8. Journal of Laws 2026 item 473, Art. 1 (new Art. 33a of the PIP Act, evidentiary proceedings)
9. Journal of Laws 2026 item 473, Art. 1 (new Art. 14b of the PIP Act, individual ruling by the Chief Labour Inspector)
10. Kodeks pracy, Art. 22 § 1 (remuneration for work)

Legal status as of: August 28, 2026.

This article is not legal advice. Every situation is individual and depends on the specific contract and circumstances. Author: Valerii Kushnirskyi, in-house legal practitioner at MojaFirma.