Possibilities for provisional tax assessment

June 1, 2022

Possibilities for provisional tax assessment

You may have heard of a provisional tax assessment. A provisional tax assessment is an assessment for income tax based on an estimate of your income and expenses. Since it is an estimate, the amount can still be higher or lower.

There are three types of provisional tax assessments:

1. You receive an unsolicited provisional tax assessment from the Belastingdienst for the coming year. You may be surprised to receive an unsolicited provisional tax assessment. The Belastingdienst sends this because they want to collect the tax as soon as possible. They are doing this more and more often. Unfortunately, you cannot refuse this provisional tax assessment. It is important to always check whether the information on the provisional tax assessment is correct. You can always change the (information on the) provisional tax assessment if it is incorrect.
2. You receive an unsolicited provisional tax assessment from the Belastingdienst for the previous year. After you have filed your final tax return, you may receive a provisional tax assessment in some cases. In this case, you still have to pay additional tax. In most cases, you will receive the final tax assessment immediately and not a provisional tax assessment.
3. You receive a provisional tax assessment because you have requested it once. If you request it, you will automatically receive a provisional tax assessment every year. You usually receive the provisional tax assessment around December or January. You receive the automatic provisional tax assessment before the final tax assessment. You can also stop these automatic provisional tax assessments if you wish.

When is it useful to request a provisional tax assessment?

1. You expect to receive a refund from the tax authorities and you want to receive it in advance instead of after the end of the year. Often, you can already receive this monthly with a provisional tax assessment. You will, of course, only receive money back if the tax authorities estimate that your expenses will be higher than your income. For example: You are employed and you take out a mortgage for a home purchase. In this case, you are entitled to deduct mortgage interest, which often results in tax benefits. You can have this repaid monthly in advance through a provisional tax assessment.
2. You expect a high tax bill. With a provisional tax assessment, you pay the tax in advance each month. This prevents you from having to pay a large amount of tax at the end of the year.
3. Another advantage is that you save on tax interest if you file your tax return before May 1st. You normally pay tax afterwards, for returns filed after May 1st, the Tax Authority charges tax interest. You do not have to pay this tax interest if you file your tax return before May 1st. This saves you money!

A provisional tax assessment can certainly be useful in some cases. Have you requested a provisional tax assessment? Then you will automatically receive one every year.