With the new tax interest rules, from July 1st 2025 the Tax Office will charge interest on tax debts for the 2024 tax return.

This interest amounts to 6,5% for the Income Tax and 9% for Corporate Income Tax. If you expect a high tax assessment and you want to avoid paying high interest, please contact us to request a provisional assessment. To prevent interest, the provisional assessments will have to be requested before April 1^st.

If you own any cash money as per 1^st of January 2024 that exceeds the threshold of € 653,– (€1.306,– for fiscal partners), it must be declared in box 3. For 2024, this is mentioned in asset category 1, which means it is taxed at the same rate as bank accounts.

As in the 2023 tax return, your assets are in principle subject to the fictitious box 3 levy in 2024.

Bank deposits are taxed at a low rate, while other assets are taxed at a higher rate. The assumed income is 1,44% on bank deposits and 6,04% on other assets. Additionally, debts are only taken into account with a negative return of 2,47%. The tax-free allowance is calculated at a weighted average rate. This fictitious return on your assets is then taxed at 36% in box 3.

On June 6, 2024, the Supreme Court ruled that the current fictitious taxation still violates the European Convention on Human Rights. As a result, the Tax Authorities are developing an option to tax your actual Box 3 return if it is lower than the fictitious income on your assets. The actual return also includes capital gains. Later this year, a form will be released, allowing taxpayers to report their actual return to the Tax Office if this is advantageous.

The Supreme Court has set the following calculation rules for determining actual return:

• Direct returns (such as interest, dividends, and rental income) are taxed in the year they are received.
• Capital gains on assets such as shares or real estate, whether realized or unrealized, are taxable. For an investment portfolio, an overview of all purchases and sales throughout the year is required to determine capital gains.
• Losses, such as stock price declines or real estate devaluation, whether realized or unrealized, can be deducted from the actual return.
• The WOZ value must be used for changes in real estate value.
• Losses cannot be carried forward or offset against other years.
• Expenses are not deductible, except for interest paid on debts.
• There is no consideration for a tax-free allowance or income.

To benefit from taxation based on actual return, you as a taxpayer must demonstrate that your actual return is lower than the deemed return.

In many cases, however, a more favourable calculation will not be possible. If, for example, a large investment portfolio has had significant capital gain, or the WOZ value has substantially increased, taxation based on actual return will generally not be more beneficial. In such cases, it is not necessary to document all income in detail. Of course, we are available for consultation on this matter.

We use Secudoc to guarantee the safe transfer of larger files and documents.

If you want to send your files via Secudoc, please send us a request by email. You will then receive an email with a link that leads to the Secudoc upload page. After you upload your files, we can download your uploaded files only by using two-step verification. This provision is especially practical with a larger number of attachments or large files that cannot be sent in one e-mail.

Entrepreneurs can apply for the small business and/or starters deductions and research and development deduction.

To be considered for these deductions, you will have to work as an entrepreneur for at least 1.225 hours a year. In case you have a part time employment besides your own business, more hours need to be spent on your enterprise than the part time job. If it is not altogether clear that you make the required number of hours, then make sure you register the hours related to your business. The Tax Office may request an overview of the hours worked; a summary prepared after the end of the year is not accepted, as it is usually not sufficiently accurate.

The investment deductions, SME profit exemption as well as the depreciation facilities are also possible without the hours criterion. For the energy and environmental facilities, as well as the RDA (research and development) you have to make an application before the expense is made. For more information about thresholds, ceilings and criteria, please contact us.

Here are some other corporate tax changes and tips for you.

• Do you expect to pay tax for the tax year 2024? If you request a provisional assessment in good time, this will save you legal interest. The tax rate for income tax entrepreneurs is currently 7.5% and for Corporate Tax the rate is 10%.
• Did you find out that you forgot to include some items in your VAT return? Then consider to submit a supplement declaration. You can do this for this year or for the past 5 years. If it concerns VAT to be received or remitted of € 1,000 or less, this may be included in the next VAT return without a correction for the previous period.
• Do you drive a company car and do you use this car privately? In that case, a correction must be made for private use in the last VAT return (to be submitted in January 2025). This may be based on actual use or on the basis of a fixed rate. Do you have questions about this? We are happy to help you.
• If, as a business owner, you have made sufficient investments to qualify for the small-scale investment deduction, but have not yet paid all investments, we advise you to make these payments before the end of the year so that you are eligible for the small-scale investment deduction. You are eligible for the small-scale investment deduction when the total investment is higher than € 2.600.–.
• Has your partner worked in your business this year but has not received compensation yet? Then consider paying compensation before the end of the year. This is deductible in your business. For your partner, this reimbursement is taxable in box 1. The rate depends on your partner’s total Box 1 income and is especially advantageous if your partner has a low income.
• From 1 January 2025, the BPM exemption for company vans will be abolished. However, the BPM exemption will continue to apply to emission-free vans.

Do you expect your annual turnover to remain below € 20.000 in the coming years? And do you wish to participate in the small business VAT exemption arrangement (KOR)? Then make sure you have registered this with the Tax Office before December 3rd next. Entrepreneurs who apply for the KOR are exempt from VAT and have fewer administrative obligations. For instance, they usually don not have to file a VAT return. However, the KOR can also be disadvantageous, as for instance, entrepreneurs with the KOR cannot deduct VAT on expenses.

If you have turnover taxable in another EU country for VAT, you may be able to qualify for a similar VAT exemption arrangement in. The regulations change as per 1-1-2025 in order to unify the schemes in various countries. An important condition is that the EU-wide annual turnover must remain below the €100.000 limit. For more information about the regulations, please contact our office.

We would like to make you aware of the possibility under the Dutch Wages Tax Act to make a payment on a tax free basis for certain reimbursements which normally would be regarded as taxable income. This year this tax free scheme (‘vrije ruimte’) is maximised at 1,92% of the total company wages up to € 400.000,– and 1,18% beyond that. If you have not paid any other reimbursements or benefit of any kind to employees including directors which could be regarded as taxable wage, you could still make use of this scheme by paying out a tax free bonus as long as this is usual. A maximum amount of € 2.400 would be regarded as usual. For 2025 the percentage is increased to 2% of the company wage to € 400.000.

It was the intention of this cabinet to halve the benefit of the charitable donations deduction. The 2025 Tax Plan therefore scrapped the gift deduction in corporate income tax. However, as a result of an adopted amendment, the gift tax deduction remains in place for gifts under € 100.000 and up to a maximum of 50% of the profit. Since personal tax deductions are limited to the lowest bracket, it may be more favourable to make donations from the BV. Moreover, there is no threshold for deduction BV as opposed to personal giving. Let us know if you have any questions on this subject.

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%.