Capital gains tax in Poland

What is the Belka tax and what does it cover?

Poland's flat 19% tax on investment income is known colloquially as the podatek Belki (Belka tax), named after Finance Minister Marek Belka, who introduced it in 2002. The rate has stood at 19% since 2004. Under Article 30b of the Personal Income Tax Act (Ustawa o podatku dochodowym od osob fizycznych, abbreviated PIT Act), the tax applies to gains realised on the disposal of listed shares, mutual fund units, exchange-traded funds (ETFs), derivative instruments, and bonds. Under Article 30a of the same Act, dividends and interest income are taxed at the same 19% flat rate, typically withheld at source by the paying company or Polish broker. The Belka tax is a final substitute tax: it is calculated separately from ordinary progressive PIT (Skala podatkowa) and cannot be offset against employment or business income. All monetary amounts are denominated in Polish zloty (PLN).

The tax base is the net gain, calculated as proceeds minus documented acquisition costs. Deductible costs include the original purchase price of the securities, brokerage commissions, account maintenance fees, and notarial costs. Polish brokers (such as mBank, PKO BP, Alior Bank) issue an annual PIT-8C information form summarising the year's disposals, which taxpayers use when completing PIT-38. For foreign-broker accounts (eToro, IBKR, Revolut), the taxpayer must manually enter disposals on PIT-38, converting amounts to PLN at the Narodowy Bank Polski (NBP) reference rate applicable on the day before each transaction. [1][2]

How is PIT-38 filed and what does the loss carryforward rule allow?

The annual tax return for capital gains from securities, derivatives and crypto is PIT-38, filed between 15 February and 30 April of the year following the tax year. The deadline for the 2025 tax year is 30 April 2026. Filing is mandatory even if the year's result is a net loss: submitting PIT-38 with a recorded loss locks in the right to offset that loss against future gains.

Loss carryforward is governed by Article 30b(4) of the PIT Act and operates as follows. Capital losses may be carried forward for up to five consecutive tax years. In any given year, a taxpayer may offset either (a) up to 50% of the total loss carried from a single prior year, or (b) a one-time single-year deduction of up to PLN 5,000,000, with the remainder spread over the remaining carryforward years subject to the 50% annual cap. Critically, losses are ring-fenced by income category: a loss on share disposals (Article 30b) cannot reduce tax due on dividends (Article 30a), and neither can be used against crypto losses or gains. Crypto cost surpluses similarly carry forward exclusively against future crypto revenue. Losses cannot be carried back to prior years.

How does the five-year real estate exemption work?

Real-estate capital gains are governed by a separate mechanism under Article 10(1)(8) of the PIT Act rather than the Article 30b Belka framework. Gains realised on the disposal of residential or commercial property are taxed at 19% on the net gain (proceeds minus acquisition cost, purchase-related notarial and agency fees, court fees, and documented renovation costs). However, the five-year holding-period rule means that any disposal made after five years from the end of the calendar year of acquisition is entirely tax-free, with no PIT-39 return required.

The five-year clock is calculated from 31 December of the year of acquisition, not from the purchase date itself. A property purchased on 15 March 2020 is first exempt on 1 January 2026 (five years from 31 December 2020). A property purchased on 30 November 2021 is exempt from 1 January 2027. This end-of-year calculation is a frequent source of confusion and is worth verifying precisely with a qualified tax professional for any sale planned close to the five-year boundary.

When the exemption does not apply, gains are reported on the PIT-39 return, filed by 30 April of the following year. As with PIT-38, losses on real-estate disposals may be carried forward for up to five years, ring-fenced within the real-estate category. [3][4]

What is the housing reinvestment relief (ulga mieszkaniowa)?

Even within the five-year taxable window, a seller who reinvests sale proceeds in their own residential housing qualifies for the ulga mieszkaniowa (housing relief) under Article 21(1)(131) of the PIT Act. If all net proceeds are reinvested, the tax liability falls to zero. If only part of the proceeds are reinvested, the exemption is proportional: PLN 600,000 reinvested from a PLN 1,000,000 disposal produces 60% exemption on the taxable gain.

The reinvestment window is three years from the end of the calendar year in which the sale took place. A 2025 property sale provides until 31 December 2028 to complete qualifying expenditure. Qualifying uses include: purchase of another residential property in Poland, an EU member state, or an EEA country; construction of a new residential building; renovation or adaptation of existing accommodation for residential purposes; and repayment of a mortgage secured on a property used for the taxpayer's own residential needs. The relief applies only to the seller's own residential property, not to investment property held for rental. Documentation of all reinvestment expenditure must be retained and may be requested by Krajowa Administracja Skarbowa (KAS). [3][4]

How is cryptocurrency taxed in Poland?

Since 2019, virtual currency gains have been taxed at a flat 19% under Article 17(1)(11) and Article 30b of the PIT Act, reported on the same PIT-38 form used for securities gains. The KAS (National Revenue Administration) confirmed the current framework through individual tax interpretations issued in late 2024. Taxable events arise when cryptocurrency is exchanged for fiat currency (PLN or other), used to purchase goods or services, or converted to non-virtual-currency property rights. Crypto-to-crypto swaps are tax-neutral under the Polish framework and do not trigger a taxable event at the time of exchange.

Deductible acquisition costs include documented purchase prices and exchange commissions. Notably, mining and staking infrastructure costs (electricity, hardware) are not deductible. Where a tax year's documented acquisition costs exceed proceeds, the surplus is carried forward to the following tax year and applied against future crypto revenue. This cost-carryforward mechanism has no statutory time limit for crypto (unlike the five-year cap for securities losses). From 2027, Polish and EU-based crypto exchanges will be required to report user transaction data to KAS (covering 2026 transactions onward under the DAC8 directive transposition), increasing reporting coverage substantially. [5][6]

What is the status of the Belka tax reform debate?

The ruling coalition that took office in late 2023 campaigned on reforming or abolishing the Belka tax to encourage long-term retail investment. Finance Minister Andrzej Domanski announced a reform framework in early 2024 that would introduce annual exemption thresholds for longer-term holdings. Successive draft proposals referenced a PLN 100,000 annual exemption for income from securities held beyond minimum periods, Treasury bonds with maturities of at least one year, and fixed-term savings accounts of at least one year. An alternative proposal cited a PLN 140,000 annual exemption ceiling.

As of June 2026, no reform has been enacted. Deputy Minister Jaroslaw Neneman stated that the various concepts require thorough analysis due to complexity and that the Ministry was unable to confirm a publication timeline. Work on earlier detailed assumptions was abandoned as unnecessarily complex. The reform has become widely described in Polish financial media as an unfulfilled campaign promise. Investors and savers continue to operate under the existing 19% framework with no confirmed implementation date for any change. Anyone planning transactions that depend on a reduced or abolished Belka tax should verify current legislative status with a qualified tax professional before acting. [7]

For current personal circumstances and cross-border situations, consult a qualified tax professional or review the Poland country overview. Polish-resident investors with foreign-broker accounts face additional documentation requirements that vary by treaty and broker jurisdiction.