- The Netherlands will draft proposals to tax actual returns instead of presumed Box 3 gains.
- For 2026, Box 3 still applies a 36% tax rate on deemed returns with a €59,357 allowance.
- The Senate is waiting for an amending bill, putting the planned January 1, 2028 start at risk.
Finance Minister Eelco Heinen said the Netherlands will develop proposals to replace part of its wealth-tax framework with a system that taxes gains when assets are sold. He announced the plan on September 15, 2026, in The Hague as part of the 2027 budget.
Heinen said the government would “put forward concrete proposals in the coming period.” The announcement points toward a capital gains tax, but it does not create one. The reform remains a proposal and is not yet law.
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Dutch private investors will not face a new general levy on gains next year. The existing Box 3 system remains in place while the cabinet works on legislation and tries to resolve disagreements over the timetable.
The government’s preferred direction is taxation of actual returns rather than a presumed profit. That could mean paying tax when an asset is sold, instead of paying annually on an estimated or unrealized gain.
The change is tied to a wider overhaul of wealth taxation. The cabinet has also described the reform as a way to bring Dutch rules closer to systems used elsewhere in Europe, where realized gains are more commonly taxed.
The immediate rules remain easier to identify than the future model.
The 2026 rules still tax presumed returns
For 2026, Box 3 applies a 36% tax rate to deemed returns. Each person has a tax-free allowance of €59,357. The interim assumed return is 1.28% for bank deposits and 6.00% for investments and other assets.
Those percentages do not represent each taxpayer’s actual investment performance. They form part of the temporary method used while lawmakers consider a replacement. A saver and an investor can therefore face different assumed returns depending on the type of asset held.
| Asset or rule | 2026 treatment |
|---|---|
| Box 3 tax rate | 36% on deemed returns |
| Tax-free allowance | €59,357 per person |
| Bank deposits | Assumed return of 1.28% |
| Investments and other assets | Assumed return of 6.00% |
The government has not proposed one identical treatment for every asset under the future model. Real estate and shares in qualifying startups and scale-ups would use a capital-gains approach, with tax due when a gain is realized. Many other assets would instead be subject to annual changes in value.
That split would make the eventual rules depend heavily on what a taxpayer owns. It would also leave the government deciding how to measure gains, losses and the point at which a taxable event occurs.
The Senate is still waiting for an amending bill
The House of Representatives passed the Bill on Actual Returns in Box 3 on 12 February 2026. The Senate has deferred its vote while it waits for an amending bill.
The delay has put the intended start date of January 1, 2028 at risk. The amending bill was not being submitted for the time being, even as the cabinet continued discussing a broader shift toward taxation of real gains.
The legislative route therefore remains incomplete. Parliament must still consider the amended proposal, and the Senate has not approved the measure that would replace the existing approach.
The unresolved vote also explains why announcements about a future system do not change the tax calculation for 2026. Until new legislation takes effect, the interim Box 3 rules continue to govern private savings and investments.
Three dates now compete for the reform
The timetable has widened from a planned 2028 start to a range that could extend into 2029 or later.
| Date | Status |
|---|---|
| 2026 | Existing Box 3 deemed-return rules apply |
| January 1, 2028 | Intended start date, now at risk |
| 2029 or later | Possible timing for a more complete capital-gains model |
One 2026 tax guide expects new Box 3 legislation to take effect from 2028. Separate reporting has put a fuller capital-gains model in 2029, while other accounts describe the overhaul as pushed back toward 2028 or later.
The difference reflects competing designs rather than a settled transition plan. A narrower reform could begin earlier, while a system covering all Box 3 assets could take longer to legislate and administer.
The government’s stated ambition remains broader than the current proposal. The route toward a capital gains tax covering every Box 3 asset is still unclear, even though the coalition agreement identified that goal.
Revenue concerns are shaping the debate
Tax analyses have attached large costs to delaying or redesigning the reform. One September 2026 estimate put the possible treasury cost of shelving a planned Box 3 reform at €2.5 billion annually.
Another estimate placed the interim revenue loss from a more complete capital-gains model at €3 billion a year. A separate finance ministry analysis modeled the cost or delayed revenue at €11 billion to €25 billion, depending on how the system is designed.
Those figures describe different scenarios. They do not establish a single official cost for the final law.
State Secretary for Finance Eerenberg has been described as responsible for further Box 3 reform. Finance Minister Heinen is leading the wider budget and wealth-tax discussion, while coalition disagreements have slowed the legislation.
Some parties have pressed for a faster introduction of a real capital gains tax from 2028. Other political disputes have focused on the budget effects of replacing deemed returns and the loss of revenue during the transition.
A Supreme Court ruling pushed the issue forward
The Netherlands has taxed private wealth through Box 3 for years, using a deemed return on savings and investments instead of each taxpayer’s realized gains. The Supreme Court found that approach incompatible with European human-rights principles.
That ruling left the government under pressure to replace the system. The cabinet’s current direction is to tax returns more closely as they arise, with some assets taxed only after a sale.
Heinen has presented the change as part of a wider economic program. He said the Netherlands needs a “coalition for growth” to protect future prosperity and security, while the cabinet continues work on a tax for real capital gains.
Until Parliament settles the amending bill and the Senate votes, taxpayers remain under the 2026 framework. The next major test is whether lawmakers can preserve a 2028 start or move the overhaul into 2029.
