In recent weeks, the Tax and Customs Administration has asked 8.8 million Dutch people, including 1.8 million entrepreneurs, to file a tax return in March or April. This is half a million more than in the past two years, when 8.3 million Dutch people received a (digital) declaration letter.
From last night everyone could already file a tax return and at 7 o’clock in the morning 60,000 tax returns had been received, the Tax and Customs Administration reports.
The Tax and Customs Administration cannot immediately say why half a million more people have been written to. “This may be due to the increase in the number of self-employed people without employees,” says a spokesperson. That increased by 125,000 in 2022, according to the most recent CBS figures.
There is a good chance that 10 million Dutch people will file a tax return for 2022 this year. In recent years, about 1.3 million Dutch people have filed a tax return each year, even though they had not received an invitation.
More people are expected to file tax returns this year if they expect to receive a few tens of euros back. In the past, people sometimes refrained from this, but in a time of high inflation, every little extra comes in handy.
Hundreds of thousands fail to collect refunds
Last year, the Tax and Customs Administration noticed that there is always a large group that does not file a return, while they are probably entitled to a refund.
Data from the Tax and Customs Administration shows that more than half a million people missed the refund for the year 2021. That is why the tax authorities sent a letter to 565,000 people in October 2022.
Surprisingly, 350,000 people did not respond. The Tax and Customs Administration is in the dark why not and sent a reminder at the end of January.
No more financial puzzle for tax partners
New this year is that couples can omit a financial puzzle at the end of their tax return. Tax partners, couples and cohabitants who file a tax return together used to have to figure out for themselves at the end of the return how they could best allocate deductions.
“This year, the tax return program automatically chooses the optimal distribution where you get the most money back together or have to pay the least. Although you can adjust this yourself afterwards,” says a spokesperson.
