Asset declarations in family foundations. Did he hide anything from taxes?
– We are submitting a project extending asset declarations to include family foundations – announced Katarzyna Pełczyńska Nałęcz, adding: “Show me, you idiot, you hid something from the tax.”
“Today, a politician can transfer his property to a foundation and the property disappears from the radar. Meanwhile, an ordinary citizen has to account for every zloty, otherwise he is prosecuted by the tax office” – this is how Katarzyna Pełczyńska-Nałęcz, Minister of Funds and Regional Policy, explains the new legislative initiative Poland 2050 on social media.
In her opinion, there are currently two parallel worlds in Poland: wealthy politicians and ordinary people. “Transparency cannot end where the assets of MPs begin,” says the chairwoman of Poland 2050.
Family foundation for the needs of politicians
The concept of a family foundation has been operating in Poland since May 2023. This formula is intended to enable entrepreneurs to accumulate wealth and achieve effective intergenerational succession. Interest in this form of property protection has been very high from the very beginning. By March 9, 2026, 3,355 family foundations had already been entered into the register. Why?
Family foundations offer exceptionally favorable tax rules, based on deferral of taxation until the funds are distributed to beneficiaries. The foundation is usually exempt from corporate income tax as long as the money remains in the foundation. He will pay 15 percent. only when transferring assets to beneficiaries. In addition, the immediate family, i.e. tax group zero, is exempt from PIT when receiving funds from family foundations, which allows for very low effective taxation. Politicians love it.
Moreover, there are currently no legal tools that make it possible to determine the extent to which family foundations are used by people performing important public functions.
Politicians avoid paying taxes. The rest of Poles do not
The Poland 2050 proposal stipulates that all parliamentarians and state officials obliged to submit asset declarations would also have to disclose their membership in a family foundation and the assets accumulated in it. – The idea is to avoid situations in which MPs such as Sławomir Mentzen (Confederation) or Ryszard Petru (Centrum) boast about how they avoid paying taxes in Poland through family foundations – one of the Poland 2050 politicians explained to PAP during the Poland 2050 party congress.
The next steps that Poland 2050 wants to take in the near future will also include raising the second tax threshold, limiting lump-sum privileges for millionaires and a broader reform of family foundations.
In November 2025, President Karol Nawrocki vetoed an amendment to the act aimed at taxing family foundations. Finance Minister Andrzej Domański commented on the “Taxes from which we finance the army, police, schools, key investments. Shame,” wrote the head of the Ministry of Finance then.
