The introduction of a new system for taxing wealth is likely to be delayed by another year. The current planned introduction date of 1 January 2026 for the new tax in box 3 – the so-called ‘savings tax’ – is practically unfeasible. This is what State Secretary Marnix van Rij (Taxation, CDA) says in an interview with NRC.
Also read the interview with Van Rij: State Secretary Van Rij: ‘The real reform of the tax system is for my successor’
The House of Representatives will debate the subject at the beginning of May. “To be very honest: if the bill is there this summer, and we also want to do an internet consultation, and if you then allow a year and a half for the legislative process, it will be very complicated to achieve January 1, 2026,” says Van Rij. “Because you also need another year and a half for the implementation.”
According to that schedule, the new levy can not be introduced until 2027 at the earliest. The new savings tax has been necessary since the Supreme Court at the end of 2021 drew a line by the existing yield tax, which was largely based on a notional yield. With the new legislation, the actual return on savings and investments should be taxed.
The new legislation requires “broad support”, says Van Rij. “You are not going to push through a new wealth tax system.”
The outdated systems of the Tax and Customs Administration will not be in order until 2026
The previous one-year postponement already cost the treasury 385 million euros. According to the Ministry of Finance, it is not yet possible to say whether a new postponement will result in a comparable cost item, because the House of Representatives has yet to take a final decision on the planning.
The implementation as agreed in the coalition agreement from 2025 pale unfeasible last September. Under the current bridging scheme, savers and investors pay a lower tax on their assets in box 3. With the old yield tax, the government raised more than 4 billion euros annually.
The reasons for the renewed postponement lie partly in the delay in modernizing the necessary ICT systems and in the fact that the adoption of a widely supported bill may take longer than expected. But according to Van Rij, it also plays a role in the fact that during the formation of the current Rutte cabinet, not much thought was given to what levying tax on actual returns actually entailed. “If I then ask: have you discussed what a real return is, then the answer is: no, not at all.”
From 2026 at the earliest
The coalition agreement also stated its intention to ‘simplify’ and reform the tax system. That will no longer happen during this government’s term of office, says Van Rij. “I also asked: what does it mean? Well, nobody knows that.” Van Rij wants to come up with his first ideas for simplifying the tax system before the summer, but as far as he is concerned, introducing them is up to the next cabinet.
First, the outdated ICT systems of the Tax and Customs Administration must be in order, he says. And that will be the case from 2026 at the earliest. Earlier, Van Rij reported to the House that the Tax and Customs Administration will not be able to implement major legislative changes during this government’s term of office due to the problems with outdated ICT systems.
Van Rij will debate with the House of Representatives on Thursday about the state of affairs at the Tax and Customs Administration.
Interview State Secretary Marnix van Rij page E6-7
A version of this article also appeared in the newspaper of March 23, 2023