You are aware of it: some time ago, the Supreme Court drew a line under the current flat-rate system of box 3. As a property investor, you are expected to make a return of 5.88% (in 2025), to which the box 3 rate of 36% (also in 2025) is applied. For some private residential landlords, this means an annual loss.
The highest court in the Netherlands also thought this was going too far. Politicians had to come up with a solution: the Law on Counter Evidence recently adopted by the Lower House. What does this law basically entail? As a property investor, you are given the opportunity to prove the actual return achieved. If this is lower than the flat-rate return, you will, in principle, be refunded overpaid tax. Note that this is the return on your total box 3 assets. So you should not consider your property ownership separately from it. This rebuttal scheme is in fact a temporary solution. From 2028, the Actual Return Box 3 Act is expected. You can read more about this in a separate article: actual return box 3 as from 2028.
Central to the Counter Evidence Act is the digital form ‘Statement of Actual Return’. While this form is currently not yet available, it is about to appear. Using this form, you can try to prove that your actual return is lower than 5.88% (2025) in appropriate situations. Action may pay off - and especially from the year 2026, when the flat rate of return is expected to rise to 7.77%. Ridiculous? At least that's what the Real Estate Interests trade association thinks. Vastgoed Belang has started a lawsuit against the State for what they believe is an unlawful levy in Box 3.
What can you do now in preparation for any action?
In summary: collect data relating to your entire box 3 assets. Consider, for example, annual statements of bank balances, VvE balances, other investments, crypto currencies, receivables, WOZ values of rented homes in the Netherlands, WOZ value of a holiday home in the Netherlands, the estimated market value of homes abroad and any debts you may have in box 3.
It is well established that for calculating your return, maintenance costs should not be deducted. It is also established that an annual increase in value does have to be included. If an increase in the value of your rental home or holiday home has come about due to investments (such as an improvement or extension), then these investments do not form part of the actual return.
Tom Domic - Tax adviser Berghoef Accountants and Advisers
