The Box 3 reform: what changes for you from 2028

Where the law stands

Box 3 is the part of income tax that covers savings and investments. In 2026 it taxes a return the Belastingdienst (the Dutch tax office) assumes, at 36%, not what you earned. The government wants to tax your actual return instead, through a law called the Wet werkelijk rendement box 3. The Box 3 guide explains today's rules.

This is where that law stands on 19 October 2026:

The changes come as a separate bill, a novelle. The Raad van State's advice is expected at the end of October. Then the Tweede Kamer votes on the novelle, and the Eerste Kamer on the novelle and the bill. The government says the Eerste Kamer has to pass the novelle by 31 December 2026 for the new Box 3 to start on 1 January 2028.

So nothing is law yet. We'll check this guide again when the Raad van State has given its advice and when each chamber votes.

The plan: tax when you sell

Under the government's plan, Box 3 taxes two kinds of return from 2028:

• What you receive: interest on savings, dividends and rent, in the year you get them.
• What you gain when you sell: the rise in value of shares, bonds and other financial instruments, which includes the funds and ETFs most people invest through. You pay in the year you sell, not while you hold them.

A tax on the gain when you sell is called a vermogenswinstbelasting. The government says it covers about 90% of the wealth in Box 3 that changes in value. Everything else, such as crypto you hold yourself, follows in 2030. Crypto gets a law of its own.

A second home or a home you rent out is already taxed this way in the bill: the rent each year, and the rise in value when you sell. Your own home stays in Box 1, as it is now.

The first €1,000 of each person's return in a year is free of tax. The bill had €1,800. The government's letter gives an example: at 2% interest, a saver pays no tax on the first €50,000. The letter doesn't change the bill's rate of 36%. Costs such as account fees and transaction costs are taken off your return.

In at least the first year, banks can't send their figures to the Belastingdienst for your pre-filled tax return. So for 2028 you'd fill in your interest and gains yourself.

What the Tweede Kamer passed

The bill the Tweede Kamer passed in February 2026 is different. It taxes the growth in value of shares and funds every year, whether you sell or not. A fund that rises 5% in a year is taxed on that 5%. A fall in value can be set against later gains.

The Eerste Kamer didn't want to vote on it as it was. The novelle keeps most of the bill, and changes the tax on investments to a tax when you sell.

What changes in 2027

The present system stays in place for 2027, with its assumed returns. Under the law as it stands, the tax-free amount goes up from €59,357 to €60,098 a person, and the assumed return on investments from 6.00% to 6.37%.

The government wants to pay for the reform partly through 2027. On 29 September 2026 it proposed to bring the tax-free amount back to the 2020 level of €30,846 a person, and to raise the assumed return on investments by 1.5 percentage points. That would make Box 3 cost more in 2027 for most people with savings or investments above about €31,000. On 5 October the minister told the Eerste Kamer that €30,846 isn't the final limit. Parliament votes on it with the 2027 tax plan, so it isn't certain either.

What it means for you

How much the reform changes your Box 3 tax depends on what you hold, and on when you sell.

• If you only have savings: you're taxed on the interest you get each year, above €1,000 a person.
• If you invest and hold: you pay less each year than with an assumed return, and more in the year you sell. A fund that reinvests its dividends grows untaxed until you sell it.
• If you take money out each year: the part you sell carries some gain, and that gain is taxed that year.

Your lijfrente

A lijfrente (pension pillar 3) stays as it is. It isn't counted for Box 3 while it builds up, and its payouts are taxed as income in Box 1. The tax back on what you put in doesn't change either.

What changes is how it compares with investing the same money yourself. Today a lijfrente avoids a Box 3 tax that falls every year. Under the plan, investments you don't sell also grow untaxed until you sell them, so a lijfrente saves you less Box 3 tax than it does now. The Lijfrente guide explains how it works.