owning a property in the uk while living in the Netherlands

Hi both and welcome to the Forum.

Once you live in Holland, you will be regarded as resident in Holland and will be assessed on your worldwide income by the Dutch tax authorities from the date you arrive; of which, be careful on which date you chose to move as the Dutch tax year runs from Jan > Dec and if you chose to move to Holland say in November, then they would assess you for all taxes on your worldwide income for the previous 11 months.

There is a double-taxation agreement between the UK and the Netherlands government, which basically means you won't be assessed twice on the same income, so if you've been "assessed" (important word - remember it) in one country on say house income or CGT from a house sale, you should not be assessed in the other.  Assessed means that you have received income, but may not necessarily pay tax on it (for example anything offset by UK tax allowances), so still falls into the agreement.  If your UK house is/was your only home in the UK, you will not pay CGT to the UK taxman, but it is still classed as having been assessed, so the Dutch taxman should not touch it for income tax.

The one big thing to watch out for is the social taxes in Holland; these are substantial (currently 27.65% of your income, but capped at circa 9.400 euros), these taxes do not fall under the tax agreement, so any income you receive in a qualifying period, you will be retrospectively assessed and taxed in Holland for the social tax value (this tax covers all income, regardless of source, so house sale profits will be assessed.  The rate will fall drastically (by 17.9%) if you have reached Dutch retirement age (66).  If you're wondering WTF is the tax for - it's to take care of the elderly, so you will also be entitled when you get to that stage); unfortunately, if you decide to leave Holland, there is no refund of monies paid.

We're in a very similar situation to yourself, so are considering selling our house earlier, put our goods in storage, then move in with our daughter or son in the UK for the time it takes for the social tax issue to go away, or may just wait a couple of years till I get to 66.

If you have any further specific questions, please come back to us.

Hope this helps.

Cynic
Expat Team

Hi

Thank you so much for your response it has been really helpful and has given me so much insight into the matter I really appreciate it. Are there any links to an websites or anything where I can access this information?

Regards