More than half the adult population in the Netherlands can expect an additional tax demand of between €300 and €700 because the tax office has not processed changes agreed in 2013.

Between five and six million people face an extra tax bill of up to €737 next year, while others will not get as much tax back as they expected, junior finance minister Eric Wiebes told MPs.

The average additional tax demand will be around €150, the minister said later on Friday. However, according to the tax office website, everyone who earns more than €56,495 a year will have to stump up an extra €737.

Budget

The extra payment stems from the government’s 2013 budget plans when ministers decided to reduce a tax discount (heffingskortingen) for people in work. That reduction was not incorporated into this year’s tax returns but will be included from next year.

Opposition MPs are angry about the surcharge. ‘Wiebes has known about this since February but did nothing and said nothing,’ Christian Democrat MP Pieter Omtzigt said on micro blogging service Twitter.

‘We knew it was a problem but not that it was such an enormous problem,’ D66 MP Wouter Koolmees told Radio 1.