No complaint? Then no compensation for too-high asset tax bill

Taxpayers who did not make a formal complaint about the size of their Box 3 asset tax bill in time will not be able to claim money back, the Dutch supreme court said on Thursday.

The court was ruling on the cases of two people who had not made a complaint about their bills but have now said they want compensation for the over-payment. The court ruled against both claims, which would have set a precedent for thousands more if they had been successful.

The ruling applies to taxpayers who paid too much tax on their income from savings and investments between 2017 and 2020. In 2021, the supreme court ruled that the tax levied on assets, which was based on a fictitious return, infringed European legislation.

The court said at the time the Dutch tax office was wrong to use a fictitious amount when calculating how much tax a couple had to pay on their savings, because it contravened the right to ownership and European human rights laws.

This cleared the way for everyone who had tried to appeal against their tax bill to apply for a refund.

Had the new court case been successful, it could have cost the treasury as much as €4 billion in repayments. The case may now go to the European courts for a final ruling.

The government is still struggling to come up with a new system to replace the current Box 3 system, which is now based on actual returns rather than a fictitious percentage.