Editor in chief at IamExpat Media
Spring is in the air, the weather is good, and we’ve got a load of public holidays around the corner: that must mean May is on its way! From tax return deadlines and interest rate updates, to holidays, holidays and more holidays,
The Netherlands isn’t exactly flush when it comes to public holidays, so we should be thankful that May contains two of them!
First off, most of us can look forward to a day off on May 5, Liberation Day. This is only marked as a national holiday once every five years, and luckily in 2025 it falls on a Monday. Just a few weeks later we get a second public holiday on Thursday, May 29, when the country marks Ascension Day.
It’s important to note that in the Netherlands, the power to grant a day off or not rests with the employer, so it’s worth double-checking with your company whether these dates are treated as holidays by them before you clock off and put your feet up!
Unluckily for the kids, May also marks the end of the May school holidays (meivakantie). Pupils will return to classrooms at Dutch schools across the country on May 4, regardless of which province or region they live in.
If you’re reading this on April 30 and you haven’t yet submitted your Dutch tax return, you should be aware that the deadline for submitting your 2024 return is midnight on May 1, so you’ve only got a few hours left! For next year, you should note that 85.000 keen beans had already submitted their tax returns by 7am on March 1, the first day it was possible to file.
Following the European Central Bank’s decision to begin to lower interest rates, several banks in the Netherlands are cutting rates on savings accounts. For some, this marks the first time that interest rates have gone down since autumn 2023.
ING announced in April that it was lowering its basic interest rate on savings accounts, and from May 1 ABN AMRO will follow suit. Rabobank will also lower interest rates from May 14. Other banks have also announced interest rate cuts.
You’re in for an expensive month if you have your Dutch health insurance with the company CZ. The health insurer announced earlier this year that it was changing its premium collection date in May, from the beginning of the month to the end of the month, meaning that insured people will pay twice this month - once on May 1 (the May premium) and again on May 27 (the June premium). Thereafter, premiums will be collected on the 27th of each month.
If you don’t want your money to be debited on May 27, you can log into your CZ account and adjust the date that your June premium goes out.
The millions of Spotify subscribers in the Netherlands should also be aware that their subscriptions will cost more from May. The world’s largest music streaming service has announced that it will increase prices by between 1 and 4 euros per month starting May 1.
The most popular subscription, the Individual subscription, will increase by 2 euros to 12,99 per month from May 1. The last time the Swedish company increased its prices was in the summer of 2023.
After another tulip-tastic season, Keukenhof will be closing its doors as usual in May. If you haven’t yet made the trip to the tulip gardens of Holland, you’ve still got time: the spring season ends on Sunday, May 11.
And finally, May is also the month when an exciting bonus hits lots of people’s payslips: the 8% holiday allowance is typically paid out in May or June, depending on your employer. Note that some employers do spread the allowance out over the other 12 months of the year, so check what the situation is at your company, before you start planning how to spend it!