In a surprising number of European countries, capital-gains tax simply expires: hold your ETF long enough and the rate drops to zero. This tracker turns your purchase date into a countdown — pick your country, enter when you bought, and see the exact date your gains become tax-free, the rate you’d pay if you sold today, and how far along the clock you are.
By Kestutis Balciunas · Last verified 26 August 2026 against primary sources: Slovak Act 595/2003 §§ 7–9 and Act 580/2004 § 38ezk (slov-lex); Luxembourg LIR art. 99bis; Croatian Income Tax Act (zakon.hr, NN 114/23); Slovenian ZDoh-2 and ZINR (Ur. l. RS 40/2025). Figures are 2026-vintage and simplified — verify current law before acting. Educational tool, not advice.
The clocks it tracks
Croatia’s 2 years, Czechia’s famous 3-year test, Luxembourg’s 6 months, Slovenia’s long taper (25% falling stepwise to 0% at year 15), Hungary’s TBSZ ladder (0% after 5 full years, and 18% after 3 for a contract opened from 1 January 2025), Slovakia’s one-year rule, and Bulgaria, where there is no clock to run at all: ETFs traded on an EU or EEA regulated market are exempt from day one. Greece is still in the tool but no longer promised as a zero — its exemption is written for UCITS authorised in Greece and, on its wording, does not reach an Irish- or Luxembourg-domiciled ETF. Hungary’s system is wrapper-based: the clock applies only inside a TBSZ account, and outside one there is no clock at all.
Slovakia is the one to read carefully, and this page used to get it wrong. It was described here as “Europe’s friendliest” one-year exemption. In fact § 9(1)(k) of Act 595/2003 sets two one-year tests — more than a year since you bought, and more than a year between the security’s admission to a regulated market and the sale — and it reaches only a transfer of securities under § 8(1)(e), which means an on-exchange sale. Redeeming fund units starts no clock at all: that is § 7(1)(g) capital income, taxed at a flat 19% however long you held it. While the clock is still running, the burden is roughly 32%, because a 16% health-insurance levy sits on top of income tax for 2026–27 (Act 580/2004 § 38ezk).
Country detail: what Luxembourg’s six-month rule actually requires.
Country detail: the full Croatia guide behind the two-year clock.
One rule that surprises everyone
Each purchase starts its own clock — including every monthly savings-plan execution. Buying €300 of VWCE each month in Prague means 12 little clocks per year, each maturing three years after its own buy date. In practice this favors selling oldest-lots-first (most brokers default to FIFO, which does exactly that) and makes record-keeping worth the fifteen minutes a quarter it costs. If you might relocate before your clock runs out, read moving country with a portfolio — clocks generally do not travel with you.
What a finished clock does not promise
Elapsed time is a necessary condition, not a sufficient one, and most of these regimes attach something else to it. In Slovakia the exemption reaches an on-exchange sale of a listed security and not a redemption of fund units, and it needs the fund itself to have been listed for more than a year. In Luxembourg the €500 in art. 99bis(2) LIR is a cliff rather than an allowance: stay under €500 of total speculative profit for the calendar year and nothing is taxable, but reach €500 and the whole gain is taxed, not just the part above it. Slovenia now also offers a route with no clock at all — the INR investment account (ZINR, Ur. l. RS 40/2025) applies from 5 March 2026, taxes withdrawals at a flat 15%, caps lifetime contributions at €150,000 and lists ETFs as eligible. And in Greece the condition is not time at all: the exemption in art. 103(5) of Law 4099/2012 turns on the fund having been authorised in Greece, so no amount of waiting brings a foreign-domiciled ETF inside it.
These numbers make more sense with the guide
The free 12-page Starter Kit turns them into decisions: your first fund, a safe broker, and the tax basics for your country.
Frequently asked questions
Q: Does every ETF purchase really start its own holding period?
A: In the exemption-clock countries, generally yes — each acquisition (including each savings-plan buy) has its own start date. Selling typically consumes the oldest lots first under FIFO, which works in your favor.
Q: What happens if I sell before the clock runs out?
A: You pay that country’s normal capital-gains rate on the gain — the tool shows the current rate for your holding age. In taper systems like Slovenia’s, partial holding still earns a reduced rate.
Q: Do dividends also become tax-free after the holding period?
A: No — the clocks apply to capital gains on sale. Dividends are taxed separately in the year received, which is one more argument for accumulating share classes in these countries.
Q: Does the clock keep running if I move to another country?
A: Usually the clock becomes irrelevant: your new country of residence taxes the sale under its own rules, and most do not honor a foreign holding-period exemption. Plan moves around your clocks, not after them.
Q: Is the tax-free status guaranteed to stay?
A: No rule is permanent — these are 2026 rules, and holding-period regimes have been reformed before. Verify your country’s current law before a large sale; the tool’s dates assume today’s rules continue.