The self-employed deduction has been phasing out since 2020. From 2023, this is happening in an accelerated fashion. The plan is to gradually reduce the self-employed deduction by € 1.280 a year, to € 900 in 2027. In 2024, the maximum self-employed deduction was € 3.750, in 2025 this will be € 2.470. In 2025 the SME profit exemption will be reduced from 13,31% to 12,7%.

The possibility to borrow from one’s own BV has been restricted as of 2023, with the taking effect of the Excessive Borrowing from Own Company Act(wet excessief lenen). If a shareholder borrows more than € 500.000 from his or her own BV, the excess will be taxed in box 2 (once). Last year the amount was €700.000, but as per reference date of 31 December 2024 this has been reduced to € 500.000. First home equity debts do not count towards the € 500.000 limit if they are covered by a notarial mortgage deed (a mortgage deed is not required for home equity debts existing as of 31 December 2022). In the case of high loans or overdrafts, it is important to anticipate this and consider repayments before the end of the year, or reserve money for the tax settlement. Specific rules also apply in partner situations. Is your debt to the BV higher than € 500.000? Contact our office to discuss the possibilities and consequences.

In 2024 a two bracket tax rate was introduced in box 2. This concerns income from substantial interest, such as dividends and capital gains on shareholdings above 5%. The rate in 2025 will be 24,5% for the first € 67.000 and 31% for the amount above that. Since this applies per partner, a total of € 134.000 can be taxed at the low rate in case of fiscal partnership.

Income tax box 2	2024	2025
First bracket up to € 67.000	24,5%	24,5%
Second bracket from € 67.000	33%	31%

The 2025 corporate tax rates will remain the same as for 2024:

Corporate tax 2025	2026
First bracket up to € 200.000	19%
Second bracket from € 200.000	25,8%

Here are some other tax tips and changes for you this year.

General

• Do you expect to pay tax for the 2024 or 2025 tax year? Requesting a provisional assessment in good time, will save you legal interest. Interest is calculated if the assessment is imposed later than 6 months after the end of the calendar year (1 July 2025). The interest is 7.5% currently. To ensure that the assessment is imposed in time, we recommend that you apply for it before 1 April 2025. The assessment for the 2024 tax year must be paid at once. There is the possibility of paying the assessment for the tax year 2025 in instalments during the year. Do you have questions about this? We are happy to assist you in applying for a provisional assessment.
• If you expect to receive a refund for 2019, an Income Tax return for this year must be submitted before December 31, 2024. In 2024, the 5-year term for submitting this declaration will expire.

Deductions

• If possible, bundle deductible expenses such as medical expenses and donations in one specific year. For example, a deduction is achieved earlier and the threshold is only deducted once from the expenses. For donations, the threshold disappears completely if you commit to donating to a charitable institution for 5 years, which has to be agreed on in writing.
• In 2024, deductible items may be taken at a maximum of the low rate of 36,97% even if your income falls in the highest bracket.

Box 3

• As mentioned in the introduction, if you were planning on converting (low-yielding) assets (e.g. shares, crypto, real estate) to bank accounts, this could save a substantial amount of box 3 tax for 2025 if this is done before the end of the year. All other assets apart from bank accounts are taxed at the highest rate, while bank accounts are taxed at a lower rate.
• Receivables and loaned amounts are also taxed at the highest rate, therefore it would save box 3 tax for 2025 if the amounts are received or paid back into your bank account before the end of the year. This is only applicable if, in due course, you choose for taxation on fictitious box 3 income.The green investment exemption in box 3 will be scaled back from 1 January 2025. From 1 January 2025, the green investments exemption will be reduced to € 30.000, for 2024 the exemption was € 71.251.

Home owners

• If you received a one-off gift under the exemption of up to € 100.000 for a house in 2022 and you have not yet fully used this amount, you should spend it on your house in 2024; if not, gift tax will be due on the unused portion.
• House buyers between the age of 18 and 35 can benefit from a one-off transfer tax/stamp duty exemption if they meet certain requirements. The limit of this starter exemption (house value limit) will be raised from € 510.000 to € 525.000 in 2025, meaning that by waiting with the house purchase until 2025, you could potentially save thousands of euros in transfer tax.
• The general transfer tax/stamp duty rate will remain at 10.4% in 2025 as in 2024. However, with effect from 1 January 2026, this rate will be reduced to 8%. This rate is valid for all properties except those to which the reduced rate of 2% or the starter exemption applies.

Lately we have received a lot of queries about a so-called emigration tax or Exit Tax. A motion was passed by parliament in October, asking the government to explore options for restricting tax evasion when leaving the Netherlands e.g. through a fictitious domestic tax liability after emigration. The parliament has requested a response before the end of the year. As this is only a motion, it is by no means certain whether this will have any further legal effect. No conclusions can yet be drawn from this and the government’s response to the motion should be awaited.

In late 2023, two amendments to the 2024 tax plan were adopted that further restricted the 30%-ruling. This involved the reduction of the tax-free percentage to 20% after 20 months and to 10% after another 20 months, as well as the abolition of the partial non-domestic tax status. These restrictions have since been amended via the 2025 tax plan. With effect from 2027, the maximum tax-free allowance will be 27% instead of 30%, and this rate will remain in place throughout the duration of the 30%-ruling period.

The option for the partial non-domestic tax status however will no longer be possible from January 1st, 2025. For employees who already were eligible for the 30%-ruling at the end of 2023, there is a transitional arrangement through which they can still opt for partial non-domestic taxation until the end of 2026.

As was the case in 2024, the 30% ruling is capped to a certain income level called the WNT norm (also known as the Balkenende norm). In 2024 this amount is € 233.000 on an annual basis. For 2025 this will be increased to € 246.000. This means that the 30% will not be applied to the part of the income that exceeds this amount. There is a transitional arrangement for employees for whom the 30%-ruling was applied over the last pay period (December) of 2022. For these employees, the 30%-ruling will only be capped from January 1st, 2026.

As described here, in the summer of 2025 a form can be filled in by taxpayers whose actual return was lower than the fictitious return in a given year. However, this must be specified and supported with documentation.

The actual return consists of the actual income on your box 3 assets. For instance, interest received on a bank account or loan, dividend income, capital gains and losses on e.g. shares or real estate, rental income, etc. The Supreme Court ruled that expenses will not be deductible, with the exception of interest on debts in box 3. Furthermore, both realised and unrealised gain should be included in the levy, e.g. a decrease in the value of shares or an increase in the value of real estate. To determine the value of property, the WOZ value is used.

In most cases a reduction will not be possible if there is a substantial increase in the WOZ value of a second home or holiday home. This underlines the importance of objecting against the WOZ value if it is on the high side.

Here is an overview of the box 3 tax under the new system for 2024 and 2025:

Box 3 tax	2024	2025
Asset category	Fictitious income	Fictitious income
Bank accounts	1,03%*	1%*
Debts	2,47%*	2,5%*
Other assets	6,04%	6%

*Exact percentage will be announced at the beginning of the following year.

For box 3, there are no major changes in 2025 compared to 2024. Under this system, the savings, other assets and debt categories each have their own percentage of fictitious return based on the value per beginning of the year. In 2025, the tax-free wealth increases to € 57.684 (€ 115.368 for fiscal partners). Based on the asset mix, an average return is calculated on the total assets. The flat rate on the fictitious return in box 3 was 36% in 2024. This will remain the same in 2025.