The Polish Financial Supervision Authority (KNF) reports a loophole in the regulations. Payout records from PPK, IKE, and IKZE.

In 2024, over 800,000 withdrawal orders from PPK, IKE and IKZE were executed
In the first quarter of 2025, a record PLN 607 million was paid out from PPK
Since 2019, approximately 700,000 people have already made early withdrawals from the PPK.
Participants receive 100% of their own contributions and 70% from their employer. They lose annual government subsidies.
The Ministry is not planning any changes because it fears a loss of trust and the outflow of up to a million participants.

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Poles are increasingly eager to take advantage of early withdrawals from supplementary pension plans, raising concerns among regulators and experts. Already in 2024, a total of over 800,000 refund requests from Employee Capital Plans, Individual Retirement Accounts, and Individual Retirement Security Accounts were recorded.

In the first quarter of 2025 alone, PPK participants withdrew over PLN 607 million, the highest level in the program's history. For comparison, withdrawals in the same periods in 2023 and 2024 totaled approximately PLN 400 million, and in 2022 – PLN 136 million. In total, since the PPK launched in 2019, approximately 700,000 participants have made early withdrawals. Business Insider noted that the record holder withdrew nearly PLN 1 million in a single withdrawal, and in one case, PLN 800,000. At the end of May 2025, 3.8 million people were saving in PPK, accumulating over PLN 37 billion in assets.

This is the average widow's pension. More than 530,000 people have already received the new benefit.

An incentive to participate in the program that reduces the funds collected

The premise of the Employee Capital Plans (PPK) was to accumulate funds for additional retirement security, which participants would withdraw upon reaching the age of 60. However, the regulations introduced a "backdoor" allowing for withdrawal of funds at any time, as defined in the BI, which was intended to encourage Poles to participate in the program.

From such an early withdrawal, the program participant receives 100% of the contributions deducted from their salary and 70% of the employer's contributions, with the remainder going to the Social Insurance Institution (ZUS). A 19% capital gains tax, also known as the Belka tax, is also levied on the withdrawn amount. The participant also loses annual government subsidies.

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A loophole in the regulations. It's additional income, not a pension bonus.

The Polish Financial Supervision Authority admits in its report that the right to early withdrawal is, as quoted by Interia Biznes, a "loophole in the regulations". The KNF emphasizes that many participants treat the accumulated funds as an additional source of income, rather than a form of retirement security, which results in the failure to achieve the statutory goal of accumulating funds for a future pension.

Despite this, the Ministry of Finance does not currently plan to limit the possibility of refunds from PPK, because, as Interia Biznes has learned unofficially, it fears a mass outflow of participants - up to a million people - which would mean the failure of the program.

An expert in Business Insider warns that introducing withdrawal limits "would destroy trust in the system." Many people in Poland still aren't saving extra for retirement, and additional savings are being described as an alternative to avoiding "starvation" pensions, as politicians avoid raising the retirement age.