Transfer Tax (Overdrachtsbelasting) 2026

What overdrachtsbelasting costs in 2026, who pays 0%, 2% or 8%, and the timing and paperwork traps that cost starters the exemption.

Overdrachtsbelasting (transfer tax) is charged when ownership of Dutch property changes hands. For most buyers of an existing home it is the largest single item in kosten koper, it cannot be added to the mortgage, and it is not tax-deductible. What you pay depends on two things: what you will use the property for, and who you are.

What changed in 2026

Two changes, both in the buyer's favour:

• The rate for a home you will not live in yourself fell from 10.4% to 8%.
• The starter exemption's price ceiling rose from €525,000 to €555,000.

Both apply to transfers dated on or after 1 January 2026. The date that counts is the date of the notarial deed, not the date you signed the purchase agreement.

The four rates

The 10.4% general rate catches one case that surprises apartment buyers: a garage box or parking space bought separately from the home is not a woning. Acquired at the same time as the flat it counts as an appurtenance and follows the 2% rate or the exemption; bought a year later from a neighbour, it is taxed at 10.4%.

What the tax is charged on

The base is the purchase price, or the property's open-market value if that is higher. In an arm's-length sale between strangers the price and the value are the same thing, so in practice you pay tax on the price. The distinction matters in family sales: selling a €400,000 house to your child for €300,000 does not reduce the transfer tax, because the tax follows the €400,000 value.

Movable property is not taxed. Transfer tax applies to immovable property only. If part of what you agreed covers genuinely movable items — curtains, a free-standing kitchen island, garden furniture — that amount comes out of the taxable base. It has to be a real and defensible valuation of real objects; inflating it to shrink the tax bill is a well-known trick and is treated as one.

The starter exemption in detail

All four conditions must be met at the moment of the notarial transfer:

• Age 18 or over and not yet 35. Your age on the day of the deed is what counts.
• A price no higher than €555,000, including any appurtenances transferred with the house.
• You will live there yourself as your main residence.
• You have never used the exemption before, personally.

The two traps that actually cost people money

Turning 35 between signing and transfer. The age condition is tested on the deed date, not the offer date. Sign a purchase agreement at 34 and complete two months later at 35, and the exemption is gone: on a €450,000 house that is €9,000. If your birthday falls anywhere near the planned transfer date, raise it while the date is still negotiable. It is one of the cheapest concessions you will ever ask a seller for.

The written declaration. The exemption is not applied automatically. You sign a verklaring overdrachtsbelasting startersvrijstelling and it has to reach your notary in good time — allow at least two working days before the transfer. If it arrives too late the notary cannot apply the exemption, and the higher rate goes on the deed. That is recoverable: you have six weeks from paying to file an objection with the Belastingdienst. Recoverable is not the same as painless, and the money leaves your account first.

It is a once-per-lifetime card

The exemption is personal and single-use, and nothing about it scales with the house. Spent on a €200,000 studio it saves €4,000; spent on a €550,000 family home it saves €11,000. Nobody should buy a house they don't want in order to time a tax break — but if you are weighing buying now against buying in two years, this is one real number to put in the comparison.

The value ceiling is a cliff, not a slope

There is no taper. At €555,000 you pay nothing. At €555,001 you pay 2% of the whole price — €11,100. That one euro over the line costs €11,100. If a negotiation is landing within a few thousand euros of the ceiling, this arithmetic dominates everything else on the table and is worth restructuring the offer around.

Buying together: the tax is per person

Transfer tax is assessed individually, not per household. Each buyer is taxed on their own share, at their own rate. Buying 50/50 with a partner aged 33 and 37 means the 33-year-old pays 0% on their half and the 37-year-old pays 2% on theirs — on a €400,000 house, €4,000 in total, an effective 1%.

The €555,000 ceiling is tested against the whole property's value, not against each share. A couple buying a €600,000 house get no exemption on either half, even though each is acquiring only €300,000 of it.

New-build homes pay no transfer tax at all

A newly built home is normally sold vrij op naam (v.o.n.) and carries 21% VAT instead, already included in the advertised price. There is no transfer tax on the first transfer of a new building. This is why a €400,000 new-build and a €400,000 existing home are not the same purchase: with the new-build the listed price is close to the total, while the existing home adds transfer tax and the rest of kosten koper on top. Closing Costs sets the two side by side.

You cannot borrow it, and you cannot deduct it

Two rules that catch buyers out:

• It has to come from your own savings. Dutch mortgages are capped at 100% of the home's market value, so there is nothing left over for the costs of buying. Transfer tax is part of the 4–6% of the price you need in cash — our Costs Checklist itemises the rest.
• It is not deductible. Purchase costs — transfer tax, the transfer-deed notary fee, the estate agent — are not deductible for income tax. Financing costs are: the mortgage-deed notary fee, mortgage advice, the valuation and the NHG fee. Understanding Hypotheekrenteaftrek explains the split.

How and when you actually pay it

You never receive a bill. The notary calculates the tax, holds it back from the funds you transfer before the appointment, files the return digitally and pays the Belastingdienst on your behalf, all around the day of the deed. It appears as a line on the notary's settlement statement (nota van afrekening) — worth reading item by item before you send the money.

Other situations worth knowing

• Buying a home for your child to live in. The owner is the one who has to occupy it, so parents buying in their own name pay 8%, not 2%. If the child buys and the parents lend or gift the money, the child's own rate and exemption apply.
• You declared you would live there, and then didn't. Both the 2% rate and the exemption rest on a written declaration of intent. If you never move in and rent the place out instead, expect the Belastingdienst to reassess at 8%.
• Resale within six months. If the property was already transferred once in the previous six months, the tax paid on that transfer reduces your base, so a quickly resold house is not taxed twice at full value.
• You have already used the exemption. It is gone for good, even at 30. Your next main residence is taxed at 2%.

Worked examples for 2026

Our mortgage calculator applies the 0% and 2% rates automatically once you enter your age and mark yourself as a first-time buyer, and shows the resulting transfer tax inside the upfront-cost breakdown.

A property you will not live in yourself costs you more than a higher transfer tax — it also moves into Box 3 and loses mortgage interest relief. See Buying a Second Property in the Netherlands. Confirm your own position with your notary or an independent mortgage adviser before you sign anything.