An overview of the property tax system in Poland for foreign citizens and expats
Interest in Polish real estate among foreigners, including Ukrainian expats, continues to grow. At the same time, it is important to consider the tax burden associated with both the purchase and ownership and sale of a home. In this article, we will look at the key taxes related to real estate in Poland, as well as the current rates and features for individuals.
– Tax on the purchase of real estate: tax on civil law transactions (PCC)
When purchasing secondary real estate (from a private individual), the buyer is required to pay PCC at a rate of 2% of the property value.
Example: an apartment for €100,000 — the tax will be €2,000.
If the property is purchased on the primary market (from a developer), PCC is not payable, but VAT is charged (usually 8% or 23% depending on the type of housing and area).
Up to 150 m² for an apartment or 300 m² for a house — 8% VAT
Above these limits — 23% VAT on the excess
The purchase is accompanied by notary fees: drawing up the agreement, entry in the land register, registration fees. The average amount of additional costs is about 2–4% of the purchase price.
– Property tax (Podatek od nieruchomości)
This is an annual local tax paid by every property owner. It is determined at the commune (municipality) level and depends on the size of the property.
Maximum rates in 2025 (set annually by the Polish Ministry of Finance):
Apartments and houses: up to PLN 1.15 per m² (≈ €0.27)
Land plots for residential purposes: up to PLN 0.70 per m² (≈ €0.16)
Example: a 60 m² apartment in Warsaw → tax ~ €16 per year.
Important: the rate is lower in small towns and closer to the maximum in the capital.
– Tax on rental income
If the property is rented out, the income is taxable. Individuals can choose one of the following schemes:
Market rate (general PIT scale): 12% up to PLN 120,000 of income per year and 32% on the excess (2025)
Flat rate (ryczałt): 8.5% on income up to PLN 100,000 and 12% on the excess
The ryczałt regime is popular among small landlords, especially for short-term rentals.
– Capital gains tax (on sale)
When selling real estate earlier than 5 years after its acquisition, there is an obligation to pay 19% capital gains tax on the profit.
Exceptions:
The tax is not payable if the seller has owned the property for 5 years or more.
Exemption is also available if the entire amount is used to purchase a new home or for construction within 3 years.
– Other costs and fees
Property maintenance: utility bills, repair and management fees (especially in residential complexes)
Garbage collection fee: set by the municipality, depends on the number of residents
Management company fees: from PLN 2 to PLN 4/m² per month (€0.5–1/m²)
The Polish real estate taxation system is moderate and relatively transparent. Particular attention should be paid to the PCC tax when purchasing and the obligation to pay capital gains tax when selling. For foreign investors and relocators, it is important to take into account the total tax burden in advance when planning a purchase or lease.
relocation.com.ua recommends consulting a Polish tax advisor or lawyer before entering into a transaction to avoid unexpected costs and optimize the tax consequences.
The indirect cost of housing construction in Ukraine in the second quarter of 2025 increased by 2.8% compared to the previous quarter and by 14.3% to the same quarter of 2024, it follows from the indices of indirect cost of housing construction in the regions of Ukraine approved by the Ministry of Development of Communities and Territories (Ministry of Development).
The relevant document establishes indirect indicators of the cost of housing construction, calculated as of July 1, 2025. According to it, the average indicator in Ukraine is 25.3 thousand UAH/square meter, while on July 1, 2024 it was 22.2 thousand UAH/square meter.
According to the Ministry, the indirect cost of construction of 1 square meter of housing in Kiev in the second quarter rose to 29.6 thousand UAH, in Kiev region – to 25.3 thousand UAH, in Lviv region – to 25.2 thousand UAH, in Zakarpattya region – 22 thousand UAH, Ivano-Frankivsk region – 22.8 thousand UAH, Odessa region – 24.3 thousand UAH, Dnipropetrovsk region – 24.6 thousand UAH. Also high indicators are set in Kharkiv and Donetsk regions – 26.6 thousand UAH/sq. m.
cost of construction, HOUSING, statistics by regions, UKRAINE
Volumes of investments in primary housing in the next 2-3 years will grow up to 15% annually, such a forecast was voiced by CMO Alliance Novobud Irina Mikhaleva in comments to the agency “Interfax-Ukraine”.
“The market has adapted to the realities of wartime, and key investors – in particular Ukrainians, and for business class – often foreigners, are increasingly choosing new buildings as a tool for preservation and multiplication of capital. In the next 2-3 years we expect that the volume of investment in primary housing will grow by 10-15% annually, the demand for income property and business class real estate will increase, and the main role will be played by trust in the brand of the developer and security of location”, – said Mikhaleva.
She noted the competition from the secondary market, but does not consider it determinant. After all, the primary market competes not only with more comfortable layouts and well thought-out infrastructure, but also with systematically better quality solutions, first of all, safe and inclusive.
“Modern layouts with wider doorways, spacious bathrooms, principles of inclusiveness, new and reliable engineering communication systems, safe and reliable monolithic-frame construction technology, energy efficiency, alternative ways of energy supply,” Mikhailova lists the advantages of primary housing.
According to experts of Alliance Novobud, soon there will be a shortage of ready housing in the segment of the capital’s business and comfort classes. The reasons are different: in the business class part of the projects have not yet been restored or are realized with significant delays, in comfort – the potential demand is higher than the volume of launch of new projects.
“To ensure maximum investor protection, we are implementing several key approaches in Alliance Novobud, in particular, transparency of the legal model, financial stability of the company, construction phasing and internal control. At the same time, we continue to adapt to the needs of the market, offering investors installments more affordable than bank mortgages,” she says.
According to the data of the portal of new buildings LUN, Alliance Novobud was founded in 2006, since 2010 the company has commissioned 37 houses and parking lots. During the full-scale invasion commissioned 12 houses for more than 1.3 thousand apartments in Brovary and in Kiev. In the process of realization 9 houses of Krona Park II residential complex in Brovary and a premium class project in the capital Montreal House.
Montenegro is one of the most affordable countries in Europe in terms of real estate prices and one of the easiest in terms of legal formalities for foreigners. In recent years, it has become particularly popular among citizens of the CIS and EU countries due to its mild climate, sea, prospects for price growth, and loyal tax policy. However, when buying an apartment or house, it is important to understand what taxes and fees you will have to pay.
Main taxes when buying real estate in Montenegro
Rate: 3% of the market value of the property as determined by the tax authorities (not always the same as the price in the contract).
The tax is paid once, within 15 days after the conclusion of the agreement and submission of documents to the tax office.
Rate: 21%, already included in the contract price.
In this case, the property transfer tax (3%) is not levied.
Property ownership tax
The rate is set by municipalities and usually ranges from 0.1% to 1% of the cadastral value (depending on the location, type, and condition of the property).
For example:
Apartment in Budva or Kotor — approximately 0.25–0.5%
Properties on the coast and in tourist areas are taxed at a higher rate
The tax is paid once a year, usually by the end of March.
Important: a penalty is charged for late payment.
Additional costs
Renting real estate: taxes for the owner
If the property is rented out, the owner is obliged to:
Obtain a short-term rental permit from the municipality.
Keep a register of guests and pay tax:
Fixed tax on rental income — 9%.
Plus tourist tax per guest — approximately €1 per night.
From 2024, compliance with these requirements will be actively monitored (introduction of electronic accounting systems).
Example
Apartment in Budva for €150,000, purchased from a private individual:
Property transfer tax: 3% = €4,500
Annual property tax (0.4%): €600
Notary + registration fees: ~€1,000
In case of rental: income tax — 9% of profit
Montenegro offers a relatively simple and predictable tax system for real estate. One-time tax on purchase — 3% or 21% (for new construction), annual tax — low. Rental income is taxed at a moderate rate but requires compliance with formalities.
Source: http://relocation.com.ua/property-taxes-in-montenegro-what-buyers-need-to-know/
A legal conflict over share contributions for construction projects started after 2021 is causing housing prices to rise and slowing down investment activity, according to the Ukrainian Association of Developers.
The repeal of Law No. 132-IX, which abolished share contributions for projects whose construction began after January 1, 2021, was supposed to help reduce housing prices and stimulate investment activity. However, in practice, the industry has encountered a situation where communities are demanding, including through the courts, the payment of share contributions for projects for which construction permits were obtained before that date but construction began later. In particular, the Department of Economy and Investment of the Kyiv City State Administration is the plaintiff in 152 court cases seeking to recover equity contributions from construction customers.
As of March 1, 106 such cases were pending in courts of various instances for projects launched in 2020-2022 worth approximately UAH 1.59 billion.
“In 2019, the authorities officially recognized that equity participation had become a source of corruption, and therefore Law No. 132-IX was adopted to abolish it. This was a principled position of the state – to eliminate a quasi-tax on real estate, which was actually paid by home buyers. This decision contributed to a reduction in housing prices and was intended to stimulate investment activity in the industry. Despite the clear official position of the Ministry of Community and Territorial Development of Ukraine, the authors of the law on the abolition of equity participation, and the relevant committee of the Verkhovna Rada, the prosecutor’s office and local authorities continue to ignore the provisions of the current legislation,” said Yevgeny Favorov, chairman of the board of the Ukrainian Association of Developers, to Interfax-Ukraine.
A fixed property tax is proving to be very effective for community development.
The head of the Verkhovna Rada Committee on Organization of State Power, Local Self-Government, Regional Development, and Urban Planning, Olena Shulyak, one of the authors of Law No. 132-IX, emphasized that even at the stage of abolishing share participation, there was a compensatory alternative, namely a fixed property tax. This tool has much higher potential for solving infrastructure problems, is easier to administer, and has significantly lower corruption risks than the share contribution.
“In fact, the share of equity participation in local budget revenues was very small — about 1%. These funds were not used for the construction of new kindergartens, schools, and other infrastructure, and the intended use of these funds was not controlled. Therefore, we have a property tax. I would not say that this is a universal compensatory measure, but we can now see that, in terms of figures, it already exceeds it many times over. Thus, in 2020, it amounted to 5.7 billion, in 2021 – 7.8 billion UAH, in 2022 – 7.1 billion UAH (despite the war), in 2023 – 9.1 billion UAH, in 2024 – 10.7 billion UAH, and in 2025 (as of now) – 4.3 billion UAH. In terms of share contributions, we see the following figures: in 2020, share participation funds amounted to 1.4 billion UAH, in 2021 – 572 million UAH, in 2022 – UAH 134 million, in 2023 – again UAH 134 million, in 2024 – UAH 199 million, in the current year (as of now) – UAH 159 million,” Shulyak said.
She emphasized that equity participation as a tool had long been ineffective, which is why it was abolished at the legislative level.
“But this does not mean that communities do not have the right to defend their interests in court when it comes to cases covered by the old legislation. Indeed, some communities, in particular Kyiv, remain active in legal disputes over equity participation – these are situations where objects received permits before 2020 but were completed later. In such cases, the legal basis for claims is most often Article 1212 of the Civil Code of Ukraine, which deals with unjustly retained property. As for other communities, we do not yet have centralized statistics on the number of claims,” Shulyak said.
At the same time, in her opinion, if the agreement on the payment of a share was not concluded before the law on its cancellation came into force, such charges are unfounded.
Regarding projects where the participants have changed during this period, she noted that if the new construction customer carries out construction in accordance with the construction permit issued to the previous customer before January 1, 2021, there are no grounds for non-payment of the share participation. However, if the construction permit was obtained after January 1, 2021, the share participation is not payable.
“If the construction customer is implementing a completely new project in terms of functionality, etc., then in this case it is more expedient to terminate the previous permit and obtain a new one. Thus, the new permit will be obtained after January 1, 2021, and the construction customer will not have any obligations to pay the share contribution,” Shulyak recommends.
Conflict: permit obtained before the share contribution was canceled, construction started after.
According to experts from the Association of Developers, when the share contribution was canceled, a legal conflict was identified that created a legal loophole in the regulation of the relevant legal relations. This was directly acknowledged by the Supreme Court in its decision of July 20, 2022, in case No. 910/9548/21, which states: “Law No. 132-IX does not regulate issues of share participation in cases where construction of the facility began after January 1, 2021.” At the same time, by providing its own interpretation of these legal relations, the court effectively departed from the essence and intention of the legislator, which was to completely eliminate equity participation as a quasi-tax on real estate.
On May 14, 2025, in case No. 320/44099/23, the Supreme Court finally confirmed that the changes to the procedure for attracting and using share contributions adopted by the Kyiv City Council in 2019-2020 are unlawful and invalid. In other words, with this decision, the Supreme Court confirmed that the legal basis used by the city authorities since 2019 to calculate share participation, conclude relevant agreements, or issue financial claims is unlawful, i.e., illegal.
“In addition to the legally unfounded position of the city authorities, another important aspect should be noted. The city already receives billions of hryvnia from developers and home buyers in the form of engineering, transport, and social infrastructure facilities that have been built and transferred to municipal ownership,” Favorov noted.
The cities have received new engineering infrastructure worth billions of hryvnia, but the issue of transferring it to the social balance sheet has not been resolved, experts noted.
According to estimates by the Ukrainian Association of Developers, in just eight projects by five member companies in Kyiv, engineering, transport, and social infrastructure worth more than 5.6 billion hryvnia has already been created. The total cost of all the infrastructure that city developers have built over the years is estimated at tens of billions of hryvnia, Favorov said.
Many of these assets are transferred to the balance sheet of municipal enterprises, which not only receive them free of charge but also receive a stable income by charging residents for the maintenance of the built networks.
As for social infrastructure, such as kindergartens and schools, their creation is required by building regulations, but there is no de facto procedure for transferring such facilities to communities.
Anna Laevskaya, commercial director of Intergal-Bud, spoke about two precedents when the company tried to negotiate with city authorities regarding educational infrastructure—a kindergarten in the Parkovye Ozera residential complex in the Dniprovsky district and in the Yaskryvy residential complex in the Minsk district.
“In Parkovye Ozyora, we offered to transfer to the city a turnkey kindergarten with 120 places, complete with furniture, dishes, and toys. All that remained was to take it on the balance sheet and open it. At that time, equity participation was in effect, the city was in dialogue with us, and possible options were discussed for accounting for the kindergarten as part of a share contribution or providing other preferences for the developer. But at the moment of signing the deed of transfer, that is, in essence, the legal transfer to the city, it became clear that there were no legal possibilities to count it as a share contribution. We had to return the kindergarten through the courts,” she stated.
A similar story happened with a kindergarten in the Obolonsky district. When forming the request, the district planned to take it on the balance sheet, but later reported that there was no legal basis or budgetary funds to open a new educational institution. The companies were advised to immediately plan for a private operator, which is what happened.
“The only option now is to invite a private operator to cooperate on the social infrastructure facilities that have been built, and this has disadvantages for everyone,” says Laevskaya.
For the developer, these facilities have an extremely low payback period of 15-25 years. They are not commercially viable, but they are necessary for the developer’s reputation. Residents would gladly choose municipal schools and kindergartens in buildings owned by the developer, but instead they have no choice but to pay a private operator of an educational institution between 15,000 and 25,000 hryvnia per month.
Laevskaya cited Hatne as a positive example of cooperation with local authorities. To resolve the issue of social infrastructure, the developer invested in the renovation and expansion of an existing school.
However, in general, the abolition of share contributions has not solved the problem of urban renewal. Ukraine still lacks a legal framework for transferring infrastructure created by developers to communities. In particular, Intergal-Bud has invested more than UAH 800 million in engineering infrastructure, including collectors, road repairs, lighting, and the reconstruction of water pumping stations and electrical substations. This does not include social facilities and the improvement of adjacent green areas (Nivki Park, the lake, etc.).
But what is happening now, attempts to retroactively charge additional fees, only exacerbate the already difficult situation of the most acute housing crisis in the history of independent Ukraine. According to experts from the Ukrainian Association of Developers, such practices cause housing prices to rise, as they create a double, unpredictable financial burden on companies, which are forced to include these costs in the price per square meter.
“These costs cannot be predicted within the business model, as national legislation explicitly prohibits equity participation. The country’s political leadership bears particular responsibility in this situation, having publicly promised voters that it would abolish equity participation and improve the investment climate. However, in practice, this turned out to be a declarative gesture that was only partially implemented in real law. What we are seeing today directly contradicts the state’s stated goals of deregulation, support for the construction industry, and ensuring affordable housing,” Favorov noted.
According to experts from the Association of Developers, the situation can be remedied.
It is necessary to eliminate the legislative conflict and clearly stipulate that for construction projects that were started before January 1, 2021, and which, as of January 1, 2021, have not been accepted for operation, share participation agreements between developers and local authorities were not concluded before January 1, 2021, the payment of share participation shall not be accrued or made.
“This will be in line with the original intention of the legislator – to eliminate the quasi-tax and stimulate the development of the construction industry,” Favorov stressed.
The Ukrainian Association of Developers was founded in 2023. The association’s members implement projects that account for 26% of the Ukrainian market and 93% of the capital’s market.
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1w0XEn7Nw5q6TKFTM3mceLKIDCr-qebOn/view
Buying real estate in Serbia is not only a profitable investment, but also an obligation to pay annual property tax. All property owners, both Serbian citizens and foreigners, must pay this tax, regardless of whether the property is used or not.
Payment schedule
Property tax in Serbia is paid quarterly:
Important: in case of late payment, a penalty of 16.5% per annum is charged, and in case of systematic evasion, penalties are possible.
How to pay tax for the first time?
For non-residents of Serbia, the procedure begins with a personal visit to the tax office. Notifications are not sent to foreigners automatically.
You must provide:
If there are several owners
Documents must be submitted simultaneously by all co-owners. The tax is calculated based on the shares:
If the shares are not specified, the amount is divided equally.
Property tax rates in Serbia (2025)
The tax is calculated based on the estimated value of the property and is divided into several categories:
Source: https://t.me/relocationrs/1036
