Surplus value (overwaarde)
The money left after a sale, once your acquisition debt and selling costs are paid. Your eigenwoningreserve limits your next deduction, whatever you do with it.
Essential cookies keep this site working. With your permission we also use statistics cookies, to see how the site is used and improve it, and marketing cookies, so we can show you our ads. You can change your choice at any time via 'Cookie settings' at the bottom of every page.
Sold a home and buying the next one? The bijleenregeling decides how much mortgage interest you can still deduct. Here is how it works and where to go next.
Dutch tax system
The bijleenregeling limits how much mortgage interest you can deduct after you sell one home and buy another. Your home-acquisition debt is the mortgage you took out to buy or improve that home. Sell for more than your remaining home-acquisition debt and your selling costs, and that surplus becomes your eigenwoningreserve. The Belastingdienst expects you to put it into your next home.
You work out the surplus like this: sale price, minus your remaining home-acquisition debt, minus selling costs. On the new home, only part of your mortgage still earns interest relief. That part is the purchase price minus your eigenwoningreserve. Borrow more than that and the interest on the extra part is not deductible. That non-deductible part falls under Box 3. Box 3 taxes that amount as savings and investments each year.
Your eigenwoningreserve lasts three years. Buy or improve a home within that window and the surplus counts against your new mortgage. After three years, any part you have not used expires. In 2026, mortgage interest on your own home is deductible at a top rate of 37.56%.
The rule sits where selling and buying meet. Below you will find where to go next, whether you have just sold or are buying.
Selling
When you sell your home for more than you owe on it, the money left over follows you to your next one. That leftover is exactly what the bijleenregeling watches. Two things shape your tax position when you sell: what happens to the money you free up, and whether the cost of ending your old mortgage is deductible. Start here if you have sold recently, or you are about to put your home on the market.
The money left after a sale, once your acquisition debt and selling costs are paid. Your eigenwoningreserve limits your next deduction, whatever you do with it.
Repaying or refinancing a mortgage early can bring a penalty. It may be deductible if it relates to a qualifying home-acquisition debt.
Buying next
You are now on the buying side of the bijleenregeling. That part depends on your eigenwoningreserve. Financing costs such as valuation and advice come off your tax in the year you buy. Transfer tax and the notary fee for the transfer deed are not deductible. They only count in the purchase price. The notary fee for the mortgage deed is deductible. This one is for you if you have just bought, or you are still house-hunting.
Get help
When the bijleenregeling touches your return, one conversation is usually faster than a week of reading. We file the tax side and A&H Finance, our associated company, arranges the financing side. The whole move happens in one place. Pick the help that fits your question.
Not selling or buying this year? The yearly side of owning a home is on owning a home.
We file your return, review every deduction on your home, and make sure the bijleenregeling is applied correctly.
Buying your next home with a new mortgage? A comparison across every lender that works with internationals.
Moving your mortgage or lowering your rate? We work through the tax side. Switch arranged end to end.
Bought a home this year? Your return changes. We walk through what to declare and what you can claim back.
Some notary costs are deductible, others are not. The split depends on what each cost was for.
Money set aside for building or renovating is held in a bouwdepot. It follows its own rules for tax and interest relief.
The wider list of costs you can deduct as a homeowner, from financing fees to valuation costs.
Frequently asked
The questions we hear most when a home sale and a purchase land within a few years of each other. Yours not here? Ask your advisor
Bijleenregeling
Book your free call. We map the sale, the new purchase and your deduction.
What's included
A dedicated advisor
A draft before we file
Help in English or Dutch
How is this page fact-checked?
We check every page for accuracy, timeliness and relevance. Each one is written and reviewed by our qualified advisors, so the information stays clear, complete and correct.
Updated 3 August 2026
“Most people worry they have lost a deduction. Often they have not. They have just used the money differently than the Belastingdienst expects. We work out your real position before you file.”
Menno van der Made
Tax advisor
Your advisor
Not sure whether the three-year rule bites in your situation? You get one dedicated advisor who looks at your sale, your new home and your return together. They tell you where you stand, in plain English.
Pick a slot this week. No cost, no obligation.
Message an English-speaking advisor.
