F-form: the final tax return for someone who has died

What is the F-form?

The F-form is the final income-tax return of a person who has died. It covers their income from 1 January up to the date of death. The Belastingdienst calls it aangifteformulier F.⁴ The heirs file it on the deceased person's behalf.

The F-form is not an inheritance tax return. Inheritance tax, erfbelasting, is a separate tax that each heir pays on what they receive. It carries its own return and its own deadline. Our page on the inheritance tax return explains how that works.

A death raises more than this one question. Our page on taxes after a death sets out the wider picture, including your own position in the year your partner died.

Take Yasmin, whose husband died in April. They lived in Rotterdam together and they were fiscal partners. Fiscal partners are married couples, registered partners and cohabiting partners who meet the Belastingdienst's conditions. He also held a small savings account in Ireland, which still belongs in this return. A letter about his tax return reaches her in September.

Which route you take turns on a handful of facts.

Who files the F-form and who signs it?

The heirs file it, usually through one representative they appoint.² That representative fills in and signs the paper form or files online with an authorisation. Did the deceased person have a fiscal partner? Then that partner signs as well, even when someone else does the filing.²

The Belastingdienst starts the process itself. It writes to the next of kin when a return is due for the year of death.¹ The letter goes to the correspondence address it holds for the family, usually within 5 months of the death.¹ Yasmin is the fiscal partner, so she signs whichever route the family picks.

Not every family gets that letter. That silence usually has a plain explanation.

How do you file the return online?

You apply for a survivor's authorisation, then file with your own DigiD.³ The Belastingdienst calls this a nabestaandenmachtiging. It is digital and the Belastingdienst ties it to your own DigiD. At login you pick the tab ‘Inloggen voor iemand anders’, which means log in for someone else.³ You use your own details. The deceased person's own DigiD no longer works.³

Only the person acting for the heirs can apply. That is an heir or an executor.⁸ You can apply from a week after the death.⁸ You need your DigiD and the deceased person's citizen service number (BSN). Is there a will? Then you add a notarial certificate of inheritance or executorship, the verklaring van erfrecht.⁸ Without a will there is usually no such certificate. Was one drawn up anyway, for instance because a house is part of the estate? Then you add it.⁸

The Belastingdienst normally decides within 15 working days.⁸ Between 1 March and 1 May that can take longer, so it pays to apply early.⁸

Once the authorisation is live, the data stands ready in the online return.³ That is from 1 March after the year of death.³ You review the figures, add what is missing and submit the return.

One extra step applies where there is a surviving fiscal partner. To file online, the representative needs that partner's own DigiD authorisation as well as the survivor's authorisation.¹

Yasmin takes this route. She applies for the authorisation in October, with the certificate of inheritance from the notary. The authorisation is live about three weeks later. The next March the pre-filled return stands ready in Mijn Belastingdienst, the online tax portal. She reviews her husband's income up to the date of death in April, the Irish savings account included. The heirs appointed her as representative, so she signs the return herself. She submits it in late March, well before 1 May. The Belastingdienst replies before 1 July. Do you live abroad and have no DigiD yourself? Then the paper route below stays open.

What if you file on paper?

Then you complete aangifteformulier F and send it in.⁴ You request the form from the survivors' line on 0800 2358354.⁴ It arrives with an explanatory booklet, the toelichting. That booklet gives a short note on every question and holds a calculation aid for the amounts.⁴

The front page is the part you always complete, with the deceased person's BSN and date of birth.⁴ After that you only fill in the pages that apply to their situation. Put the BSN and the name on every page you complete, so the Belastingdienst can handle the return as one whole.⁴

The representative signs the front page. A fiscal partner signs it too.⁴ Keep a copy for the family, then send only the completed pages to the Belastingdienst.⁴

Both routes lead to the same return. The table sets them side by side.

When must the F-form reach the Belastingdienst?

The return has to arrive before 1 May after the year of death.⁵ You can file as soon as the letter about the return has arrived.⁵ For Yasmin that means the return for the year her husband died is due before 1 May of the following year.

Need more time? You can ask for 4 months extra.⁵ With the survivor's authorisation you arrange the extension yourself in Mijn Belastingdienst. You can also use the paper request form or call the BelastingTelefoon voor nabestaanden, the Belastingdienst's line for next of kin.⁹ Confirmation normally follows within 15 working days.⁹

One detail is easy to miss. Is the assessment a payable one that lands after 1 July? Then the Belastingdienst charges tax interest, belastingrente, from 1 July.⁹ Filing early keeps that cost small.

A refund follows its own route. The Belastingdienst pays it into an account the heirs give it.¹⁰ The contact person for the family receives a form to pass that account on.¹⁰ Payment follows within 8 weeks of the form arriving, often sooner.¹⁰

After filing, the wait depends on when the return arrived. The table shows the time frames.⁷

What changes if the deceased person had a fiscal partner?

The surviving partner can choose fiscal partnership for the whole year.⁶ The other option is partnership up to the date of the death.⁶ Either way, the partner signs the return for the deceased person as well.²

That choice decides what you may still allocate. Shared deductions can move between the two returns. You can also report them on the deceased person's return.⁶ You can allocate certain income and deductions freely, even for the period after the date of death.⁶

Doing that well needs the full-year figures. Waiting until the year is over is often the wiser move.⁶ The surviving partner files their own return separately, from 1 March in the year after the death.⁶

Yasmin does exactly that. She keeps both returns in view while she decides how to allocate. Our page on taxes after a death works through her own position in more detail.

One rule decides which route stays open to her.

Which situations need a different form?

A non-resident taxpayer, a migration year and an earlier year each need a different form. An entrepreneur keeps form F but takes the paper route. Was the deceased person an entrepreneur? Then you file the paper form F together with the annual accounts, and you request both by phone.³

A return for a year before the year of death is a different case. You file that one online with the authorisation or on paper with aangifteformulier P.³ Our page on the P-form sets out what that return covers.

Was the deceased person a non-resident taxpayer, with Dutch income but a home abroad? Then the letter names the form to use. That is the non-resident route. Our page on the C-form for non-resident taxpayers explains it.

Did the person live in the Netherlands and hold property or savings abroad? Then that foreign wealth belongs in this final return like any other asset. The same goes for foreign income up to the date of death. Was tax already paid on it abroad? Then we review whether that tax can be set against the Dutch assessment.

Did the person move to or from the Netherlands in the year they died? The migration year has a form of its own. Our page on the M-form for the migration year covers it.

Every form in this set sits together in our overview of Dutch tax return forms.

You now know which route fits your family. What is left is deciding how much of it you want to do yourselves.

What else does a death touch?

A death touches the final income-tax return and the inheritance tax return. It often touches the home, the mortgage and the surviving partner's own position. Those routes carry different deadlines and different rules.

Three things are worth doing early. Ask for the survivor's authorisation as soon as the certificate of inheritance is available. Put the 1 May date in the diary. Gather the deceased person's annual statements for the year of death.

Does that feel like one thing too many right now? That is a normal place to be. We file the final income-tax return and keep the other routes in view. You can read how we work on our page about help with your tax return.

Once the assessment has landed, the family can turn back to everything that matters more. For Yasmin that point came in June, well within the promised time frame.