New tax for banks. The Ministry of Finance showed the details

The Ministry of Finance has presented a project of tax changes that will significantly charge the banking sector. From January 1, 2026, banks in Poland will pay a 30 % income tax. In the following years, the CIT rate is to be gradually reduced – in 2027 to 26 percent, and ultimately up to 23 percent. The bank tax will be reduced in parallel.

Income tax

The draft amendment to the Corporate Income Tax Act and the Act on tax on certain financial institutions was published at the Government Legislation Center. The justification emphasized that in recent years banks have achieved extremely high profits, primarily due to increases in interest rates related to inflation and economic recovery after pandemic.

The Ministry of Finance pointed out that many European countries have already taken similar actions. From 2023, nearly half of the European Union countries introduced special taxes for the banking sector or raised CIT rates. Therefore, Poland joins this group, directing additional budget revenues to financing growing defense expenses. The ministry argues that in the face of Russia’s aggression against Ukraine, it is necessary to systematically increase the expenditure on the modernization of the army, and banks – due to their results – should participate more in these costs.

Small companies

Small companies will also include changes. Starting activities, entities whose revenues will not exceed EUR 2 million, currently pay 9 % Cit. From 2026, this rate will increase to 20 percent, and in 2027 it will be reduced to 16 percent.

At the same time, from 2027, regulations reducing bank tax will come into force – from 0.0366 percent. tax base up to 0.0329 percent, and from 2028 to 0.0293 percent

The new tax regulations are to apply from January 1, 2026, while changes in bank tax – a year later.