VAT on solar panels in the Netherlands

What is the VAT on solar panels in the Netherlands?

Solar panels for your home have had a 0% VAT rate since 1 January 2023.

The Belastingdienst applies a zero rate to the delivery and installation of panels on or at a dwelling¹. You pay no VAT, so you have no VAT to claim back either. The old refund is now a discount your installer already took off the price.

Take Neha. She had ten panels fitted on the roof of her terraced house last spring. Her invoice shows a rate of 0%². Her case is the ordinary one since 2023. We explain below where the exceptions start.

One boundary is worth naming up front. The zero rate does not reach panels on business premises, a solar park or a public building. Those carry 21%². For the general mechanics of Dutch VAT, read our guide to how a VAT return works. The six lines below are the short answers.

When do you still pay 21% on solar panels?

You still pay 21% in exactly four situations.

The zero rate is the rule. These four are the only exceptions for the panels themselves. The first is timing: an invoice dated before 1 January 2023 falls under the old rules and carries 21%². The second is a new-build home you bought with the panels already integrated into the roof. The third is multi-function panels: PVT panels that also produce heat, solar collectors and panels built into a window. The fourth is panels that sit somewhere other than a dwelling, such as business premises or a solar park.

The table below sets each situation against what you actually have to do.

What else does the 0% rate cover?

The rate covers installing the panels, not every extra job¹.

The rate follows the installation, not just the panel. The 0% rate also covers what goes with them: cabling, the PV distribution board, mounting material, optimisers and inverters. You have to buy them with the system¹. The same goes for adapting your meter cabinet and cutting roof tiles. It also covers taking the panels down and refitting them on another home. Dismantling them for a roof replacement counts too¹.

The rate stops at the installation itself. Common extras stay at 21%, from a heat pump to a home battery¹. Roof reinforcement, a smart meter and bird protection also stay at 21%¹. So do a new fuse box and a snow guard¹. The table below splits the two groups.

Do you have to register with the Belastingdienst?

Almost no homeowner has to register at all.

Selling power back to your supplier makes you an entrepreneur for VAT, which sounds heavier than it is. Below a low yearly turnover you are exempt from registering at all. That is the registratiedrempel, the registration threshold for small entrepreneurs³. That threshold is €2,200 a year³. A system of 15,000 watt-peak or less always stays under it⁴. Almost every home system is far below that.

Three cases do mean a registration. You register if your turnover goes over the threshold. You also register if you paid 21% and want the money back⁴. And a registration you made in an earlier year keeps you out of the exemption³. The Belastingdienst calls the form Opgaaf zonnepaneelhouders, the declaration for solar panel owners⁴.

Back to Neha. Her ten panels are well under 15,000 watt-peak, she paid no VAT and she holds no VAT number. So she registers nothing and reclaims nothing.

How do you get the VAT back if you did pay 21%?

You register, file one VAT return and ask for the refund in time⁵. Your registration stays open until you deregister.

The route only exists for the four panel situations above. The new-build case is where most of it happens. On integrated panels bought with a new-build home you can claim one third of the VAT on the invoice⁶. Say the invoice shows €1,500 VAT on 2,800 watt-peak of panels. One third is €500. In that same return you pay a flat rate on your own use⁶. Own use is the power from your panels that you use yourself. The flat rate comes off your refund. Integrated panels have their own flat-rate table by capacity. For 2,001 to 3,000 watt-peak the rate is €20, so you get €480 back⁶.

Timing decides the rest. You file through Mijn Belastingdienst Zakelijk, the business tax portal⁵. You receive the money within ten working days of the decision letter⁵. Watch the year you claim in. Claiming in a year before the panels start feeding back can cost you the refund⁵.

Two more rules matter once you are registered. Every year you pay VAT on your own use at a flat rate that rises with your capacity. The table below gives the amounts. The flat rate stops at 15,000 watt-peak⁶. Watch out if you reclaim €2,500 or more and then join the small business scheme, the kleineondernemersregeling. Part of the refund goes back to the Belastingdienst⁵. Under that scheme you charge no VAT and file no VAT returns, up to €20,000 turnover a year³.

What if you registered years ago and never stopped?

Your registration is still open, so the returns are still due⁵.

A registration from years ago does not lapse on its own. If you never joined the small business scheme and never de-registered, the Belastingdienst still expects a return every quarter⁵. Missing returns can lead to a naheffing, an additional assessment for tax you never declared.

Since 1 October 2024 the Belastingdienst accepts only the online form on Mijn Belastingdienst Zakelijk⁵. Joining the scheme turns on a date instead. Get the Opgaaf zonnepaneelhouders in by 31 December of the purchase year and the scheme starts on 1 January⁵.

We look at whether the returns you filed still hold up. If quarters are already missing, start with our page on correcting a VAT return. Leaving the Netherlands does not close your registration, so de-register before you go.

Does the 0% rate cover a home battery?

A home battery carries 21% VAT, with or without panels¹.

For a battery the refund route is genuinely open⁷. The conditions are strict and you have to meet all of them. You need a dynamic energy contract, an energy management system and a supplier that pays you for the power you feed back⁷. The invoice and the energy contract have to be in your name⁷. You also cannot already take part in the small business scheme when you buy⁷.

Purely private use gives no refund at all⁷. A qualifying battery goes on a different form for a sole trader⁷. That form is the Opgaaf startende onderneming, the starting business declaration⁷. This route asks more of you than the panel declaration. You are not actually starting a business. The same six-month deadline applies. No flat rate exists for a battery, so you work out the VAT on your own use yourself⁷. That correction runs over five years⁷.

What changes when salderen (net metering) ends in 2027?

The VAT rules do not change⁸.

Your turnover from the panels is expected to fall instead. Salderen nets the power you feed back against the power you use. It stays at 100% through 31 December 2026 with no taper, then stops on 1 January 2027⁸. From that date your supplier has to pay you at least 50% of the bare supply tariff for what you feed back⁸. That floor holds until 1 January 2030⁸. Suppliers may also charge separate feed-in costs⁸. The ACM, the Dutch consumer and markets authority, supervises those costs⁸.

For VAT the direction is one way. Lower payments for the power you feed back are expected to mean lower turnover. The registration threshold then becomes even less likely to bite. Nothing about the 0% rate itself is expected to move.

What does this mean for you?

You are almost certainly done.

Neha's situation is the ordinary one. It ends here: no form, no return, no refund. If your invoice shows 0% and your system is a normal domestic size, you owe nothing further.

Four cases are worth a second look. You bought a new-build home with integrated panels and the six-month window is still open. You own multi-function panels, such as PVT or window panels. You may be able to claim the VAT. You registered years ago and the returns quietly kept coming due. Or you are adding a home battery and want to know whether its VAT is reclaimable.

In each of those the question is narrow and the answer is usually short. We look at the invoice, the capacity and any registration still standing in your name. Then we tell you what is left to do. Check your invoice date first, then check for an open registration in your name.