PPK in 2026: what you pay, what your employer and the state add
The calculator compares your pay with and without PPK, Poland's workplace pension scheme: how much your net falls and how much reaches your PPK account each month.
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In PPK (Pracownicze Plany Kapitałowe, Poland's employee capital plans) the employee pays 2 % of gross salary in 2026 and the employer adds 1.5 %. Both can opt for additional payments: the employee up to 2 %, the employer up to 2.5 %. The state adds a PLN 250 welcome payment and a PLN 240 annual top-up. On PLN 8,000 gross, PLN 280.00 reaches your PPK account each month while net pay falls by PLN 175.00, which is your own contribution (PLN 160.00) plus tax on the employer's payment. That payment counts as your income: it raises your taxable base, although no ZUS contributions are charged on it. Your own contribution is deducted after tax. People earning no more than PLN 5,767.20 (1.2 times the minimum wage) can cut their contribution to 0.5 %. The calculator shows the payments and the change in net pay for any salary, and the table below compares five salary levels.
What PPK saves and what it costs
Paid into your account per month
PLN 280
| Your contribution | PLN 160 |
| Employer contribution | PLN 120 |
| Drop in net pay | PLN 175 |
Net pay with and without PPK on five salaries
Basic rates: 2 % from the employee and 1.5 % from the employer, with no additional payments and no state top-ups. The last column shows how many złoty reach your PPK account for every złoty your net pay falls.
| Gross | Net without PPK | Net with PPK | Drop in net | Paid into account | Paid in / drop |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| PLN 4,806 | PLN 3,606 | PLN 3,502 | PLN 104 | PLN 168 | 1.62 |
| PLN 5,767 | PLN 4,262 | PLN 4,135 | PLN 126 | PLN 202 | 1.60 |
| PLN 8,000 | PLN 5,784 | PLN 5,609 | PLN 175 | PLN 280 | 1.60 |
| PLN 12,000 | PLN 8,510 | PLN 8,249 | PLN 261 | PLN 420 | 1.61 |
| PLN 20,000 | PLN 13,964 | PLN 13,528 | PLN 436 | PLN 700 | 1.61 |
The ratio in the last column barely moves, because every payment is a percentage of gross. On PLN 8,000 gross, each złoty less in your pay puts 1.60 złoty into your account, before state top-ups and investment returns. The second row is the PLN 5,767.20 limit up to which you can lower your own contribution.
Why net pay drops by more than your contribution
A PPK member's payslip (pasek wypłaty) shows two changes. The first is the deduction of your own 2 %, taken after tax is calculated, so it does not reduce your taxable base. The second is less obvious: the employer's 1.5 % counts as your income. The employer adds it to your taxable base and withholds a 12 % advance on it, even though the money itself goes straight into your PPK account. On PLN 8,000 gross that advance grows by PLN 15 a month.
No pension or disability contributions are charged on the employer's payment, because it is excluded from their base. Nor does it affect the employee's health contribution. On the payslip it usually appears as an information line, "PPK pracodawcy", added to income but not to the amount paid out.
Contribution reduced to 0.5 % on low pay
The PPK Act lets an employee lower their contribution to 0.5 % if their pay does not exceed 1.2 times the minimum wage, that is PLN 5,767.20 a month. On the minimum wage of PLN 4,806, net pay is PLN 3,605.85 without PPK, PLN 3,501.73 with PPK at the basic rate and PLN 3,573.82 with the reduced contribution. The employer pays the same in both cases, so lowering your own share cuts the cost of membership without losing the employer's money.
Maximum contributions: what they cost and what they bring
With additional payments the employee saves up to 4 % in total, and the employer up to 4 % of gross. On PLN 8,000 that puts PLN 640.00 into the account each month, while net pay falls by PLN 359.00. The employer's additional payment is the company's decision, so the calculator counts basic payments by default.
What the PPK calculator does not show
The tool covers only the monthly flows: your contribution, the employer's contribution and their effect on net pay. It does not forecast returns on the target-date fund, management fees or the value of your savings at withdrawal, which depend on markets and on the financial institution. Nor does the monthly result include the state top-ups: the PLN 250 welcome payment and the PLN 240 annual top-up are credited on the terms set out in the Act. The full cost of employment including the employer's payment is in the employer cost calculator, and the gross you would need to keep your net pay after joining PPK is in the net to gross calculator.
What your PPK membership costs your employer
Enter a salary and choose PPK to see how the 1.5 % payment changes the cost of employment.
What you cost your employer
Total cost per month
PLN 9,638
| Gross | PLN 8,000 |
| Employer contributions and funds | PLN 1,638 |
| Employee net | PLN 5,784 |