INR in Slovenia 2026: How the Investment Account Works

The individual investment account (INR) is a new way to invest in Slovenia that, since March 2026, brings a lower and simpler tax on returns. You pay money into an INR and use it to buy ETFs, shares or bonds, and you only pay tax when you take money out of the account: 15% of the gain, or nothing after 15 years without withdrawals. In return, contributions are capped at €5,000 a year (€20,000 in the first year), and you can only open one INR. Because costs differ a lot between providers, choosing the provider matters almost as much as choosing the ETF.

What an INR would cost you at each provider for your amount and way of investing is worked out in the INR provider comparison.

How an INR works

The INR is governed by the Individual Investment Accounts Act (ZINR), which has applied since March 2026. You open the account with a bank or brokerage licensed to offer INRs and transfer money into it. With that money you then buy the financial instruments the law allows: ETFs, shares, bonds, treasury bills and investment funds issued or traded in the EU, the EEA or OECD countries.

The key point is that nothing that happens inside the account counts for tax. If you sell one ETF and buy another, you pay no tax. Dividends and interest paid into the account are not taxed as they arrive either. Tax is only charged on a withdrawal, that is when you move money from the INR to your current account. The provider calculates the tax and reports it to the Financial Administration, so you don’t have to declare your sales every year yourself.

Contribution limits

Contributions are capped per calendar year:

The cap applies to contributions, not to the value of the account. If your investments grow to €200,000, that’s fine, but you can’t pay in more than €150,000. Unused allowance from one year does not carry over, so if you have savings you want to invest for the long term, it makes sense to pay in as much as you can in the first year.

How withdrawals are taxed

On withdrawal, the gain is taxed, meaning the difference between the value of the account and your contributions. The rate is a flat 15%, no matter how long the money has been invested. A withdrawal is completely tax-free if at least 15 years have passed since the INR was opened and you haven’t withdrawn anything in between. After each withdrawal the 15-year period starts again.

For comparison: on a regular trading account, the gain on a sale is taxed on a declining scale, from 25% in the first five years to 0% after 15 years, separately for each purchase. The scale is explained in more detail in the article on how ETFs are taxed in Slovenia.

A simple example: you buy an ETF for €10,000 and after eight years it is worth €15,000. On a regular account you would pay 20% on the €5,000 gain, so €1,000 (ignoring the standardised costs). In an INR you would pay 15% on withdrawal, so €750. After 15 years without withdrawals, the tax would be €0 in both cases.

With regular monthly investing the difference is even larger. On a regular account every monthly purchase has its own 15-year clock, so money invested in year 14 stays taxable for almost another 15 years. In an INR the clock runs from the day the account was opened, so after 15 years the whole account is tax-free, including contributions from recent years. Whether that advantage actually pays off depends on costs, as the section INR or a regular brokerage account shows.

Who offers an INR

According to the register of the Securities Market Agency (ATVP), seven providers offer an INR. With four of them you choose your own investments: NLB, OTP banka, BKS Bank and ILIRIKA. Generali Investments, Triglav Investments, JonatanMars Invest and ILIRIKA also offer portfolio management, where a manager picks the investments for you and you pay a management fee.

All four providers where you invest yourself give a 50% discount on purchase commissions in 2026. The discount is temporary, so don’t treat it as permanent in a long-term calculation.

What an INR costs

With an INR you pay three kinds of costs: a commission on every purchase and sale, a yearly custody fee, and a fee on withdrawal. When buying an ETF on the German Xetra exchange, the fixed costs of the foreign broker also matter, and some providers charge them on every order. That makes small monthly purchases disproportionately expensive with some providers.

Let’s look at two examples. Both assume a 6% yearly return, 15 years of investing in one ETF, a withdrawal at the end, and the providers’ price lists as published in September 2026, without the temporary discount.

Maja pays in €100 every month and buys the ETF every month. Over 15 years she invests €18,000, which grows to about €28,700. Costs with each provider:

The gap between the cheapest and the most expensive provider is almost €2,600, more than a tenth of everything Maja pays in. With such small amounts, fixed order costs eat a large part of the return.

Žan saves €400 a month but buys the ETF only once a year, when he has €4,800 together. Over 15 years he invests €72,000. Costs are now similar with every provider, between €1,369 (ILIRIKA) and €1,536 (OTP banka), with NLB and BKS in between. If Žan bought every month, his costs would range from €2,467 at BKS to €4,892 at NLB.

Buying less often lowers costs, but money waiting to be invested doesn’t grow in the meantime. In our model, at a 6% return, monthly purchases at BKS pay off better than yearly ones despite the higher costs, while at NLB it is better to buy less often. So first decide how you will invest, and only then choose the provider. You can check both quickly in the INR provider comparison, where you enter your starting amount, monthly savings and how often you buy.

INR or a regular brokerage account?

An INR isn’t the only way to invest in ETFs. You can also buy them on a regular account, for example with the online broker Trade Republic, where savings plans are executed for free, there is no custody fee and each single buy or sell costs €1 in settlement. The INR has the lower tax, while such an account has almost no costs. Which one wins depends on the amount and on when you take the money out.

The rules differ in three ways:

On a regular account the gain is also reduced by standardised costs of 1% of the purchase value and 1% of the sale value.

We worked out how much money is left after tax and costs in both cases. The INR was always calculated with the cheapest provider and the best buying frequency. For regular investing that was always BKS Bank buying twice or four times a year, and for a lump sum NLB. The figures show how much better (+) or worse (−) off you are with an INR than with a regular account:

The calculation assumes a 6% yearly return, an accumulating ETF and price lists as published in October 2026, without the temporary 2026 discount.

The table shows three things:

• Before 15 years the regular account is slightly better. In an INR you pay 15% tax and on a regular account 20% or 25% for most purchases, but that difference is smaller than the INR’s costs.
• Around 15 years the INR wins, clearly so with larger amounts. At €100 a month you would pay €1,774 tax on a regular account after 15 years, while the INR costs at BKS buying twice a year come to €590. Part of the INR’s lead is also lost because money waits between purchases and doesn’t grow, so in the end the INR is better by €838. At €400 a month the INR is better by almost €5,000.
• After 20 years the INR’s lead slowly shrinks. On a regular account only the purchases from the last 15 years are taxed, so with the same monthly amount the tax stops growing. At €100 a month it is €1,774 whether you withdraw after 15, 20 or 25 years. Custody costs in an INR, on the other hand, keep growing with the value of the account.

With a lump sum left invested for at least 15 years the tax is €0 either way, so only costs decide, and a regular account with a low-cost broker is cheaper.

The chart below shows the difference for €100 a month by year of withdrawal. Green bars mean the INR is better, blue bars that the regular account is better.

What the numbers don’t show:

• Distributing ETFs and dividend shares. On a regular account dividends are taxed at 25% every year, in an INR they are not. With such investments the INR’s advantage is larger than the table shows.
• Switching investments. Selling one ETF and buying another along the way is a taxable event on a regular account, and the 15-year clock starts again for that money. In an INR neither happens.
• The paperwork. With a foreign broker you file the tax return with FURS yourself for every year you sell, plus a separate one for dividends. With an INR the provider does it.
• Costs change. Price lists of INR providers and foreign brokers can change, and so can the law.

In short: an INR pays off most if you invest at least around €100 a month, buy a few times a year with a cheaper provider and plan to withdraw after roughly 15 to 20 years. For smaller amounts, shorter periods or a lump sum, a regular account with a low-cost broker can be just as good or better. What an INR costs for the way you invest is worked out in the INR provider comparison.

What to watch out for

• Only one INR. Everyone can open one only once. You can move it to another provider after a year, but the transfer takes up to 30 days and you can’t trade during that time.
• Existing ETFs can’t be moved in. An INR only accepts cash. If you hold ETFs on a regular account, you have to sell them, which may be taxable, and buy them again.
• An early withdrawal resets the clock. Every withdrawal is taxed at 15% of the gain, and the 15-year period for a tax-free withdrawal starts again.
• Only the first withdrawal is tax-free. Once 15 years have passed, only the first withdrawal is tax-free; each later one is taxed at 15% again until another 15 years have passed since the previous withdrawal. If you want to take everything out tax-free, take it out in one go.
• A partial withdrawal is taxed gain first. If you withdraw only part of the money, it counts as withdrawing the gain first and your contributions only after that. Before 15 years, even a small withdrawal therefore quickly means tax.
• Losses can’t be claimed. On a regular account you can offset a loss on one sale against a gain on another. In an INR only the overall gain is taxed on withdrawal, so that option doesn’t exist.
• The value can fall. An INR is a tax wrapper, not a guaranteed investment. ETFs and shares can lose value, so only invest money you won’t need for at least a few years. When saving beats investing is covered in the article on choosing between saving and investing.

Who an INR is worth it for

An INR makes sense if you plan to invest for the long term, ideally at least 10 to 15 years, and regularly. You gain the most from regular monthly or yearly investing in ETFs, because after 15 years the whole account is tax-free and switching investments along the way isn’t taxed.

It makes less sense if you’ll need the money within a few years or if you invest more than the limits allow. In that case part of your money stays on a regular trading account or in a deposit. How much your investment could grow over a chosen period can be estimated with the investment calculator, and ETFs can be compared by return and cost in the ETF comparison.

This article is for information only and is not tax or investment advice. Check the terms and price lists with your chosen provider before opening an account.