DUTCH DECREE ON NEW TAXATION OF SAVINGS AND INVESTMENT INCOME

04/07/2022

With regards to the Dutch Supreme Court decision of 24 December 2021, also known as the “ Kerst”[1], in which a mass objection procedure against the treatment of income from Box 3 (Income Tax) for the years 2017 and 2018 was handled. A plea was made to levy the tax on actual returns instead of fictitious returns, because this is considered to be in violation of Art. 1 EP in combination with Art. 14 ECHR[2].

 

The Dutch State Secretary of Finance has published the Box 3 Legal Restoration Decree  (“The Decree”) on 28 June 2022[3]. The decree sets out the new calculation of the savings and investments tax credit in Box 3 for income tax and national insurance contributions for the years 2017 up to and including 2022, which have not yet been irrevocably determined.

 

This Decree offers a legal remedy to three groups of taxpayers: timely objectors, taxpayers whose 2017-2020 assessments have not yet been irrevocably determined on 24 December 2021, and taxpayers whose assessments have not yet been determined. The Decree has been categorized in four sections/ steps.

 

Section 1 divides the assets and liabilities into three asset classes; Savings (bank balances), debts and other assets.

 

Section 2  calculates the actual return of the assets, distinguishing between Savings, other assets and debts. In order to match the actual return as closely as possible, a separate fixed rate of return applies to each asset category. F.e. the rates for 2021 are as followed; Savings has a rate of 0.01%, Debts of 2.46% and Other Assets of 5.69%[4]. In this section Decree defines the target groups.

 

Section 3 of the Decree describes in four steps how the new savings and investment benefit is calculated according to article 5.3 of the PITA.

 

Section 4 describes the legal protection of taxpayers who disagree with the decision.

 

The decision aims to implement the Decree in an automated manner and will enter into force on 1 July 2022.