Some 200,000 people were forced to apply for a new DigiD digital signature last month so they could fill in their tax forms, freesheet Metro says on Monday.

DigiD stands for digital identity and is an official log-in code which gives you access to all sorts of online government services. The code acts as a sort of digital signature on transactions which involve either money or confidential documents.

The tax office website itself ran into trouble as the April 1 deadline for filing tax returns approached. In the end, the tax office delayed the deadline for two days.