Having a partner, does not imply you have a partner for tax purposes.
When is your partner your tax partner?
Based on the Dutch tax legislation you are regarded tax partners when:
- You are married
- Registered partner via a Dutch notary
- Own a house together that is your main residence
- Have children together
- One is mentioned in the others pension insurance policy.
That implies when you have a girlfriend for over 20 years, you are not necessarily regarded tax partners. Without children, house or pension you are certainly not regarded tax partners.
What is the consequence of being a tax partner?
You are obliged to file a tax return jointly. The reason for this is that you can swap tax deductions between each other, and for that both tax returns need to show the same. And one of both can report the Box 3 wealth tax, but if it is more convenient to split the wealth tax, then the split should match in both tax returns. Both tax returns need to show in total 100% of the deductions or wealth tax.
Having two houses?
Some tax partners have two homes in the Netherlands. That could have occurred due to the life lead before they became tax partners. It can be attractive to claim that both houses are your main residences and that you deduct the costs of the mortgage from both houses in the income tax return.
The tax office has an answer for this situation. Either you chose or you lose. So you chose which house is the main residence, it cannot be both. And if you do not chose, you cannot deduct any of the costs of both houses.
Is this always the case? No. When you purchased another house and you would like to do some decorations to the new house. This decoration or building period can take max three years. Then you move from the old to the new house. Maybe you are not able to sell the old house that easily. As long as the house is empty and actually put up for sale, you can deduct the mortgage costs for a max period of three years after you left the house to move. The moment the three years have been exceeded, the house goes to Box 3.
One partner lives abroad, tax partners?
You are partners, are married, or registered partner, and or have children, own the house in the Netherlands where the family is living. Then one goes abroad. Are you then still tax partners? The basic rule is that you cannot be tax partners if one lives abroad. However, if that person living abroad earns at least 90% of his or her income in the Netherlands, you can you can still be regarded tax partners.
You can only have one partner
You are married, but the marriage no longer works out for you. You leave your wife, but you have not filed for divorce yet. You had a rebound relation and that girlfriend became pregnant and you have a child together. But the real love of your life is the person with whom you are now together and with whom you purchased a home.
That implies you can be regarded a tax partner with the person you are officially married. You can be regarded a tax partner with your rebound relation based on the fact that you have a child together. And you can be regarded a tax partner with your current relation based on the fact you own a house together.
The rule states you can only have one tax partner. Who will it be?
The partnership based on the marriage ends the moment the request for a divorce has been filed. However, you need to be registered at the address of your married wife with city hall. That implies when the address with city hall was not updated, he is being regarded a tax partner with the person to whom he is married. Most of the time you are automatically registered with city hall in the house you recently purchased, that would solve the issue.
Orange Tax Services
We file tax returns of tax partners jointly. The tax partner is included in the fee. Often it concerns the non working spouse who can claim a refund. Often both partner work and the deductions are allocated to the one with the highest income. The highest income pays the most income tax, hence a higher refund is a result. Private income tax returns we file for EUR 370 incl VAT and entrepreneurs income tax returns we file for EUR 500 ex VAT.
