Some 34,000 people failed to file their tax return on time this year and many of them now face a fine, according to tax office figures.

In total, 8.8 million people should have filed a tax return by May 1, at which point 200,000 had failed to do so. That is twice the number in 2022, news website Nu.nl reported.

Half of them have since filled in the appropriate forms and almost 69,000 have asked for a delay. A further 726,000 people had already asked for a delay via their tax advisor and are not included in the figures.

Fines for failing to meet the deadline start at €385 and tax officials will also make an estimate of how much tax they think someone owes the treasury.