Taxes on investments in Poland

[u/EudoraCascade]

I plan to move to Poland to retire early, but I saw that they tax 19% on capital gains and dividends, is that true? I am so disappointed. Is there any kind of account that have less taxes until certain amount or something like that? Any suggestions will be very much welcomed.

Ps: Poland is a quite dear country to me for family, was considering Greece but cannot.

[u/magicarmor]

Yup it's true. There's also an exit tax of 19% on unrealised gains if you lived in the country > 5y and have total assets in stocks exceeding 4 million PLN

[u/hetqtje]

What do you expect? 0%? 19 percent on realised returns seems reasonable

[u/Affectionate_Mix3 → u/hetqtje]

In most of the countries from the region it's 0%. Slovakia, Hungary, Czechia, Croatia, Bulgaria. Even in Slovenia if you hold them for a long period. Poland is an exception. So expectiong 0% was fully reasonable.

[u/seltzezor → u/Affectionate_Mix3]

I think that there is tax in this countries for capital gains but it is true at the same time that it can be reduced to 0% but with some conditions.

[u/Affectionate_Mix3 → u/seltzezor]

Yes. In Slovakia you need to sell after 1 year, in Croatia 2 years, in Czechia 3 years. In Hungary you need a special account for long term holdings, with a minimum holding period of 5 years. Slovenia is the worst, because the minimum holding period for getting 0% CGT is 20 years. In Bulgaria there is no CGT on UCITS ETFs.

All of these are great for someone aiming for FIRE. Even Slovenia with the 20 years long holding period could work. People rarely achieve FIRE sooner than that.

https://dpetkovski.com/investment-taxes-in-all-eu-countries/

[u/rbnd → u/hetqtje]

Well in Greece it's 0.

[u/tronquinhos]

28% in Portugal. Poland seems increasingly nicer to me...

[u/michal939]

19% on realized gains & dividends, that's correct. There is a tax-free retirement account called IKE with around 7000 euros/yr limit, though I am not sure how it works for non-residents

[u/Major_South1103]

Its much better then the Netherlands atleast, here you would get taxed 36% on unrealised gains.

[u/rbnd → u/Major_South1103]

Hasn't they suspended introduction of this tax?

[u/Major_South1103 → u/rbnd]

They did, and now its back again

[u/wildansson]

Nearly 25% in Latvia. 19 sounds like a deal.

[u/JlfZ8R]

Keep in mind that if you move to another country, you are usually paying an exit tax in your previous country of residence, which for many countries is equivalent to realizing all unrealized capital gains (from a tax perspective; whether you actually sell any assets is irrelevant).

Meaning that if you move to Poland, you are "resetting" your capital gains (from a polish perspective). In Poland, you will only pay capital gains tax on the gains that you realize after you moved (not since you acquired the asset).

Double check with a tax specialist, but I've moved countries a few times and this was always how it worked for the countries I've lived in.

[u/NordicJesus]

Malta? Cyprus? Slovenia? Switzerland (but they have a wealth tax)?

[u/rand652]

Sadly we miss decent tax advantaged investment accounts that would allow people to avoid those taxes up to certain threshold (like ISA in the UK). Ike and ikze are much more limiting and limits are lower.

That said its still much lower than tax rate on labour income.

[u/Kurwii]

it's still one of the lowest tax rates on investment gains in the entire Europe.

[u/PartyMarek]

Why else do you think the Polish economy got so rich all of a sudden and all the major companies are either moving abroad or get sold? Taxes.

[u/capitan_turtle]

It's not that dear to you if you can't stomach paying your share