Midnight on March 1 marked the beginning of the 2025 tax season in the Netherlands, as the digital filing system was opened. Within just 4,5 minutes, the Dutch tax office (Belastingdienst) had received the first tax return of the season, and by 7am on Saturday morning, there were 85.000 submissions.

85.000 Dutch tax returns submitted within first 7 hours

While it may not be the record time of 59 seconds from 2022, the first tax declaration for 2025 being submitted in 4,5 minutes is still considered quite speedy, especially considering that the digital system opened at midnight. Last year, the first submission was received in 3,5 minutes. 

The first filer wasn’t the only person in the Netherlands who was eager to be done with submitting their annual tax forms. By 7am on March 1, approximately 85.000 people had filed their tax returns - 9.000 more than during the same period last year. 

According to NOS, a total of 9,4 million people need to file a tax return this year, including 6,9 million private individuals and 2,5 million entrepreneurs. The deadline to submit tax returns is 12am on May 1. People who file before April 1 will be notified before July 1 on whether they are receiving a refund.

Pre-filled tax forms simplify filing process in the Netherlands

Based on information on your account balances, income and property value from banks, employers and municipalities, the Belastingdienst fills in the majority of the data beforehand, making the process of filing your tax return simpler and quicker. 

"The Pre-Completed Tax Return reduces the chance of unconscious errors," the manager of income tax at the Belastingdienst Steef Cobben told NOS. "But sometimes something changes in people's lives, such as a marriage or divorce, buying a house or starting a business. Especially in those cases, we see that mistakes are made."

There are also a variety of free services the Belastingdienst offers residents to help, which can be received by mobile phone (Belastingtelefoon) or in person (Belastingdienst service desk). This year, there will also be a Belastingdienst bus that drives around Dutch cities to provide assistance in person. 

DigiD outage due to cyberattack puts pause on filing tax returns

At around 9am on Monday, DigiD - a form of online ID used in the Netherlands - went down for several hours due to a cyberattack. According to NU.nl, there were several “recurring DDoS attacks” from malicious parties, which overloaded the system, causing it to fail.

This means that many people in the Netherlands were left unable to use DigiD to log in to official websites such as those for the municipal government, health insurance and pension funds. It also put a pause on filing tax returns for anyone trying to log in to the Belastingdienst website.

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