The third Tuesday of September is coming soon, which means the Netherlands will be celebrating Prinsjesdag (Prince's Day). And although we can talk about the traditions of the House of Orange in this connection, we will focus on something else, namely, on the changes in the field of taxes and fees that will be announced to the Dutch. As we remember, Prinsjesdag is also the Budget Day.
- Delivery vans are no longer exempt from BPM
BPM (belasting van personenauto's en motorrijwielen) is a tax on the purchase or importation of a vehicle into the Netherlands. Delivery vans are currently exempt from BPM, but the entrepreneur must use the delivery van for their business by more than 10%.
The government wants to abolish this exception. Entrepreneurs will be subject to the normal BPM rate for vans. Features of the implementation of this measure are still being worked out - most likely, the abolition of exemption from BPM will be carried out in stages. We remind you how we wrote previously, all electric vehicles (including vans) remain exempt from BPM until 2025.
- Increasing tax on air passengers (vliegbelasting)
As a reminder, this tax was introduced from 1 January 2021 and applies to all passengers departing from airports in the Netherlands. Airports charge airlines a fee of EUR 7,845 per person per flight. The justification for the collection is to draw the attention of air passengers to environmental issues.
As part of the implementation of the terms of the coalition agreement, the government proposes to increase vliegbelasting. The goal is to generate additional income of 400 million euros from 2023. Along with this, the government is seeking to reduce flights over short distances: due to the tax on air passengers, the cost of tickets on such routes will be prohibitive. It was originally planned to increase the vliegbelasting rate to 28,58 euros from January 1, 2023, but this amount may still change.
- Rules for the application of a tax on CO2 emissions (CO2-heffing) are being tightened
As we have told, the government is systematically tightening the obligations of companies to save energy and reduce carbon dioxide emissions. We remind you that from January 1, a tax on CO2 emissions (CO2-heffing) has been introduced. In doing so, part of the CO2 emissions of enterprises is exempt from the tax: this is expressed in the so-called exemption rights (dispensatierechten, DPR). One DPR is equal to the emission of 1 tonne of CO2.
The government plans to gradually reduce the amount of DPR from January 1, 2023 to 4,85 million tons in 2030. This means that by 2030 there will be 4 million tons less DPR for industry and 0,85 million tons for other sectors of the economy. In addition, the government wants to revise the so-called reduction factor for CO2 emissions in line with the new EU ETS benchmarks. We are talking about setting a reduction factor for 2023 at the level of 1,213, and each subsequent calendar year there will be a decrease by 0,078. The good news: The CO2 tax rate remains unchanged for the time being at EUR 41,75 per tonne of CO2 emissions.
- The energy tax structure will be adjusted (energiebelasting)
As a reminder, in the Netherlands, the consumption of electricity and natural gas is taxed, which increases the overall cost of energy. The rationale behind the tax is that a higher price of energy could encourage people to use it more economically. At the same time, the tax rate depends on the category of consumption - in total there are five categories for gas and for electricity.
The government plans to raise energybelasting rates in the higher gas and electricity consumption categories. This measure is still under development. In addition, during 2023-2028, the gas tax for consumers in the first category will increase. The increase in the tax rate will be 5,23 cents/m3. On the other hand, in the first category, the electricity tax rate will decrease by only 5,23 cents/kWh during 2023-2028.
In general, from 2023, the tax component in the electricity bill for households will be reduced. This includes an increase in the tax credit for connection to electricity (heffingskorting energiebelasting) by 27,47 euros. In 2022, this discount is 824,77 euros including connection VAT.
- ODE (renewable energy storage) tax to be integrated into energy tax
As a reminder, the ODE tax (opslag duurzame energie) is an additional tax on energy consumption. The consumer pays it on the basis of each kilowatt-hour of electricity and each cubic meter of gas that he uses. Through this additional tax, the government can incentivize the production of green energy. With proceeds from ODE, the government is funding a subsidy bank for the Sustainable Energy Incentive Scheme (SDE++).
ODE tariffs are established by law until 2022 inclusive. Since this year ODE has been separated from SDE++. From 2023, ODE will be reduced for the second and third categories of electricity consumers. Ultimately, the ODE must be integrated into the energy tax, resulting in the ODE Act being formally repealed in 2024.
And finally, do not forget the obvious: it is better not to joke with taxes. If you can't figure out some tax issues on your own, seek advice to the specialists of Nalog.nl.
Publication Date: 12.09.2022
