Holiday home in the Netherlands - what about taxes?

You pay transfer tax if you buy a holiday home, and income tax and property tax (OZB) if you are the owner. It does not matter if you live in the Netherlands or abroad.

You don’t live in your holiday home

Your holiday home is a 2nd home. This means you don’t live there. A holiday home can also be a cottage or mobile home at a holiday park.

In 2026, you pay 8% transfer tax on the purchase price

Did you buy a holiday home and have a bill of sale notarised by a notary? Then the notary will take care of the transfer tax return and payment for you.

If you did not arrange the sale via a notary, you must do the tax return and payment yourself. You must file a transfer tax return within 1 month after you’ve become the owner. The tax return form can be requested at the Tax Information Line.

You pay income tax on the notional or actual return

We calculate the notional return on your holiday home with a fixed percentage. In 2026, that percentage is 6.00%. In 2025 it was 5.88%. This means that you pay more tax in Box 3 in 2026 than you would in 2025.

Declare your holiday home under your assets

In your tax return, fill in the details of your holiday home under your assets in Box 3. Fill in the address and the WOZ value, with a reference date of 1 January of the year before the year of your tax return. For your 2025 tax return, that means you need to enter the WOZ value with reference date 1 January 2024. The WOZ value is listed on the WOZ decision (WOZ-beschikking) you received from the municipality where your holiday home is located.

You can report the actual return to us

The actual return on your holiday home may be lower than the notional return we used for Box 3. If so, you can report your actual return to us. You may have to pay less tax as a result, or you may even receive a tax refund.

You can fill in the actual return for 2025 and subsequent years in your tax return. For 2024 or earlier years, you will receive a letter from us informing you when you can report your actual return for those years to us. Read more about this at:

• Wanneer krijg ik de brief dat ik mijn box 3-inkomen mag doorgeven? (When will I receive the letter that I can report my Box 3 income?)(only available in Dutch)
• Calculation examples for notional and actual return

Property tax (OZB) is paid to the municipality

The municipality in which your holiday home is located will inform you about this.

The amount of property tax you pay differs per municipality. The property tax is a percentage of the WOZ value of your home. Municipalities set that percentage each year.