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Filing your Dutch taxes: The 2025 guide

Filing your Dutch taxes: The 2025 guide

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Read this tax guide by J.C. Suurmond & zn. to make sure you are up to date and know how to gain maximum tax benefits!

Circumstances can be hard if you are an expat, living in a foreign country where different, unknown rules apply. Your tax situation, for example, can prove to be a great deal more complicated than you would have expected. With the changes to the 30 percent ruling and Box 3, it is worth the extra effort to be on top of your tax situation.

Did your 30 percent ruling end in 2024?

Did your 30 percent ruling end in 2024? You are now taxable in the Netherlands, this includes your worldwide assets (Box 3 tax), so don’t forget to declare these in your tax return!

Did you acquire the 30 percent ruling in 2024 or later?

If you acquired the 30 percent ruling in 2024 or later, it is no longer possible to opt for partial non-domestic taxation from 2025 onwards. This means you will have to declare your worldwide assets in your tax return, regardless of whether you are benefitting from the 30 percent ruling or not. If you already had the 30 percent ruling in 2023, other regulations apply.

Box 3 tax developments

For Box 3, there are no major changes in 2025 compared to 2024. Under this system, the savings, other assets and debt categories each have their own percentage of fictitious return based on the value at the beginning of the year. Bank accounts are taxed at a lower rate than other assets. In 2025, the tax-free wealth remains the same as in 2023; the amount is 57,684 euros (115,368 euros for tax partners). Based on the asset mix, an average return is calculated on the total assets. The tax rate on the fictitious return in Box 3 remains 36 percent.

However, there is now also the option to tax your actual income in Box 3 in a given year, if this is lower than the fictitious income described above. Actual income consists of interest, dividend income, rental income and capital gains amongst others. If you have an asset that has substantially declined in value, it could be advantageous to further investigate this option.

Changes in the 30 percent ruling

In late 2023, two amendments to the 2024 tax plan were adopted that further restricted the 30 percent ruling. This involves reducing the tax-free percentage to 20 percent after 20 months and to 10 percent after another 20 months, as well as the abolition of the partial non-domestic tax status. These restrictions have since been amended via the 2025 tax plan. With effect from 2027, the maximum tax-free allowance will be 27 percent instead of 30 percent, and this rate will remain in place throughout the duration of the 30 percent ruling period.

As was the case in 2024, the 30 percent ruling is capped to a certain income level called the WNT norm (also known as the Balkenende norm). In 2024, this amount is 233.000 euros on an annual basis. For 2025, this will be increased to 246.000 euros. This means that the 30 percent will not be applied to the part of the income that exceeds this amount. There is a transitional arrangement for employees for whom the 30 percent ruling was applied over the last pay period (December) of 2022. For these employees, the 30 percent ruling will only be capped from January 1, 2026.

Request a provisional assessment on time

Do you expect to pay tax for the 2024 or 2025 tax year? If you request a provisional assessment in time, you can save on tax interest. You need to receive the provisional assessment no more than six months after the end of the calendar year (so before July 1). After that, you will pay a tax interest of 7,5 percent annually. To ensure that the assessment is raised in time, we recommend that you apply for it before April 1, 2025.

The assessment for the 2024 tax year must be paid at once. You may pay the 2025 tax year assessment in monthly instalments.

Bundle deductible expenses in one year

If possible, bundle deductible expenses such as medical expenses and donations in one specific year. A deduction is consequently achieved earlier as the threshold is only deducted once from the expenses. For donations, the threshold disappears completely if you commit the donation to a charitable institution for five years.

Lennart Suurmond is a tax advisor at J.C. Suurmond & zn. Tax consultants. Need advice on the best way to file your 2024 tax return or pro-active tax advice for the coming years? Contact them to present your situation.

Lennart Suurmond

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Lennart Suurmond

Optimizing refunds for expats since 2003. I am happy to help internationals structuring their situation in such a way that they gain maximum tax benefit.

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