Box 3 overhaul should wait until 2030, advisers tell cabinet

The Raad van State, the Council of State, advises the cabinet to withdraw its bill on taxing actual returns in box 3, the tax category for savings and investments (Wet werkelijk rendement box 3), and not to submit an amending bill (a novelle). It wants a new bill that moves to a new box 3 system in one go in 2030.

The Belastingdienst, the tax administration, considers the novelle unworkable, at least for 2028, its implementation test shows. The Council says that, on the information available, introduction in 2028 would be irresponsible, given the strain existing tasks already put on the Belastingdienst and the prospect of new structural cuts.

The novelle would move financial instruments to a capital gains system from 2028, with a full capital gains system from 2030. The Council calls the temporary split between asset types, with two different tax systems, vulnerable and made "without clear justification". It says this hybrid system needs 252 FTE of workforce and about €31m in extra implementation costs.

Changing the system by novelle, and in great haste, undermines the care that legislation requires, the Council says. It adds that the debate on how to cover the cost of the changes creates "confusion and unrest". Its advice would give "the calm and clarity that is needed".

If the cabinet still wants to go ahead with the novelle, the Council advises introducing the capital gains tax for all box 3 assets only from 2030. Either way, the current flat-rate system, which lets taxpayers contest it by proving their actual return (tegenbewijsregeling), would stay in place in 2028 and 2029.

The cabinet discussed the advice at its meeting on Friday. State Secretary Eelco Eerenberg (Finance) is working on improvements and wants to send his adjusted plan to the Tweede Kamer by Tuesday at the latest.