How will changes to box 3 affect you?

The assumed return is a legally defined flat-rate percentage. It is the return that the Tax and Customs Administration assumes you have made on your assets in box 3.

The same flat rate applies to everyone. If your return is taxed according to the assumed rate, it falls under the ‘assumed-rate tax system’.

If your actual return is higher than the assumed rate, you only pay tax according to the assumed rate. Any ‘extra’ return above that threshold is untaxed.

If your actual return is lower than the assumed return, the Tax and Customs Administration is not allowed to tax your return according to the assumed rate, because that would mean you would pay too much tax on your return.

This was decided by the Supreme Court in 2021. The Court reaffirmed its judgment in 2024.

The Supreme Court judgment prompted a bill: the ‘tegenbewijsregeling’. If being taxed according to the assumed-rate tax system works in your disadvantage, this bill may provide a solution.

It works as follows:

• If you can prove that your actual return is lower than the assumed return, you only pay tax on your actual return.

The government expects that this option will enter into effect in summer 2025. This bill has not yet been approved.

Actual Return Statement
If the bill is approved, you will receive a form – the Actual Return Statement – from the Tax and Customs Administration in summer 2025. You can use this to declare that your actual return is (or was) lower than the assumed return in all years in which this is the case. There is a separate form for each year.

If you can prove that your actual return is lower than the assumed return and the Tax and Customs Administration accepts your evidence, your tax bill in box 3 will be recalculated based on the actual return.

What counts as ‘actual return’?
It’s important to know what is considered actual return and what isn’t. You must follow the Supreme Court’s definition of actual return:

• Actual return consists of direct returns and unrealised gains and losses (changes in value).
• Direct return includes things like dividends, interest and rent.
• Unrealised gains and losses include things like increases in share prices or changes in the WOZ-waarde of the real estate you declare in box 3, such as your holiday home. The ‘WOZ-waarde’ is the value of your home as determined by your municipality.
• You may deduct interest on debts, but you may not deduct other costs such as management and maintenance fees.

In which cases and when can you declare your actual return? You may declare your actual return on income tax assessments that were still provisional on 24 December 2021. If this is the case for you, be sure to fill in the Actual Return Statement in time. You may send the statement up to 5 years after the tax year in question.

If your actual return in 2020 was lower than the assumed return, 2025 is the last year in which you can reduce your 2020 tax bill. You will therefore need to take action before 31 December 2025.

You have more time to apply for a reduction of your tax bill for the years 2021 to 2024 inclusive if you overpaid in the assumed-rate system.

Which documents do you need?
You will require information from your bank and other sources in order to declare your actual return. If you’re an ABN AMRO client, please see our box 3 return summary to find out which information you need and where you can find it.

The bill for the Box 3 Actual Return Act (Wet werkelijk rendement box 3) was submitted on 19 May 2025. The House of Representatives and the Senate aim to approve this bill before 15 March 2026. If they do, it will enter into force on 1 January 2028.

As the House of Representatives can still amend the bill, the content of the law may change. However, it is clear that the vast majority of representatives are in favour of a system that taxes real returns.

From 2028, you will pay tax on your actual return according to a capital growth tax.

• You pay tax each year on income from your assets such as interest, dividends, rent and leases. Any related costs are deducted from this income.
• Changes in the value of your assets, whether or not these gains or losses have been realised (such as by selling) will also affect your tax bill.
  • If one of your shares has increased in value, you’ll need to pay tax on that in the tax year in question – not only when you sell the share.
  • If one of your shares has decreased in value, you can deduct this loss from your positive income, even if you haven’t yet sold the share.

If you have direct or indirect returns from immovable property and investments in innovative start-ups, you will pay capital gains tax on them. This is how capital gains tax works:

• You pay tax on your total actual return.
• You only pay tax on realised gains.
• If your property has increased in value, you only pay tax on it if you sell it.