What can or must you arrange as an entrepreneur, director/major shareholder, employer, or private individual at the end of 2025? What changes will take effect in 2026 that you can anticipate now? We offer ten important tips.
1. Anticipate 12% extra tax on company fossil fuel passenger cars
Employers will pay extra tax if, from January 1, 2027, they make a company fossil fuel passenger car (CO2 emissions greater than zero) available to their employees for private use for the first time. The catch with this regulation is that commuting is also considered private use! In principle, the tax amounts to 12% of the catalog value. For passenger cars made available before 2027, the levy will not take effect until September 17, 2030. Therefore, you should also take this regulation into account if you are considering making fossil fuel passenger cars available for the first time before 2027. If you are purchasing or leasing a car with a longer term, you may want to opt for an emission-free passenger car.
Please note! The additional tax liability for company cars will also remain in place! However, the lower additional tax liability for company cars that do not emit CO2 will be abolished in 2026. If you purchase an electric car in 2025, you will still benefit from the low additional tax liability for a maximum of five years.
2. Plan the composition of your box 3 assets
If you have private assets, it is important to take into account the tax you have to pay on the different types of assets in box 3. The amount of box 3 tax depends not only on the amount of your assets, but also on their composition.
Furthermore, movable property for personal use (such as household effects, jewelry, or a boat) is not included in box 3. You can therefore save on tax by planning wisely around the reference date of January 1, 2026. Buy movable property for personal use before January 1, 2026, rather than just after that date. And if you have sold immovable property in box 3, check whether it can be transferred to the notary before January 1, 2026. In that case, the statutory return on this property on January 1, 2026 will not be 7.78%, but the much lower statutory return that applies to bank balances.
Please note! Advice regarding box 3 is always tailored to individual circumstances and involves more than described above! Therefore, consult your advisor for your own situation.
3. Check whether you can apply the box 3 rebuttal rule
If your total actual return in box 3 is lower than the total calculated statutory return, you may be able to invoke the box 3 rebuttal rule. The Supreme Court ruled on this in mid-2024. In principle, it is possible to invoke the box 3 rebuttal rule for the years 2017 to 2027. However, for the years 2017-2020, this is only possible if your final income tax assessment was not yet irrevocably determined on December 24, 2021, and you lodged an objection or requested an ex officio reduction in good time. To invoke the rebuttal rule, you must use the Opgaaf Werkelijk Rendement (OWR) form. The Tax and Customs Administration will be sending out letters in phases starting in July. Once you receive this letter, please contact our advisors as soon as possible. In certain cases, the response period is only twelve weeks!
Please note! The calculation of the actual return is likely to differ from what you have in mind for an actual return. For example, unrealized changes in value are also taken into account. To assess whether you can invoke the box 3 rebuttal rule, please contact our advisors.
Tip! If your actual return is higher, you do not need to do anything. You simply pay box 3 tax based on the statutory return.
4. Pay out dividends or not yet?
In 2025, the rate in box 2 will be 24.5% up to an income of €67,804 (or €135,608 for joint tax partners). The rate for amounts above this will be 31% in 2025. It is therefore more attractive to pay dividends up to €67,804 (€135,608 for fiscal partners) than a higher amount. Check what amounts of dividends you want to pay out in the coming years and take these rate differences into account.
5. Anticipate VAT revision services from 2026
A VAT adjustment scheme already applies to investments in movable and immovable property. From 2026, a VAT adjustment scheme will also apply to services of at least € 30,000 (excluding VAT) relating to immovable property. From 2026, these investment services will be monitored in the year of commissioning, plus the four subsequent years. If the use for VAT-taxed and/or VAT-exempt services changes during that period, the VAT deduction on the investment service will be revised.
The VAT revision scheme only applies to services that serve the immovable property for several years, such as the renovation and maintenance of immovable property, but also demolition work related to a renovation. Materials, installations, machines, and tools that are incorporated into a service and lose their independence after installation or assembly are also considered part of the investment service.
The VAT revision scheme will apply to investment services that are put into use from January 1, 2026. If you put these investment services into use before this date, they will not be affected by the scheme.
Tip! The € 30,000 limit applies per service.
6. Enforcement of bogus self-employment
After years without enforcement (except in cases of malicious intent), the Tax and Customs Administration will resume enforcement of bogus self-employment from January 1, 2025. Please note that from 2026, fines may also be imposed again, even if there is no intent or bad faith. Pseudo-self-employment occurs when a self-employed person (freelancer) is actually employed by a client according to the legal rules. Do you work with self-employed people? Then check carefully whether they should actually be employed by you. What agreements have you made, how have you recorded them, and do the agreements actually correspond to practice?
Please note! Contractual agreements do not always correspond to how things work in practice. The actual performance of the work is decisive.
7. Only buy a second home in 2026
Are you planning to purchase a home that you will not use as your primary residence, for example, a home to rent to your child? If possible, wait until after 2025. From 2026, the transfer tax for homes that you will not use as your main residence will be reduced from 10.4% to 8%. This can make a significant difference to your wallet. For example, the benefit for a home worth € 500,000 is already € 12,000.
8. Utilize your discretionary scope
Under the work-related expenses scheme, as an employer you do not pay tax if your reimbursements and benefits in kind to your staff remain within the discretionary scope. In 2025, this will be 2% up to a total taxable wage bill of €400,000 and 1.18% above that amount. Check whether you still have any discretionary scope left and make use of it if you want to reward your staff with extra benefits. Any surplus discretionary scope cannot be carried over to 2026. If you are a director/major shareholder of a private limited company, you can also give yourself a tax-free bonus in this way, provided that this bonus meets the customary practice test.
Tip! Up to a total amount of € 2,400 per employee per year, the Tax and Customs Administration assumes in principle that the customary practice test has been passed.
9. Purchase an annuity this year
Amounts paid for the purchase of an annuity are deductible under certain conditions. For those with a pension shortfall in 2024, the annual tax allowance for the deduction of annuity premiums in 2025 is 30% of income (including profit and wages). The maximum annual allowance in 2025 is € 35,798. Perhaps you also have reserve allowance from previous years? If so, you can use a maximum of € 42,108 of this in 2025. Make sure you pay the annuity premiums in 2025! Only then can you still deduct them in your 2025 income tax return. If you pay in 2025, your bank balances on January 1, 2026 will be lower and you may also pay less tax in box 3 for 2026.
Please note! The amounts paid for annuities are only deductible if there is insufficient pension accrual. The 2025 tax allowance reflects this pension shortfall in 2024.
10. Do not let your reinvestment period expire
Do not let the period for reinvestment reserves (HIR) formed in the past expire. In principle, you must use any HIR you formed in 2022 before December 31, 2025. If you do not, the HIR will be released and you will owe tax on it.
Tip! In special circumstances, a longer reinvestment period is sometimes possible. For more information, please contact our advisors.
Let op! Some of the above tips are not yet final and still need to be approved by the new House of Representatives and Senate. We would therefore be happy to discuss with you personally whether it is wise to take action or not.