Home Late-filing and late-payment penalties from the Dutch tax authorities
Late-filing and late-payment penalties from the Dutch tax authorities
You get a default penalty (verzuimboete) if you file a return late or not at all, or if you do not pay VAT on time. No intent is required. Here is how high the penalty is and when you can do something about it.
Updated 29 October 2026 · Valorem Tax Advisory, tax adviser with an LL.M. in tax law
VAT return late or not filed
If your VAT return arrives late or not at all, the tax authority can impose a default penalty. In practice this is € 82. The legal maximum is € 165 (2026). You only get that in exceptional cases, for example if you are late again and again.
If you file within seven days after the deadline, you will in principle not get a penalty.
VAT paid late or not at all
Late payment has its own penalty: 3% of the amount paid late or not paid, with a minimum of € 50 and a maximum of € 6,709 (2026). So you can get two penalties for the same quarter: one for the return and one for the payment.
If you pay no more than seven days late, there is no penalty. That does not apply if you were also late in the previous quarter.
Your payment only counts once the money is in the tax authority’s account. Pay a few days before the deadline.
How an additional assessment works is explained on our page on additional assessments.
Income tax: a reminder comes first
For income tax you do not get a penalty straight away. First you receive an invitation to file. If you do not, a reminder follows with a new deadline. Only if you also miss that deadline can the penalty follow.
In ordinary cases that penalty is € 469. The maximum is € 6,709 (2026). For a BV’s corporate income tax the penalty in ordinary cases is € 3,354.
When do you not get a penalty?
A default penalty does not require intent. But if you are not to blame at all, the penalty may not be imposed. Lawyers call this absence of all fault. The Supreme Court accepted this, for example, for someone who was under guardianship and admitted to an institution, and could not manage their affairs. Whether that applies to you depends on the facts.
Default penalty or offence penalty?
A default penalty is about being late or not filing. An offence penalty (vergrijpboete) is heavier. You get it if you report or pay too little tax on purpose or through gross negligence. For gross negligence the starting point is 25% of the tax underpaid, for intent 50%. The legal maximum is 100%.
Objecting to the penalty
If you disagree with the penalty, you object within six weeks. Explain why the penalty is wrong or too high. For a penalty, that explanation may be brief.
Valorem reviews your penalty and writes the objection. You know the price up front.
What an objection must contain is explained on our page on filing an objection.
Have you received a penalty?
Tell us briefly what is going on. Within one working day you hear what we can do for you and what it costs, before we start.
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