Poland is preparing another attempt to tax extraordinary profits at energy and fuel companies. Energy Minister Miłosz Motyka said the ministry is working on the assumptions for a new bill after President Karol Nawrocki referred an earlier windfall-tax law to the Constitutional Tribunal over concerns that it would have applied retroactively.
A new windfall-tax proposal is being prepared
Motyka said the government is looking at possible solutions both at the European and domestic level. Poland has asked for an EU-wide mechanism that could apply when oil and energy companies generate unusually high profits during periods of market disruption.
At the same time, the government is considering national measures. One option already under discussion is a higher corporate income tax for selected companies, while the Energy Ministry is also working on a separate framework for taxing what the government describes as extraordinary profits.
Motyka argued that the issue should return to parliament, although the exact structure of the new proposal has not yet been decided. This means Poland is still at an early legislative stage and there is currently no new windfall tax in force.
President challenged the earlier bill
The previous law, adopted by parliament in July, would have imposed a 60% tax on extraordinary profits generated from the sale of liquid fuels between March and December 2026. President Karol Nawrocki referred the legislation to the Constitutional Tribunal before it could enter into force.
The president’s main objection concerned retroactivity. The law was due to take effect later in the year but would have taxed profits generated several months earlier. Nawrocki argued that this raised serious constitutional concerns and also warned that the cost could ultimately be passed on to consumers through higher fuel prices.
Motyka indicated that the government could redesign the proposal to avoid that problem. He pointed to models in which an additional levy applies only after a company exceeds a defined profit or income threshold, rather than taxing earnings generated before the law takes effect.
ORLEN’s profits have put the issue back in focus
The debate has intensified after ORLEN reported a sharp improvement in earnings. The group’s net profit in the second quarter of 2026 reached PLN 7.68 billion, more than five times the PLN 1.43 billion recorded a year earlier.
Reuters reported that ORLEN also benefited from stronger refining and petrochemical margins as tensions in the Middle East pushed prices for diesel and jet fuel up faster than the cost of crude oil. The group’s energy segment also posted stronger results, supported by higher electricity and gas distribution volumes and lower fuel costs in conventional generation.
For the government, those figures strengthen the argument that companies benefiting disproportionately from an external crisis should contribute more to measures aimed at cushioning consumers from higher energy and fuel costs. Opponents of such taxes, however, argue that they can reduce investment incentives and may eventually feed back into retail prices.
The next proposal will have to avoid the retroactivity problem
The key challenge for the government will be to design a levy that can survive constitutional scrutiny. The earlier law targeted profits generated before the legislation was due to enter into force, which became the central reason for the president’s intervention.
A new model based on future profits above a defined threshold would reduce that risk. It would also bring the Polish debate closer to windfall-tax mechanisms used in several other European countries after the energy-price shock of recent years.
Sources: PAP, Office of the President of Poland, Reuters.
