4

I have worked in the Netherlands for about two years, and I left just last summer.

Since then the euros are going down and where I currently live there's a almost zero interest rate on savings, so I still keep my funds in the Dutch bank account.

Will it be taxed somehow?

I was on the 30% ruling about 1/3 of the time when I was in the Netherlands. (I was not when I started there, but the HR informed me that I was due to some changes in the system or whatever.)

Improve this question

1 Answer 1

Reset to default
1

There is a kind of tax on savings and capital in the Netherlands but my understanding is that you won't have to pay it after leaving the country.

The way this works is that the tax office assumes a fictitious interest rate on all savings and you have to pay income tax on this. This is what's called “box 3 income“ on the income tax return. You don't have to report or pay taxes on the actual interest/rents/dividends you received. Currently, the tax rate is 30% on 4% interest, so 1.2% of your savings.

Furthermore, you do not pay any taxes on savings under a certain threshold (heffingsvrij vermogen), currently about €21000 if you are single. Dutch banks automatically give data on the amount of money on your bank accounts to the tax office.

Because the value of your savings on January 1st is what counts, those rules presumably do still apply to you for 2014. But I think that you cannot use the regular tax return application because you haven't lived in the Netherlands for the whole year. You can use the Mijn Belastingdienst website instead.

After that, if you live abroad, you do not have to pay taxes on all your savings but only on certain things like real estate property in the Netherlands. If you keep your bank account, I think the rules I described above would therefore not apply to you anymore. If you don't receive an invitation to submit a tax return from the tax office, you only have to submit one if you would pay more than €45 in taxes (you are then what's called buitenlands belastingplichtige).

I am not sure exactly how the 30% ruling plays into this. Apparently, you can chose to be considered “partially non-resident“ and therefore be exempted from income tax on savings but I am not sure whether you can do that after the fact.

Finally, if you have large savings, it might be worth seeking help from a professional. I did my best to double-check my answer but I am certainly not an expert.

Improve this answer
10
  • and if they indeed could tax on my savings, could they just take money from my bank a/c without my notice?
    – rudy creat
    Commented Apr 20, 2015 at 6:39
  • @rudycreat I don't think so, at least not immediately. But if you have a lot of cash and you ‘forget’ to declare it, they would know.
    – Gala
    Commented Apr 20, 2015 at 7:10
  • thanks a lot. it wasn't a lot of cash (but exceeded the eur 21000 limit that you mentioned). during my stay in the NL, tax was deducted before i received my paycheck, so i never had to file any tax on my own (maybe the HR did for me), and didn't know how to do so.
    – rudy creat
    Commented Apr 20, 2015 at 7:25
  • @rudycreat Your company does withhold income tax on your wage and declare that for you but there are very often some benefits in filing a tax return anyway. And I think that if you had savings above the threshold then filing a tax return was in fact mandatory. But maybe this does not apply to people who benefit from the 30% ruling. I guess that if you owed a lot of taxes, the tax office would have send you a letter to demand that you file a tax return. Note that you can still do it for the last 5 years (i.e. you have until 31 December 2015 to file a tax return for 2010).
    – Gala
    Commented Apr 20, 2015 at 8:54
  • i also want to add that becos of your answer, i just went to the tax website in an attempt to declare tax, and then i found (from the already pre-filled tax refund) that not only is my tax on savings zero, i could also get a tax refund back (probably due to the fact that i didn't work the whole 2014)! : ) not sure if i really will receive the money back in my bank account, but im amazed how dutch taxation system works.
    – rudy creat
    Commented Apr 20, 2015 at 12:23

Your Answer

By clicking “Post Your Answer”, you agree to our terms of service and acknowledge you have read our privacy policy.

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged or ask your own question.