Can we still change the allocation between tax partners?
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Detailed explanation, checklist and sources
You can if the applicable deadline is still open and the entries may be allocated between partners. Check both assessments: the rules depend on when they become legally final. The usual five-year rule for other tax-return corrections does not automatically apply here.
On this page
- Check whether you may allocate entries jointly
- Only eligible entries can be allocated
- The deadline is not generally five years
- Make changes together and check both returns
- Take extra care with box 3 redress
- Record your comparison
- When are you tax partners, and when does this end?
- Can a new box 3 decision restart the deadline?
- Documents to prepare
- Sources
1. Check whether you may allocate entries jointly
This guidance concerns changing an allocation for Dutch income tax. You must be tax partners for the whole year or have validly chosen to be treated as partners for the whole year. Not every couple living together qualifies. Additional rules may apply after emigration, separation or having more than one partner during a year.
2. Only eligible entries can be allocated
Only certain common income items and deductions can be allocated, such as eligible owner-occupied home entries and the joint box 3 tax base. Each entry must total 100% between you. You cannot freely transfer your own salary, pension or business profits to your partner. Check each entry against the official list.
3. The deadline is not generally five years
You can change the allocation until both assessments have become legally final. Without an objection, an assessment normally becomes legally final six weeks after its date. Compare both assessments and their dates. A pending objection, a missing assessment or a particular additional assessment requires individual examination. Do not apply the general five-year rule for correcting tax returns.
4. Make changes together and check both returns
Open the correct tax year in Mijn Belastingdienst, check the eligible entries and agree the revised allocation together. Compare the combined outcome and check both partners' information before signing and submitting. Keep the old and new versions and confirmations. Giving the largest deduction to the higher earner does not necessarily produce the best overall outcome.
5. Take extra care with box 3 redress
For box 3 redress, a reduction decision does not automatically start a new allocation period. The original final assessment remains relevant. The official guidance provides a written route for older years; for 2017–2020, the change described there can only be made by letter. Use the draft only after checking that a change is still allowed. It does not create a new deadline.
6. Record your comparison
Record the old and proposed allocation for each eligible entry and check that the shares total 100%. Discuss possible effects on income-related schemes as well. The preparation tool and draft letter below are not a tax-optimisation calculation or a guarantee of acceptance. Seek individual help in time if an assessment is missing, an objection is pending or your situation is complex.
7. When are you tax partners, and when does this end?
Marriage or registered partnership generally makes you tax partners. Unmarried cohabitation alone is insufficient: registration at the same address must be combined with, for example, a notarised cohabitation agreement between adults, a joint or acknowledged child, pension partnership, a jointly owned main home or a blended family. Special rules apply to commercial renting, supported accommodation, parents and children, stepchildren and multiple housemates. Within the same calendar year, partner status can start retrospectively from shared registration. You can have only one tax partner at a time; do not choose arbitrarily between housemates. Unmarried partners normally cease to be tax partners when shared registration ends; admission to a care or nursing home has an exception. For a marriage, both a court divorce petition and separate municipal registrations are required. For termination of a registered partnership without a court, separate registration and a termination agreement signed by both are needed. Merely living apart is therefore not always enough. In the separation year you may jointly choose whole-year partner treatment. Also review your provisional assessment and benefits: their rules are not automatically identical. Child maintenance paid is not deductible; partner maintenance received must be declared as income.
Draft: joint request for a different allocation
Use this only if the allocation can still legally be changed and a letter is the appropriate route. Enter both partners' details and the relevant entries, and have both partners check and sign. This letter does not extend any deadline.
Edit your draftWord
Your edits stay on this page and are not automatically saved or sent. Complete every placeholder.
Can a new box 3 decision restart the deadline?
Not automatically. The official guidance refers to the original final assessment for a timely new allocation, not the date of the reduction. Have a different situation or a pending objection examined specifically.
Documents to prepare
Prepare your next stepFill in and save · Word
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Tax year and tax-partner status
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For each event, note the date, what happened and where the evidence is kept. Example: 3 October — letter received — correspondence folder.
Describe the solution you would like, such as an explanation of a deduction and repayment of the outstanding amount.
For example: which document is missing, who can provide it and what should I do first?
Record the date and its source. If unknown, note this and check promptly. This tool does not calculate or monitor deadlines.
After your conversation
These are your own notes. Confirm agreements with the other person; these notes do not prove their agreement.
This is your preparation, not a submitted request, objection or legally reviewed document. A tick records only your own progress. Check the procedure and deadline in the original letter.
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Clear entries
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- Tax year and tax-partner status
- Both final assessments and their dates
- Any objection, appeal or missing assessment
- Old and new allocation for each eligible entry
- Check that every total is 100%
- Both versions, signatures and receipt confirmations
Contact with a lawyer
You can use the chat and information without a phone number. A contact request requires a phone number, a verified email address and your wish for telephone contact. Our team assesses which partner fits your question. Data is shared only under the stated consent procedure. A partner or engagement is not guaranteed.
View the current application processSources
Need personal assistance? Request a lawyer through our chat. We explain the next step; submitting a request does not engage a lawyer. The links below support the legal information.
Belastingdienst · Fiscaal partnerschap en verdeling ↗Belastingdienst · Box 3 opnieuw verdelen ↗Belastingdienst · Scheiden en fiscaal partnerschap ↗Sources may be in Dutch. General information about Dutch law, not individual legal advice.