Poland’s Council of Ministers adopted a PIT and CIT amendment bill on 29 September 2026 that raises the tax on benefits paid out to family foundation beneficiaries from 15% to 19%. This is the second attempt at such a change, since President Karol Nawrocki vetoed the first version. The Finance Ministry says the goal is to close loopholes, because a family foundation is sometimes used mainly for tax optimisation rather than for managing family wealth. The changes are meant to take effect on 1 January 2027.

What changes are coming for family foundations

The bill raises the tax rate on benefits paid to beneficiaries, on hidden profits, and on assets distributed when a foundation is dissolved, from 15% to 19%. At the same time, benefits paid to a founder’s nephews, nieces, and their descendants would become exempt from PIT, and the asset lock-up period would be 2 years instead of the 3 years the Finance Ministry originally proposed. The bill also clarifies the taxation of short-term rentals, widens the catalogue of hidden profits, and brings family foundations under the controlled foreign company (CFC) rules. Anyone considering this structure should compare these changes against the full picture in our article on family foundations in Poland.

Why the rate is rising from 15 to 19%

Anna Turska-Tomczykowska, tax advisor and managing partner at Tomczykowski Tomczykowska, explains that the current system rests on two layers of taxation, a 15% CIT at the foundation level and a possible PIT for the beneficiary. Today the founder and closest family members are exempt from PIT within the statutory proportion, more distant relatives pay 10%, and other beneficiaries pay 15%. After the change, that first layer rises from 15% to 19%, a four-point increase for the founder and anyone who was exempt. From a budget perspective the 19% rate matches the tax on capital income, though the expert notes a family foundation is more than an investment portfolio, since a founder commits assets built over decades and subjects them to rules that keep applying after their death. For a comparison with another way of structuring a business in Poland, see our piece on what Sp. z o.o. is.

What this means for succession planning

Raising the rate from 15% to 19% does not undo the logic of a family foundation as a succession tool, but it shrinks the economic premium for keeping capital inside a multi-generational structure. Anyone who has already contributed assets to a foundation should also note the transitional rule allowing tax-free return of real estate and property rights to the previous owner until the end of 2027. A family foundation also has to be listed in the CRBR beneficial ownership register, so it is worth checking the beneficiary data is current before the new rules take effect.

Legal status as of 1 October 2026. The changes described are a bill amending the PIT Act and the CIT Act (government project no. UD447), adopted by the Council of Ministers on 29 September 2026. The bill is not yet law and must still go through the legislative process in the Sejm and Senate before being signed by the president.

Author: Walery Kusznirski, in-house legal practitioner at MojaFirma.