Tax is not exciting when you return from your holiday with a blue envelop in the mail. The content is very Dutch, but you think you read something unpleasant. A payment request!
Tax is not exciting
We understand that not everybody is as excited about tax as we are. Especially if a communication flow starts that you do not understand, as it is in Dutch. You do understand that payment is required, but for what?
Here we like to assist you, excited as we are about tax, to resolve the matter.
Tax assessment differs from expectations
The moment you did your best to file yourself or with assistance the Dutch income tax return, you could be pleased with the numbers of that return. It shows a refund. Many weeks later you receive the reply from the Dutch tax office. No refund, you are asked to pay income tax!
The income reported is correct. The deductions are correct, how is it possible the outcome is different?
The Dutch tax office offers a monthly mortgage refund. Up front during the tax year you already receive the total refund of that year in monthly installments. This refund is often forgotten to be included in the Dutch income tax return. That causes this tax assessment you need to pay.
Update monthly mortgage refund
The mortgage refund is based on expected income, WOZ value (value set by city hall) and interest. All of these variables change. The WOZ value increased in this current market, the higher the WOZ value, the lower the refund.
During the year you pay the mortgage bank both interest and repayment. The repayment makes that the loan amount decreases, which implies you pay less interest. Less interest implies less deductions.
On top of that the Dutch tax office decreased every year the percentage against which you can deduct the mortgage costs.
If the tax return assessment shows you need to pay tax, probably the monthly mortgage refund is too high. Please contact to have this fixed, at a small fee.
Tax return out of the blue
You have done nothing, and suddenly you receive a blue envelop. An ugly one, as you have to pay a substantial amount. What is that about?
Chance is very likely the Dutch tax office had invited you to file an income tax return. The tax office even reminded you. Either you disregarded the message as you did not understood, or you never received the invitations.
The Dutch tax office has experience with working with human beings. Charging them a random amount, often results in the action the tax office expected: filing the income tax return.
In other words, if you did nothing, probably you should have filed an income tax return. We will be pleased to assist you with filing the regular Dutch income tax return for EUR 410 incl VAT. However, if you are too late already, the penalty for being late we cannot fight. Too late is too late.
Tax is exciting
We do think tax is exciting. For us it is understandable you might disagree. Regardless, we are pleased to assist you in the paperwork needed to be processed. Feel free to contact our office.
