What changes for your tax return when you divorce?
Your fiscal partnership ends once you file for divorce and live at different addresses. From that point you each file on your own.¹
That affects three things: how you file, how you split deductions and what happens to your home. This page walks through each one.
It covers the divorce-year return itself. It explains when your partnership ends and the last return you can file together. It also covers the two-year rule for a shared home.
It does not cover alimony in depth. We keep the headline figures here and explain the rest on our page about alimony and tax.
Take Sophie and Mark. They are married, own their home together and are divorcing in 2026. Mark moves out during the year, to another address in the Netherlands. If one of you leaves the country, different rules apply and we work that out with you. That partner then files a migration return for the year of the move. A migration return splits the year into a Dutch period and a foreign period.
In short
You stop being fiscal partners once you file for divorce and live at different addresses. Living together without marriage ends it at the address change alone.
One last joint return is possible. For the divorce year you can choose to be treated as full-year fiscal partners.
Split deductions freely. As full-year partners you allocate joint deductions in any ratio that adds up to 100%.
The home has a two-year rule. A partner who moves out keeps the interest deduction on their share. This lasts up to two years, and only if they pay that interest. Choose one last joint return and you still split the interest freely for that year.
Alimony has tax effects. Partner alimony is deductible and taxed. Child support is neutral on both sides.
Your tax-free Box 3 amount stays €59,357 per person. Box 3 covers your savings and investments. Full-year partners have two of those amounts, not a larger one. Figure checked at belastingdienst.nl on 6 August 2026.
Adjust your provisional assessment. It still reflects your old joint situation, so update it to avoid a repayment.
Are you still fiscal partners?
For married couples, your fiscal partnership ends when both conditions are met.¹ One of you files a divorce request, and you are no longer registered at the same address.
The request can be a divorce petition, a legal separation or a dissolution request. Until both are true, you stay fiscal partners for tax.
Living together without marriage or a registered partnership works differently. Then your partnership ends the moment you no longer live at the same address.
Sophie and Mark filed their petition in March. Mark moved out and deregistered in May. Their partnership ended in May, on the later of the two dates. With that date settled, you can decide how to file.
Can you still file one return together?
For the divorce year you can still choose to be full-year fiscal partners.¹ That gives you one last joint return. You may file together or separately and split joint items freely.
You then split your joint income and deductions in any ratio you like. The parts have to add up to 100%. The choice applies to the whole year or to neither of you.
In Box 3 each of you keeps your own tax-free amount of €59,357. Figure from belastingdienst.nl, consulted 6 August 2026.
| Item | Detail (2026) |
|---|---|
| Tax-free Box 3 amount, single | €59,357 per person |
| Tax-free Box 3 amount, full-year partners | €118,714 combined, two times €59,357 |
| Mortgage interest after moving out | deductible on your share if you pay it, max 2 years |
| Partner alimony paid | deductible, capped at 37.56% above €78,426 |
| Child support | not deductible, not taxed |
What happens to your home and mortgage?
If you move out, you keep the interest deduction on your share for two years.² That holds only if you pay that interest yourself.
This is the tweejaarsregeling, the two-year rule for a shared home. Did you choose one last joint return? Then you still split the mortgage interest freely for that year. After the full-year partnership ends, each deducts only the interest on their own part. The partner who leaves keeps that deduction for a maximum of two years. The condition is that they pay the interest themselves.
They also declare their share of the eigenwoningforfait, the imputed rental value of an owner-occupied home. That feels like a cost, but something usually sits against it. Your ex lives in a home that is partly yours. For tax purposes that rent-free use counts as partner alimony you pay. You can then deduct your share of the eigenwoningforfait. Your ex declares the same amount as alimony received.
Once the tweejaarsregeling ends, your share moves to Box 3 and the deduction stops.²
The table below follows Mark's share of the home.
| Step | Detail | Result |
|---|---|---|
| Shared mortgage | Sophie and Mark, 50% each | €300,000 |
| Mark’s share | 50% of €300,000 | €150,000 |
| Interest Mark deducts | on his €150,000 share | for max 2 years, if he pays the interest |
| Mark’s forfait | his share of the eigenwoningforfait | declared each year |
| Rent-free use as alimony | his share of the forfait | deductible |
“The divorce-year return is the one people most often get wrong, because the old joint settings still apply. We look at your partnership date, your deductions and your home share together. Then each of you files the right return.”
How does alimony affect your tax return?
Partner alimony is deductible for the payer and taxed for the receiver.³ It counts as alimony only when you pay it under a court order or a written divorce agreement. Child support is neither.
The deduction is capped. In 2026 it counts at 37.56% above €78,426 of income. Placing it with the higher earner no longer helps much.
Alimony is not always money. How that works out sits above, under your home. The amount, the duration and the yearly indexation sit on our page about alimony and tax.
What should you do now?
Start by adjusting your provisional assessment, because it still runs on your old joint situation.
An assessment based on two incomes and one shared home can leave you paying too much or too little. Adjust it as soon as you separate, so your monthly amount fits your new situation. You can arrange this on our page about the provisional assessment.
A few steps follow: update Mijn Toeslagen, decide on one last joint return and see who deducts the home interest. We work these out with you when we file your tax return. Sophie and Mark filed one last joint return, then each filed alone.
Our page about tax partnership explains who counts as your partner and what that changes.
¹ belastingdienst.nl, Is mijn ex nog wel mijn fiscale partner nu we uit elkaar zijn? · Accessed
² belastingdienst.nl, Wie mag de hypotheekrente aftrekken als we uit elkaar gaan? · Accessed
³ belastingdienst.nl, Alimentatie · Accessed