Changes in the law have rendered this article obsolete. See our article Monument and education deductions not abolished after all.
Income tax law currently provides for a scheme allowing the deduction of maintenance costs for a listed building. Naturally, this deduction applies only to listed buildings owned by private individuals.
Listed building
The property must be listed in the National Monuments Register as referred to in Article 3.3 of the Heritage Act. The costs must relate to work carried out to restore or maintain the property in a usable condition. This may relate to either the owner’s own home or a property classified under box 3.
Deduction
Under the scheme, 80% of the maintenance costs incurred may be claimed by the taxpayer as a personal allowance. This allowance may be claimed at the applicable tax rate (up to a maximum of 52%).
In the draft bill on Tax Measures for National Monuments and Education (not included in the 2017 Tax Plans), this scheme as of 1 January 2017 abolished. The reasons for this are that the government wishes to have greater control over the costs to which it contributes. Furthermore, this measure is intended to simplify the tax system.
Transitional arrangement
The bill announces a non-tax transitional arrangement for the years 2017 and 2018. A letter on this matter will be sent to the House of Representatives in October 2016. The bill does not yet disclose any details regarding the content of this transitional arrangement.
This transitional scheme will form part of the Framework Scheme for Subsidies from the Ministries of Education, Culture and Science (OCW), Social Affairs and Employment (SZW) and Health, Welfare and Sport (VWS). With effect from 1 January 2019, the budget of €32 million associated with the transitional scheme will be allocated on a permanent basis. This allocation will take place within a revised funding system for the conservation of historic monuments.
Opinion
If you are planning to have work carried out on your listed building in the near future, it may be wise to do so before the end of this year and to pay the associated costs before the end of this year as well. Whether this is advisable will, of course, depend in part on the details of the transitional arrangements. We will be keeping a close eye on developments for you.