Guide to declaring crypto taxes in The Netherlands (2022)
Find out how to calculate and declare cryptocurrency taxes in The Netherlands.
Nov. 24, 2022, 5:48 p.m.
This article aims to serve as a complete guide on calculating and paying taxes on cryptocurrency (for example, Bitcoin and Ethereum) for individuals in the Netherlands. Whether it’s your first time declaring taxes on cryptocurrencies or you are an experienced crypto evangelist, you should find this guide useful. In this guide, we will be covering:
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Important Dates
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How cryptocurrencies are taxed
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Detailed information about different transaction types
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How to submit your tax report to the Belastingdienst
This guide will be updated and maintained regularly to account for changes made by the local tax authority (Belastingdienst) and for new types of transactions. If you find any errors or outdated information, it is greatly appreciated that you let us know by sending an email to support@divly.com.
Any tax-related information provided by us is not tax advice, financial advice, accounting advice or legal advice and cannot be used by you or any other party for the purpose of avoiding tax penalties. You should seek the advice of a tax professional regarding your particular circumstances. We make no claims, promises, or warranties about the accuracy of the information provided herein. Everything included herein is our opinion and not a statement of fact.
Important dates 2022
1 March 2022 - The online tax portal MijnBelastingdienst opens on belastingdienst.nl, and you can start your tax declaration.
1 May 2022 - If you have received a letter from the Belastingdienst informing you that you have to file your taxes, you must ensure that your tax declaration arrives at the tax office by this date.
14 July 2022 - If you have not received a letter from the Belastingdienst informing you that you must file your taxes, you may still have to file your tax declaration. You should check this yourself. If, after filling in the tax declaration on MijnBelastingdienst, you notice that you owe more than 47 euros, you have to submit your taxes by this date.
How are cryptocurrencies taxed in The Netherlands?
Cryptocurrencies are taxed as assets in the Netherlands. Therefore, if your total assets, including crypto, are worth €50,000 or more, then your cryptocurrency is subject to a 31% wealth tax. You must keep track of the value of your crypto assets as they were on 1 January. You must declare your crypto in Box 3 (Savings & Investments).
There are potentially three types of taxes that you need to consider every year that you declare taxes on your cryptocurrencies. We will discuss all three in this section.
Wealth Tax (Vermogensbelasting)
The wealth tax is levied over various assets. Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies fall under a subheading of Box 3 Savings & Investments. Namely under other assets in your income tax report.
We will walk through the list of detailed scenarios for when your crypto is subject to a wealth tax in this guide.
Calculating Wealth Tax: The wealth tax is levied on the income from your taxable basis for savings and investments (grondslag sparen en beleggen). Your taxable basis is the value at 00:00:00 on 1 January of your assets minus your debt and tax-free capital of €50,000. You’ll have to trace back the value of each of your holdings to the turn of the year. Tracing back your holdings is made more difficult if you’ve made many trades since and have to find out precisely what you held at the start of the new year. The Netherlands does not tax your actual return and instead uses a fictitious return based on your taxable basis.
There are three wealth tax brackets.
The tax authority determines the amount of wealth tax you pay based on your taxable basis for savings and investments and the proportion allocated to savings compared to investments. The assumed percentage of your taxable basis allocated to savings compared to investments changes depending on your taxable basis. As your taxable basis increases, it is assumed that a larger proportion of your capital is in investments compared to savings. Savings are taxed at 0.03%, and investments are taxed at 5.69%.
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In bracket one the tax authority applies a 0.03% fictitious return on 67% of your capital and a 5.69% fictitious return on 33% percent of your capital, for an effective fictitious return of 1.898%.
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In bracket two the tax authority applies a 0.03% fictitious return on 21% of your capital and a 5.69% fictitious return on 79% percent of your capital, for an effective fictitious return of 4.501%.
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In bracket three the tax authority applies a 0.03% fictitious return on 0% of your capital and a 5.69% fictitious return on 100% percent of your capital, for an effective fictitious return of 5.69%.
On the sum of these fictitious returns you pay a tax rate of 31%.
Be aware that it is the value of your capital on 1 January at 00:00:00 that matters. If on 1 January you own €1,000,000 worth of crypto and at the time you are declaring crypto you own €5,000, then you have to declare €1,000,000, not €5,000 in crypto assets.
In this case, you would pay a tax of over €14,000. Therefore it is possible to be obligated to pay more tax on your crypto than your crypto is worth.
Example: Say Thomas owned €140,000 in assets on 1 January with 0 debt. Then his taxable basis is €140,000-€50,000 of tax-free capital. Therefore, he pays taxes on the fictitious return applied to the taxable basis of €90,000. For the first €50,000, he applies the fictitious return as indicated in bracket 1. For the remaining €40,000, he applies the fictitious return as indicated in bracket 2.
Over this total taxable amount, a tax rate of 31% is applied, meaning his total wealth tax is €852.
For further examples see here.
Submitting Your Wealth Tax: You can report your wealth tax in Box 3 on MijnBelastingdienst. You can read more about submitting taxes at the end of the guide.
Income Tax (Inkomstenbelasting)
If you have earned crypto for some form of work or effort, then you need to pay typical income taxes, just as you would have if you were paid in euros. If you mine crypto you may also have to pay income tax. On your tax declaration, income tax is a part of Box 1: Taxable Income from Work and Home. If you receive part of your income in crypto, you must report this in euros.
Calculating Income Tax: Sum up the income from the different transaction types that contribute to your income. You must convert the value of your crypto to euros when you receive it.
The tax rate that applies depends on whether you have reached pension age. To see which tax bracket you belong to, click here.
Submitting Your Income Tax: You can report your income tax in Box 1 on MijnBelastingdienst. You can read more about submitting taxes at the end of this guide.
Gift Tax
Receiving a gift in the Netherlands is tax-free up to €3244, or €6604 if you receive a gift from your parents. Past this point, you have to pay gift tax. If you receive a gift in crypto, you have to pay taxes on it.
Calculating Gift Tax: The value of the gift is the amount above the tax-free amount of €3244. The recipient of the gift has to pay taxes per the table below.
Submitting Your Gift Tax: You can file your taxes for gift tax online. You can do this on MijnBelastingdienst and then click schenkbelasting.
Detailed information on different transaction types
Certain transactions trigger the three types of taxation listed above. Below is a master list for your reference. We will go through each in detail in this guide. Each transaction has an associated tax classification and the corresponding label in Divly for those using our service to automate their tax reporting.
The Tax Classification refers to how your crypto is taxed. In most cases, ownership of crypto is taxed under Box 3: Savings & Investments, over which you pay a wealth tax. Although the transactions listed under Wealth Tax are not taxable, we list them under Wealth Tax. The assets acquired through these transactions are still subject to wealth tax.
In some instances, you may instead pay income tax under Box 1: Taxable Income from Work and Home. An asterisk is placed next to transactions whose classification may differ based on certain criteria mentioned further along in this guide.
| Transaction Type | Tax Classification | Divly Label |
|---|---|---|
| Buy crypto | Wealth Tax | Buy |
| Buy crypto with fiat | Wealth Tax | Buy |
| Sell crypto | Wealth Tax | Sell |
| Sell crypto with fiat | Wealth Tax | Sell |
| Trade crypto for crypto | Wealth Tax* | Traded crypto |
| Initial Coin Offering (ICO) | Wealth Tax | Traded crypto |
| Purchase goods & services with crypto | Wealth Tax | Goods/Services |
| Pay trading fee with crypto | Wealth Tax | - |
| Pay transfer fee with crypto | Wealth Tax | - |
| Transfer crypto between your own wallets | None | Transfer |
| Lost or stolen crypto | Wealth Tax | Lost/Stolen |
| Give crypto as a gift | None | Gifted Away |
| Receive crypto as a gift | Gift Tax* | Received Gift |
| Donate crypto | None* | Donation |
| Airdrop | Wealth Tax | Airdrop |
| Hard Fork | Wealth Tax | Fork |
| Mining | Wealth Tax* | Mining |
| Lending | Wealth Tax | Loan Interest |
| Staking Rewards | Wealth Tax | Staking Reward |
| Reward | Income Tax | Reward |
| Income from other activities | Income Tax | Income |
| Margin Trading | Wealth Tax | Realized Profit/Loss |
| Futures / Derivatives Trading | Wealth Tax | Realized Profit/Loss |
*Whether you need to pay wealth tax, income tax or gift tax is dependent on certain criteria which are elaborated upon below.
Buy Crypto / Buy Crypto with Fiat
There are no taxes involved when buying crypto. However, you have to declare the amount of crypto you own for your wealth tax.
Sell Crypto / Sell Crypto for Fiat
Like with buying, there are no taxes involved when selling crypto. However, you have to declare the amount of crypto you own for your wealth tax.
Trade Crypto for Crypto
You pay no taxes on trading crypto. Normally the amount of crypto you own is taxed under Box 3: Savings & Investments; however, if you qualify for more than standard asset management (vermogensbeheer) you may instead have to pay taxes in Box 1: Taxable Income from Work and Home. The exact moment you need to switch from declaring your crypto from Box 3 to Box 1 is not defined. However, there are a number of ways to be certain that you need to declare your crypto holdings under Box 1.
- Do you have specialized knowledge of trading such that the uncertainty regarding transactions disappears, then your profits fall under Box 1.
- Your cryptocurrency trading is a full-time activity.
Initial Coin Offering (ICO)
An ICO is when you invest your crypto (usually Ethereum) in a new project that, in turn, provides you a token that represents that project. From a taxation point of view, it functions the same as a crypto to crypto trade. Essentially, you send cryptocurrency in exchange for a token from a new project. You follow the same principle where you sell your crypto for the value of the ICO token in local currency. Following the tax rules for trading crypto, you generally declare your ICO investment in Box 3: Savings & Investments.
Purchase Goods & Services with Crypto
Purchasing goods & services with crypto works the same as selling crypto for fiat. The selling price is what the same good or service costs in your local currency. However, you do not need to pay taxes on your crypto when using it to purchase goods or services.
Pay Trading Fees / Transfer Fees in Crypto
Typically, on some exchanges, when you trade crypto for crypto, you will pay the trading fee in crypto. However, you do not need to pay taxes on any trading fees paid for in crypto.
Transfer Crypto Between Your Own Wallets
Transferring crypto between your own wallets is not a taxable event (including sending crypto to your account on an exchange).
Lost or Stolen Crypto
If you own crypto on January 1st you have to declare it for your vermogensbelasting regardless of whether it was stolen by the time you file your tax declaration.
Give Crypto as a Gift / Receive Crypto as a Gift
Gifting or inheriting in The Netherlands is tax-free up to €3244. You are free to give away crypto without the gift being taxed up to this amount. Above €3244, a gift tax is applied. If you are receiving a gift from your parents, then the tax-free amount is instead €6604. This is explained in detail earlier in the guide.
Donate Crypto
You can write off donations entirely when done periodically. You can write off a one-time gift if it reaches a minimum threshold amount (drempelbedrag). Your minimum threshold is based on the total of your income and deductions(aftrekposten) in boxes 1, 2, and 3. The threshold minimum amount is 1% of your threshold income, with a minimum of 60 euros. The maximum amount is 10% of your threshold income. You can deduct the amount above the threshold minimum until the maximum allowable amount. Your minimum threshold amount will be indicated if you manage your taxes online.
Airdrop & Hard Fork
Up till today, there are no concrete rules laid out by the Belastingdienst regarding airdrops and hard forks. However, following a call with the Belastingdienst, we were informed that it’s best to declare your assets from an airdrop or hard fork under Box 3 for the wealth tax. Make sure to calculate their values on 1 January at 00:00:00 for your tax declaration.
Mining
If you are mining as a hobby, you must pay wealth tax (vermogensbelasting Box3) on the mined crypto.
It might sometimes be challenging to keep track of your costs for mining, so be careful with this. Because the costs of mining can be quite high, it is assumed that if you mine for a hobby, you do not make a consistent profit, and are therefore not taxed. However, if your revenue exceeds your cost, you need to declare this under income from other work or profit from business. This is taxed under Box 1 for income taxes. You must declare the value of the cryptocurrency itself under Box 3
Lending Your Crypto
Lending is classified as standard asset management, and so your income from lending will be taxed under Box 3 together with the crypto you are lending.
Staking
If you stake crypto, you are lending your crypto to the protocol to verify transactions and hence get compensated with staking rewards. As with airdrops and hard forks, there aren’t currently any concrete regulations laid out for staking. However, following a call, the Belastingdienst informed us that staking belongs to normal asset management and is taxed as wealth; therefore, staking rewards belong to Box 3.
Rewards (e.g. referral)
In a brief call with the Belastingdienst, we primarily discussed Coinbase Earn rewards. We were told that although crypto taxes is still a grey area, it is unlikely that these transactions should be seen as income. However, you should still consider the crypto you receive for the wealth tax.
Income From Other Activities (e.g. freelancing, salary)
If you have been paid in cryptocurrency for your work, then you need to declare this for income tax in Box 1. Income tax is paid on the value of the crypto you earned in euros when you received it.
Margin trading, Futures, and Derivatives trading
Margin trading involves borrowing to take leveraged positions on crypto. The income you generate from margin trading/futures & derivatives may be taxed under Box 3 unless this qualifies for more than standard asset management.
How to submit your tax report to the Belastingdienst
Once all the tax calculations are done, and the Belastingdienst’s tax portal is open, it is time to declare your taxes before the deadline in May. You can submit your taxes online or by mail. We will primarily focus on the online portal in this guide. However, should you want to report your taxes offline, you can call the Belasting Telefoon (0800 - 0543) for free to ask for a P-form. If you are abroad, you can call the Belasting Telefoon Buitenland.
Submitting your Income Tax
Once you or your accountant has verified your crypto tax, the easiest way to file your taxes is online using Mijn Belastingdienst. The information you fill in there is automatically saved. Therefore you can come back to it anytime. To reach MijnBelastingdienst, simply log in to belastingdienst.nl.
- From your MijnBelastingdienst dashboard select Inkomstenbelasting
- Select the year for which you are doing your taxes. Say you are doing your taxes for 2021 you would select “Belastingjaar 2021”
- Select “Aangifte Inkomstenbelasting doen”
After filling out your personal information, you will be asked what type of income you’ve had during the year. There are two potential areas to check off on this page regarding crypto. Each corresponds to whether you’ve earned crypto as part of your salary in crypto or whether you’ve earned crypto from other work. If you’ve received part of your salary in crypto, you need to check the box 'Inkomsten uit loondienst'.
If you’ve mined crypto and made a profit, or you’ve received income from freelancing work, you need to check ‘Inkomsten uit overig werk’. For more examples of when you’d have to check ‘Inkomsten uit overig werk’ click here.
Following this, you will receive forms to fill in for each section you’ve check-marked under Inkomsten. They will ask you to write a description for each type of income and the amount received
Submitting your Wealth Tax
Most importantly for crypto ownership is that you check mark “Overige Bezittingen” under “Bankrekeningen en andere Bezittingen”. This section applies to other assets under Box 3. This includes cryptocurrencies.
In this section, once you’ve reached “Andere Bezittingen” you must declare the value of your crypto assets on 1 January.
Submitting your Gift Tax
You can file your taxes for gift tax online. You can do this on MijnBelastingdienst and then click schenkbelasting. After filling out your information, you will be asked who is sending you the gift. You are asked whether the gift comes from an institution. Select “nee” if this is not the case. You are then asked to provide the gifter’s first letter of their first name as well as their last name under ‘achternaam.’ You will then have to use a dropdown menu to indicate the relationship you have with the person from whom you’ve received the gift.
Afterward, you are asked what kind of gift you received, and the value of the gift received. You can select “Aandelen en andere effecten”. Then fill in the date and value of your gift. If your gift is non-revocable, you can select “nee” on the following question. Finally, you are asked whether you have received another gift from the same individual this year.
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