Prepare for the box 3 rebuttal. What should you collect?

Introduction

The Supreme Court ruled in June 2024 that the legal redress offered for people with a demonstrably lower actual return than the flat rate return in box 3 was not sufficient. Additional legal redress was therefore needed. This is now provided for in the bill on the box 3 rebuttal scheme, which was recently submitted to the House of Representatives. A form (Opgave werkelijk rendement) will become available this summer, allowing you to claim the restoration of rights for the years 2017 to 2027.

Legal redress for whom?

For the years 2017 and 2018, additional restoration of rights is only possible if you filed a timely objection or requested ex officio reduction in time (in principle, within 5 years of the end of the tax year). For 2019 and 2020, you must have timely requested an ex officio reduction. For 2021 and later years, you can use the restoration of rights anyway if it is advantageous for you.

What is included in the 'actual return'?

Actual returns for Box 3 include the following:

  • Current income, such as interest, rent, lease and dividend income;
  • Value increases and decreases, such as securities price movements, cryptocurrency value movements and property value changes;
  • Only interest costs are deductible, so not, for example, property maintenance costs or the custody fee of your securities portfolio.

Personal use of real estate, think of a holiday home, is not included in the actual return. However, new legislation is in the pipeline for this, to take effect in 2026. Another important point is that there is no tax-free income or assets when determining the actual return. Until 2025, the box-3 assessment will never be higher than under the flat-rate statutory system.

Preparing for rebuttal

Changes in value are also included in actual returns. Did you have/have real estate or shares in 2017 to 2027, which increased in value substantially? Then the statutory flat rate return will be more favourable than the actual return. Filing the form then probably makes little sense. But did you have a lot of securities in 2022? Then you faced a bad stock market year and it may make sense to calculate the actual return for that year. Note: the calculation of the actual return is always on the entire box-3 assets.

What data do you need to collect?

We are happy to help you determine the actual return on your box-3 assets. To do so, we need more data than was included in your original return. The additional information you still need to collect to determine the actual return per year concerns the following data:

  • WOZ value(s) of your box-3 home(s): you can easily find this out via the WOZ value desk;
  • The fair market value of any box-3 business property. Has there been a valuation in a year? Then you can use this appraisal value for that year.
  • An annual overview of capital developments in the relevant years. Consider:
      • Annual statements of shares and dividends received;
      • interest received on bank accounts;
      • rental income received;
      • the interest cost if there is a mortgage on your (rented) box-3 property;
      • deposits and also withdrawals from your investment portfolio. To the extent that the value of this portfolio increases due to deposits, these do not count. This is obviously not a (price) gain. Check whether deposits and withdrawals are listed on the annual statement. If not, you can often download them through your stockbroker or easily map them via a search in your bank account. Make sure you have a complete overview of deposits into and transfers out of your trading accounts;
      • deposits/failures and also withdrawals in cryptocurrencies, although it can be difficult to map this clearly if there have been many transactions;
  • Note: Have you made gifts to your children on paper. If so, you have to pay annual interest (often 6%). You must also report this interest charge to us.

Note: For interest, dividends, etc. received, you have to use the so-called 'cash accounting system'. This means that the moment of receipt determines in which year the return counts. For example, did you receive interest for 2023 on 1 January 2024? Then this interest will count in 2024 and not in 2023.

Processing Tax authorities

The Inland Revenue needs some time to process the 'Declaration of Actual Return' form. The first final assessments are expected to be imposed from October 2025. Probably, when processing the form, the Tax Authorities will start with the oldest years. So it may take some time before you receive the corrected assessment. No interest will be paid on the difference between the box-3 tax you paid and that you get back.

Want to know more?

Want to know more or have questions about determining actual return under the rebuttal rule? If so, please contact us. We will be happy to help you further.

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