The Tax and Customs Administration will go fully digital from 2016. The aim is that, within a few years, taxpayers and those entitled to benefits will no longer receive any post from the Tax and Customs Administration or the Tax and Customs Administration/Benefits. Everything sent by these authorities will then be delivered to the digital mailbox that every Dutch citizen has on the internet portal mijnoverheid.nl.
First up are the benefits. The Tax and Customs Administration/Benefits has been using the online portal for two years now mycharges.co.uk for digital communication with benefit recipients, making it the simplest way to switch to fully digital communication. From 2016 onwards, no correspondence regarding benefits will be sent by post; instead, benefit recipients must access it via mijnoverheid.nl or mijntoeslagen.nl. From 2017 onwards, documents from the Tax and Customs Administration will be sent out: invitations to file a tax return (previously known as the tax return form) and tax assessments and decisions. In 2016, you will still receive documents from the Tax and Customs Administration both by post and via your digital message box.
The mijnoverheid.nl internet portal has been in existence for a number of years, but only around 2 million members of the public have activated their digital postbox. With the forthcoming end to the sending of documents by post, it is important that everyone activates and starts using their postbox. Anyone who does not have a computer would be well advised to find someone who can help them with this. For those who are unable to do so, special support services will be set up.
Even if you have a (tax) service provider representing your interests in tax matters and regarding your benefits, it is highly advisable to activate your message box on mijnoverheid.nl in the near future. Past experience has shown that the government prioritises ensuring the smooth operation of the (private) message boxes rather than providing information to service providers. It is therefore quite likely that your service provider will not receive all relevant information, or will not always receive it, or will not receive it in good time. However, if the Tax and Customs Administration and/or the Tax and Customs Administration/Benefits Division sends out incorrect decisions, it is important to lodge a formal objection in good time (usually within 6 weeks of the date of the document). Ultimately, you are responsible for this yourself.
Incidentally, it is not advisable to give your (tax) service provider the login details for your digital message box (your DigiD). This is because the government sends more messages to your personal message box than just documents from the Tax and Customs Administration and the Tax and Customs Administration/Benefits.