You pay 6.82 zł per litre for petrol in Poland. Of that, 2.04 zł (29.8%) is tax and 4.78 zł is the product itself — crude oil, refining, transport and the retailer's margin combined. The tax is made up of 1.24 zł excise duty, 0.29 zł in other levies, and 0.51 zł VAT at 8%.
Legal maximum pump price in Poland, in force since 23 October 2026
Petrol 95: 6.56 zł · Petrol 98: 7.28 zł · Diesel: 7.99 zł per litre, including 8% VAT.
The breakdown below uses the European Commission's national average pump prices of 19 October 2026; the maximum price in force that day was Petrol 95: 6.89 zł and Diesel: 8.00 zł per litre. The current maximum price applies from 23 October 2026. Source: Minister of Energy, Monitor Polski 2026 item 1029.
Fuel is one of the most heavily taxed products in Europe, and the split between what the fuel costs and what the state collects explains most of the price gap between neighbouring countries. Here is exactly how the money you pay for each litre is split up in Poland, using the European Commission's weekly figures from 19 October 2026.
| Component | Per litre | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Product cost | 4.78 zł | 70.1% |
| Excise duty | 1.24 zł | 18.2% |
| Other levies | 0.29 zł | 4.3% |
| VAT (8%) | 0.51 zł | 7.5% |
| Total tax | 2.04 zł | 29.8% |
| Pump price | 6.82 zł | 100% |
✱ Tax figure corrected according to Dziennik Ustaw 2026 poz. 1288
✱ Excise duty: 1,239 zł per 1,000 litres from 3 October to 31 December 2026 (Dziennik Ustaw 2026, item 1289). Other levies: fuel charge 210.29 zł (Monitor Polski 2025, item 1238) and emission charge 80 zł per 1,000 litres (Environmental Protection Law, art. 321f). The European Commission reports all three together as excise duty; the total tax and the pump price are the same.
The fuel itself: crude oil, refining, storage, transport to the station and the retailer's margin. The European Commission reports these as a single figure. This is the part that moves when oil markets move — and it is broadly similar across the EU, because everyone buys on the same world market.
A fixed amount per litre set by the national government, charged whatever the oil price does. Excise is the single biggest reason a litre costs more in one country than in its neighbour: it does not fall when crude falls.
In Poland two levies are charged on top of excise duty: the fuel charge (opłata paliwowa, 210.29 zł per 1,000 litres of petrol in 2026) and the emission charge (opłata emisyjna, 80 zł per 1,000 litres). The European Commission includes them in its excise figure; here they are shown separately.
Value added tax at 8%, applied to everything above — including the excise duty. That is why VAT is a tax on a tax, and why a rise in crude prices raises the tax take automatically.
Filling a 50-litre tank in Poland costs about 341.0 zł at today's price. 101.7 zł of that goes to the state and 239.3 zł covers the fuel itself. Put differently: roughly 29.8% of every fill-up is tax.
At 29.8%, the tax share in Poland is 14.8 percentage points below the EU average of 44.6%. Across the 27 member states Poland ranks 27th by tax burden on petrol.
The most heavily taxed petrol in the EU right now is in Netherlands (53.0%); the lightest burden is in Poland (29.8%).
We do not yet have a full year of comparable breakdown data for Poland.
29.8% — 2.04 zł of every 6.82 zł litre. That is 1.24 zł in excise duty, 0.29 zł in other levies and 0.51 zł in VAT.
Almost always because of excise duty, not the fuel itself. Every EU country buys on the same world market, so product cost is similar everywhere (4.78 zł per litre here). What differs is the fixed duty each government adds — and the VAT rate applied on top of it.
Yes. VAT at 8% is calculated on the full price including excise, so it is charged on the tax too. This is why the total tax take rises automatically whenever crude oil gets more expensive.
Weekly. The figures come from the European Commission's Oil Bulletin, which member states report every Monday and the Commission publishes mid-week. The numbers on this page are from 19 October 2026.
Crude oil, refining margin, storage, transport to the filling station and the retailer's own margin — reported by the Commission as one combined figure of 4.78 zł per litre. It is not broken down further at source.
Source: European Commission — Weekly Oil Bulletin. Data from 19 October 2026 · European Commission Weekly Oil Bulletin.