End of year tax tips Netherlands: what to do before 31 December

End of year tax tips Netherlands: what still counts for this tax year?

31 December is the last day to act on steps tied to the calendar year. Notary, bank and small businesses scheme (KOR) steps close earlier. 1 January already fixed your Box 3 position for this year. Your deductions, gifts and pension allowance all close at year end. After 1 January they belong to the next tax year. From then on, you can no longer change the year that has ended.

This page is about doing, not about reading up. Read about next year's changes on our pages about Budget Day and the tax changes. Our end of year checklist lists what to collect before you file.

Farid moved to Amsterdam three years ago. He has a savings account, a small investment account and a habit of giving to two charities. Two of the steps below apply to him at once, his donations and his Box 3 check. Sequencing them is the hard part. Run your own business? Three more steps apply to you.

End of year tax tips Netherlands: which step closes first?

Anything that needs a civil-law notary closes first. Notaries fill up in December, so in practice this is a November decision.

Next come the steps that depend on money actually moving. Your bank has to take a lijfrente deposit off your account this year. If you pay in the last week of December, the transfer may complete in January.

After those, the steps tied only to the calendar close. Deductions, gifts within the yearly exemption and business investments all stay open until 31 December. A gift still has to reach the other person by 31 December.

Why does 1 January decide your Box 3 tax?

Box 3 looks at a single day: 1 January. What you own and what you owe on that morning fixes the levy for the whole year.¹³ A savings balance you spend on 2 January still counts in full.

A second home brings in another date that is easy to mix up. A second home in the Netherlands counts in Box 3 at its WOZ value. That is the municipal valuation of the property. The WOZ value is set on a valuation date a year earlier.¹⁴ A second home abroad counts at its market value instead.¹⁴ Box 3 itself always uses 1 January of the tax year.

For the figures and for which assets belong in Box 3, read Box 3 assets. For Farid, the value of his savings and investments on 1 January is what counts. Accounts abroad count too, as long as you are a Dutch tax resident. What you change this year only counts on the next 1 January. For Farid, a donation paid in December has left his balance by that date. So he pays his donation first and checks his Box 3 position after. Arrived or left during the year? The reference date is still 1 January, even if you owe Dutch tax for only part of the year. If you live abroad, Box 3 covers only your Dutch real estate and your rights in a Dutch business. See arriving in the Netherlands for your first year. Have the 30% ruling? If you chose partial non-resident status, Box 3 treats you as living abroad. That choice is only open if you already had the ruling in 2023, and it ends after 2026. Read more on the 30% ruling.

Which costs and lijfrente deposits do you have to pay before 31 December?

Healthcare costs and charity donations only count in the year you pay them.⁴ ⁵ An invoice that arrives in December and that you pay in January belongs to next year's return. That single rule turns a payment date into a tax decision.

It also opens an option most people miss. Both healthcare costs and donations to charities have a threshold per year.⁴ ⁵ Small amounts spread over two years can fall under it twice. Bundle two years of donations into one year. You then pass the threshold once and deduct the rest, up to a cap of 10% of your threshold income. That is your income before personal deductions.⁴

Farid gives to two charities every year, but together his donations stay under the threshold. His charities must have ANBI status, the Dutch public-benefit label. If he also pays next year's donations this December, the two years together can pass the threshold. He then deducts the rest. The year after, he starts again from zero.

Your pension allowance follows the same date rule, with its own limit on the amount. Your jaarruimte is your annual tax-deductible pension allowance for lijfrente deposits. Reserveringsruimte is the unused allowance you carry forward from earlier years. A deposit only counts in the year your bank takes the money.⁶ You cannot deduct anything you pay above your jaarruimte plus reserveringsruimte.⁶ So work out your allowance first, use reserveringsruimte before jaarruimte and only then transfer.⁶

Read more about what you can deduct on tax deductions in the Netherlands.

Can you still make a tax-free gift this year?

A gift counts as long as the money reaches the other person this year. The yearly exemptions on tax-free gifting apply per calendar year and do not carry over.³ A gift you skip in December is simply gone.

Two kinds of gift need more than a transfer. The one-off gift for an expensive study needs a notarial deed that names the study.³ A periodic gift to a charity is a deduction, not a gift exemption. It needs a deed as well, notarial or private. Only then does it escape the deduction threshold and the percentage cap.⁴

Our gift tax page gives the detail per relationship. The table below covers the unconditional yearly and one-off amounts. The deed-only study exemption has its own separate limit.

Which steps are left for an entrepreneur in December?

Three choices decide your result and two of them end on 31 December. Your investments, your hours and your VAT position follow the calendar year. Each one rewards a decision made this month rather than next.

The first choice is what you invest. The investment allowance (KIA) is a deduction from your profit. The table below shows the thresholds.

The second choice is your hours. Without the hours criterion you lose the zelfstandigenaftrek, the self-employed deduction. See the hours criterion and the self-employed deduction.

The third choice is your VAT position. The small businesses scheme (KOR) is for businesses with a turnover of up to €20,000 a year. Leaving it takes four weeks, so decide early in December. See the small businesses scheme.

The self-employed deduction and its hours criterion are for entrepreneurs who pay income tax. KIA and the KOR are open to a BV as well. Filing as a business? Our self-employed tax return page shows how we help.

This year's rates and brackets are on our page about Dutch tax rates.