{"id":284,"date":"2015-12-24T08:00:14","date_gmt":"2015-12-24T07:00:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/vwg.nl\/uncategorized\/belangrijkste-wijzigingen-belastingen-2016\/"},"modified":"2026-03-03T10:32:37","modified_gmt":"2026-03-03T09:32:37","slug":"key-changes-to-taxation-for-2016","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/vwg.nl\/en\/belangrijkste-wijzigingen-belastingen-2016\/","title":{"rendered":"Key changes to taxation for 2016"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-large wp-image-1645\" src=\"https:\/\/vwg.nl\/wp-content\/uploads\/20150907_schenkbelasting_VWGNijhof1-1024x384.jpg\" alt=\"20150907_schenkbelasting_VWGNijhof\" width=\"1024\" height=\"384\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Now that the 2016 Tax Plan bill has been passed by the Senate (on 22 December 2015) and the inflation-adjusted figures for the various rates and allowances have been announced, all the figures applicable for 2016 in the context of taxation are now known. An overview of these figures is available at<a href=\"https:\/\/www.rijksoverheid.nl\/documenten\/circulaires\/2015\/12\/23\/belangrijkste-wijzigingen-belastingen-2016\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"> www.rijksoverheid.nl<\/a>. Naturally, this is not yet a comprehensive overview of all the figures relevant to taxation, but contains only the most significant changes. This year, therefore, this overview is entitled \u201c<em>Key changes to taxation for 2016<\/em>\u201d received. In previous years, the overview was still called the \u201c<em>End-of-year press release<\/em>\u201c. We would like to draw your attention to two important changes.<\/p>\n<h4>Tax-free capital in Box III<\/h4>\n<p>In Box III, income from savings and investments is taxed. A flat-rate return of 4% is calculated on the value of the assets falling within Box III as at 1 January of a tax year. Before the flat-rate return is calculated, the value of the assets is reduced by the tax-free allowance.<\/p>\n<p>The tax-free allowance in 2016 per tax partner is <em><strong>\u20ac 24.437<\/strong><\/em> (2015: \u20ac21,330). The intention is to further increase the tax-free allowance for 2017 to \u20ac25,000. The elderly allowance on the tax-free allowance will be abolished with effect from 1 January 2016 (in 2015, this allowance amounted to a maximum of \u20ac28,236 per tax partner).<\/p>\n<p>For older people in particular, the increase in the tax-free allowance acts as a band-aid for the wound caused by the abolition of the elderly person\u2019s allowance. Not only does this mean that more income tax is payable on assets in Box III, It may also result in the loss of entitlement to care and housing benefit. Measures to prevent this must <strong>before 1 January 2016<\/strong> have been implemented. After all, the reference date for Box III is 1 January. The assets held on 1 January 2016 are therefore decisive for entitlement to healthcare and housing benefit throughout 2016. See also our article <a href=\"https:\/\/vwg.nl\/en\/nieuws\/means-test-for-benefits-2\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Wealth test surcharges<\/a>.<\/p>\n<h4>Gift tax exemptions<\/h4>\n<p>The gift tax exemption for gifts to children for 2016 is, per child, <em><strong>\u20ac 5.304<\/strong><\/em> (2015: \u20ac5,277). This exemption will be increased on a one-off basis to <em><strong>\u20ac 25.449<\/strong><\/em> (2015: \u20ac25,322) in the case of a gift to a child who is aged 18 or over but under 40.<br \/>\nIf the gift is used for the child\u2019s own home or education, this exemption is further increased to <em><strong>\u20ac 53.016<\/strong><\/em> (2015: \u20ac 52.752).<\/p>\n<p>The exemption for other beneficiaries (such as grandchildren) amounts to in 2016 <em><strong>\u20ac 2.122<\/strong><\/em> (2015: \u20ac 2.111).<\/p>\n<p>The announced increase in the gift tax exemption for a gift made for the purpose of purchasing one\u2019s own home to <em><strong>\u20ac 100.000<\/strong><\/em> will not come into force until 1 January 2017.<\/p>\n<p>The rates for inheritance and gift tax will remain unchanged. If the partner or children are the beneficiaries, the rate applies to an amount received (after deduction of exemptions) of <em><strong>\u20ac 121.903<\/strong><\/em> (2015: \u20ac121,296): 10% and, for amounts above that, 20%. Grandchildren pay 18% instead of 10% and 36% instead of 20%. For other beneficiaries, the rates are 30% and 40%.<\/p>\n<p>You can find an overview of all exemptions from gift tax in our <a href=\"https:\/\/vwg.nl\/en\/nieuws\/vrijstellingen-schenkbelasting-2\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">factsheet<\/a> on this subject.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Nu het wetsvoorstel Belastingplan 2016 door de Eerste Kamer is aangenomen (op 22 december 2015) en de inflatiecorrectie van de diverse tarieven en vrijstellingen bekend is, zijn ook alle voor 2016 in het kader van de belastingheffing geldende cijfertje bekend. Een overzicht van deze cijfertjes is beschikbaar op www.rijksoverheid.nl. Uiteraard is dit nog niet een [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-284","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/vwg.nl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/284","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/vwg.nl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/vwg.nl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vwg.nl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vwg.nl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=284"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/vwg.nl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/284\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/vwg.nl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=284"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vwg.nl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=284"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vwg.nl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=284"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}