The draft budget act for 2025 does not take into account the effects of changes in the capital gains tax, the so-called Belka tax – the Ministry of Finance informed the business editorial office of tvn24.pl. Earlier, the Minister of Finance Andrzej Domański announced that this tax would be reduced from January 1, 2025.
The government on Wednesday adopted the draft state budget for 2025. State budget revenues are to amount to PLN 632.6 billion, the expenditure limit has been set at PLN 921.6 billion, and the budget deficit is to not exceed PLN 289 billion.
“The draft budget act for 2025 does not take into account the effects of possible changes in the so-called Belka tax” – it was reported in response to questions from the business editorial office of tvn24.pl Ministry of Finance.
As explained, this happened “because the draft act amending the Personal Income Tax Act, containing reliefs and exemptions for income (gains) of natural persons from monetary capital, has not yet been entered into the List of Legislative and Programmatic Works of the Council of Ministers”.
“The initial concept presented by the Ministry of Finance is being discussed during consultations and the best solution is being developed,” it added.
The Minister announced changes
Earlier, the Minister of Finance, Andrzej Domański, announced that the Belka tax would undergo changes.
– Consultations are underway on how far we can go with reducing the Belka tax. We have proposed something in the form of a tax-free amount – separate for deposits, separate for investments on the capital market. It is not a big reduction, but it shows another step in thinking about taxes in Poland and the capital gains tax – said the head of the Ministry of Finance in May.
– The tax will be reduced from January 1. The Ministry of Finance is working on other solutions that will support Poles' savings on the financial market – said Domański.
Revenues from Belka tax
Recently, economist Rafał Mundry noted on the X portal (formerly Twitter), citing data from the Ministry of Finance, that revenues from the Belka tax in the first half of the year had already exceeded PLN 6.5 billion.
In the whole of 2023 they amounted to over PLN 9 billion.
The Belka tax is paid by millions of Poles
Capital gains tax was introduced in 2002. Initially, it only applied to interest on bank deposits, but in 2004 it began to cover all income from capital investments. In practice, millions of Poles pay it – it is enough to have any money in the account.
The capital gains tax is 19%. It concerns not only money in banks, but also capital income, i.e. profits from investments in stocks, bonds, capital funds, etc. dividendssavings deposits and loans.
The Belka tax is one of the simplest taxes in force in Poland, as it does not include any reliefs, thresholds or tax-free amounts.
In March, Andrzej Domański informed that in the case of deposits lasting longer than one year, income (interest) corresponding to “the value resulting from multiplying PLN 100,000 by the NBP deposit rate (currently 5.25% – ed.), applicable on the last day of the third quarter of the year preceding the tax year” would be exempt from tax.
“We are still wondering whether it will be the deposit rate or some multiplier. It will definitely be no less than 2.5 percent, even if the deposit rate falls. We want the tax to be limited when saving in the banking sector on deposits,” said the head of the Ministry of Finance in an interview with “Puls Biznesu”.
Changes to the Belka tax were one of the “specifics” for the first 100 days of the government – the election announcements of the Civic Coalition. “We will propose the abolition of the capital gains tax (Belka tax) for savings and investments, including those on the Warsaw Stock Exchange (up to PLN 100,000, over 1 year)” – it was announced.
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