Netherlands to Tax Realised Investment Gains from 2028 in Major Wealth Tax Shake-Up

2026-09-30 digital

The Hague, Wednesday 30 September 2026
The Dutch government will introduce a realised capital gains tax in 2028, halving tax-free allowances and drawing hundreds of thousands more savers and investors into the tax net.

Shifting from Unrealised to Realised Gains

The transition to a realised capital gains tax represents a significant pivot in Dutch fiscal policy. Previously, under a Box 3 legislative framework approved by MPs in February, the government planned to tax unrealised annual returns on most assets [7]. This meant investors would face tax liabilities on paper gains regardless of whether they had sold their assets or received cash proceeds [7]. Following intense negotiations with opposition parties, this controversial proposal has been dropped for shares [7]. Under the newly leaked compromise, individuals will only pay tax on share gains once they are actually realised through a sale [7]. This change, heavily pushed by right-wing political parties such as JA21, provides substantial relief to the startup ecosystem, where founders and angel investors often hold highly illiquid equity that is difficult to value and impossible to liquidate annually [7].

Lower Thresholds and Broader Tax Bases

While the shift to a realised gains system prevents premature taxation on paper wealth, it creates a substantial revenue gap for the treasury [6][7]. To offset these losses, the government is lowering the entry thresholds for wealth taxation, ensuring that hundreds of thousands more savers and investors are drawn into the Box 3 net [5][7]. The initially proposed tax-free return allowance of €1,800 per person per year has been cut to €1,000 [7], which represents a reduction of -44.444% [7]. Furthermore, the general tax-free capital threshold (heffingsvrij vermogen) is set to be halved from approximately €60,000 to just over €30,000 [5]. This dramatic reduction means that a much broader segment of the Dutch population—currently estimated at 2.5 million people in Box 3—will begin paying wealth taxes much sooner than under the previous rules [1][5].

Funding the Shortfall Through Box 2 Adjustments

To fully cover the multi-billion euro transition deficit generated by the new Box 3 system, the Cabinet plans to shift a significant portion of the financial burden onto business owners and directors of private limited companies (BVs) [1][6]. A key mechanism is the restriction of tax-advantaged borrowing [4][7]. Currently, entrepreneurs and director-shareholders (DGAs) can borrow up to €500,000 from their own BVs [1][7]. Under the new plans, this borrowing cap will be slashed to €100,000, with an exemption remaining only for loans used to purchase a primary residence [4][7]. This tightening is expected to curb tax-favourable internal lending and encourage more structured corporate distributions [5][7].

Temporary Incentives and Political Consensus

To soften the blow of these restrictions and stimulate immediate tax revenues, the government will temporarily reduce the Box 2 tax rate on profit distributions for a four-year period [4][7]. This temporary rate cut aims to incentivise company directors to pay out accumulated profits to themselves as dividends, pulling forward tax revenues to cover the initial Box 3 transition shortfall [6][7]. Together, these measures are projected to generate an extra €500 million in surplus revenue, which the cabinet intends to use to lower personal income taxes [4][7]. To secure the necessary parliamentary support for this budget, the minority cabinet has also scrapped planned cuts to social security benefits [1][4]. While this concession secured the return of trade unions like the FNV to the negotiating table, political consensus remains fragile, with parties across the spectrum demanding detailed impact assessments before the final vote [4][7].

Sources & Ecosystem Partners

angel investment capital gains tax