Box 3 wealth tax: the expat guide

Most countries tax capital gains when you sell an asset. The Netherlands does something different: it taxes the assumed return on your wealth every year, whether you sold anything or not. This is Box 3 — the wealth tax bracket in the Dutch income tax system.

For expats used to systems like the UK’s ISA or the US’s capital gains tax, Box 3 is the biggest surprise. Here’s how it actually works.

The core concept: deemed return

Instead of tracking your actual investment gains, the Dutch tax authority (Belastingdienst) applies a fixed deemed return to your net assets. In 2026, that’s:

• 6.00% The return Box 3 assumes on your investments 2026 · Belastingdienst · Check your Box 3
• 1.28% The return Box 3 assumes on your savings 2026, provisional · Belastingdienst

Debts get a deductible return of 2.70% in 2026 (provisional). You pay 36% tax on the deemed return, but only on the part of your wealth above the tax-free allowance.¹

1. Assumed return €100,000 × 6.00% €6,000
2. Wealth above the tax-free amount €100,000 − €59,357 €40,643
3. Return that gets taxed €6,000 × 40,643 ÷ 100,000 €2,439
4. Box 3 tax at 36% €878

If the fund grew by 20%, you pay the same. If it did worse than the assumed return, you can ask to be taxed on what it really earned instead (see below).

Run your own numbers Box 3 estimator · 2 min

What counts as Box 3 wealth

Included:

• Bank savings
• Investments: ETFs, individual stocks, index funds
• Cryptocurrency (Bitcoin, Ethereum, etc.)
• Second property or holiday home (not your primary residence)
• Foreign bank accounts and investments
• Peer-to-peer lending
• Receivables (money owed to you)

Excluded:

• Your primary home (taxed in Box 1 instead, via a notional rental value called eigenwoningforfait)
• Pension assets — both your employer pension (pillar 2) and private pension products like lijfrente (pillar 3)
• Green investments up to €26,715 per person in 2026 (€53,430 for fiscal partners)²
• Insurance that only pays out when you die, such as funeral insurance, up to €8,904 of insured capital per person in 2026

The tax-free allowance

You only pay Box 3 tax on net assets above the threshold. For 2026:

• Single: €59,357
• Fiscal partners: €118,714 (each person’s allowance, applied to combined assets)

If your total net wealth is below your allowance, your Box 3 tax is €0.

How the tax is calculated — the proportional method

The Netherlands uses a proportional method (evenredige verdeling). Here’s the 3-step version:

Step 1: Calculate your net taxable assets
(savings + investments) − deductible debts − allowance

Debts are deductible only above a threshold of €3,800 per person (€7,600 for partners) in 2026.

Step 2: Find what proportion of your total assets is taxable
taxable base ÷ total net assets = proportional share

Step 3: Apply that proportion to the deemed return
(savings × 1.28% + investments × 6.00%) × proportional share × 36% = tax due

Example (2026): €40,000 savings and €80,000 investments, no debts, one person.

• Total assets: €120,000. Allowance: €59,357. Taxable base: €60,643.
• Proportional share: 60,643 ÷ 120,000 = 50.5%.
• Deemed return: (€40,000 × 1.28%) + (€80,000 × 6.00%) = €512 + €4,800 = €5,312.
• Taxable deemed return: €5,312 × 50.5% = €2,684.
• Tax: €2,684 × 36% = €966.

If your real return was lower

Since the 2025 tax return, you can also report what your savings and investments really earned.³ Your tax return asks about this when you have Box 3 wealth.

Your real return includes interest, dividends and any rise or fall in value, even if you didn’t sell. If it’s lower than the return Box 3 assumes, the Belastingdienst taxes the lower amount. If it’s negative, it counts as €0, so you pay no Box 3 tax that year.

A loss can’t be carried over to another year. For years before 2025, you use the form Opgaaf werkelijk rendement instead.

Will Box 3 change?

Probably, but nothing is decided yet. The lower house of parliament passed a bill to tax actual returns from 1 January 2028.⁴ On 30 June 2026, the Senate postponed its vote and asked the government for changes first.⁵

On 29 September 2026, the government changed its plan.⁶ It now wants to tax a rise in value only when you sell, not each year. This would apply to savings, shares and bonds from 2028, and to everything else, including crypto, from 2030.⁷

The government also proposed a lower tax-free allowance for 2027. Parliament hasn’t agreed to any of this yet.

Until a new law is passed, the system on this page applies. Duit will update this guide and the Box 3 estimator once the new rules are law.

Status checked on 12 October 2026.

When and how you report it

Box 3 wealth is assessed on 1 January each year — the opening balance of your accounts and portfolio on that specific date is what gets taxed. It doesn’t matter what your balance was on 31 December or at any other point.

You report it in your annual belastingaangifte (tax return), which covers the previous year. The 2026 return (for assets on 1 January 2026) is typically filed between March and May 2027.

Most Dutch banks and brokers provide a January 1 statement (jaaropgave) that lists your balance on that date. For foreign accounts and crypto, you need to record the value yourself.