Polish president signs Personal Investment Accounts law with tax exemptions up to PLN 100,000

Signing and legislative path

President Karol Nawrocki signed the Personal Investment Accounts (OKI) law on Thursday, completing a legislative process that began when the Sejm passed the bill on July 3, 2026, and the Senate approved it without amendments on July 22, 2026. The law enters into force on January 1, 2027, making OKI the third investment vehicle in Poland exempt from the so-called Belka tax, alongside existing retirement-oriented instruments such as Individual Retirement Accounts (IKE). OKI accounts will be voluntary, personal, and available to any Polish citizen over 18, operated by banks, brokerage houses, investment funds, insurance companies, and voluntary pension funds. Account holders may open multiple OKI accounts but cannot share one with another person, including a spouse.

Tax exemptions and limits

Under the legislation, zloty-denominated investment assets (shares, investment fund units, bonds, mortgage bonds) held in OKI accounts will be exempt from the 19-percent Belka tax up to PLN 100,000 (EUR 23,400). Savings assets (bank deposits, government savings bonds, Treasury bills) will be exempt up to PLN 25,000 (EUR 5,850), with this limit included within the overall PLN 100,000 cap rather than added to it. Assets exceeding these thresholds will be subject to a new tax on asset value, not exceeding 1 percent, calculated through an algorithm incorporating daily valuations, deposit balances, and account duration. In 2027, the rate is set at approximately 0.85 percent, derived from 19 percent of the NBP reference rate applicable on October 31 of the previous year. From 2030, the exemption limits will be indexed annually to inflation, rounded down to the nearest PLN 100.

Market expectations and projections

The government estimates OKI could channel approximately PLN 25 billion to the Warsaw Stock Exchange by 2030 and PLN 74 billion by 2040. A BM PKO BP report projects 2.1 million OKI clients within the first three years, with 800,000 opening accounts in the first year and that number doubling in the second. The report forecasts deposits of PLN 24 billion in 2027 and PLN 39 billion in 2028, with total OKI assets exceeding PLN 200 billion after five years.

Existing savings landscape

KDPW data shows brokerage accounts in Poland exceeded 2.9 million at the end of June 2026, up 57,700 from the previous month and over 739,400 from a year earlier. Eurostat figures indicate that over PLN 117 billion, or 3 percent of Polish savings, was held in shares at the end of 2025, placing Poland 19th in the EU alongside Italy. Finns invest over 13 percent of their savings in shares, the highest in the EU. Total Polish savings exceeded PLN 3.9 trillion, with over PLN 1.9 trillion in cash and deposits. KNF data shows nearly 1.19 million IKE accounts at the end of 2025, with over 313,000 opened that year.

Reactions and challenges

Tomasz Bardziłowski, CEO of the Warsaw Stock Exchange, welcomed the signing and stressed the need for an educational campaign and a broad offering of financial instruments.

Osobiste Konta Inwestycyjne wystartują 1 stycznia 2027 - to dziś stało się faktem. Bardzo się z tego cieszę.

Dr Kamil Gemra of the Warsaw School of Economics cautioned against premature assessment of OKI's impact after only months of operation, predicting that early adopters would be the first to open accounts. He identified reaching what he called "Polska powiatowa i gminna" (small-town and rural Poland) as the key challenge. Finance Minister Andrzej Domański, speaking at the GPW, said the greatest value of OKI lay not in forecasts but in better opportunities for millions of Poles to build financial security and participate in the economy's growth.

Belka tax context

The Belka tax, introduced in 2002 by then-Finance Minister Marek Belka at 20 percent and reduced to 19 percent in 2004, applies to income from bank deposits, bonds, dividends, share sales, and investment fund profits. Ministry of Finance data shows revenue from the tax at approximately PLN 9 billion in 2023, PLN 10.5 billion in 2024, over PLN 9.3 billion in 2025, and projected to exceed PLN 9 billion in 2026. The OKI law does not abolish the Belka tax but creates an exemption for assets within the specified limits.