Tax season can be a stressful time for anyone, but especially for students who are new to the system. Law students Xander and Detmer explain what you should and shouldn’t do.
If you earned income in the Netherlands throughout 2022, it’s important to file your tax return before May 1, 2023. That deadline is just around the corner, but don’t worry, say tax law students Xander Weemaring (22) and Detmer Harding (21): as a part-time worker, you are more likely to receive a refund from the government than to have to pay them extra money.
Xander and Detmer work for the Belastingwinkel Groningen, a foundation that helps people with their taxes. They put together a few tips to make the process easier to understand.
Tip 1: Always do your taxes
You’re obligated to file your tax return if you got a letter from the Belastingdienst – the Dutch tax authority – to remind you of it. Students usually don’t get a letter, which is why they tend to forget to file their taxes.
But it’s wise to do it anyway, say Xander and Detmer, because if you don’t and it turns out you owe more than 49 euros in taxes, you can get a fine. Or perhaps more importantly: you might have paid more taxes than you need to, and you won’t get that money back if you don’t ask for it.
Filing taxes is easier than it seems. All you need to do is choose the correct form via the Mijn Belastingdienst website, check if the information is correct and fill in any missing data.
However, things might get complicated for international students who have worked in multiple countries last year. If you’ve also worked in your home country for a part of 2022, you may have additional tax responsibilities to consider.
When it comes to filing your income tax return in the Netherlands, you will be required to use a different form if you worked outside the country during the year. You can either choose to file your taxes online via the Belastingdienst website, or you can request paper tax return form M 2022.
Another complicating matter is that while part of the Belastingdienst website is available in English and German, both the Mijn Belastingdienst page and the tax forms are only available in Dutch: see tip 4 for help.
Tip 2: Understand how loonheffingskorting works
If you had a part-time job last year and earned less than 8,700 euros, you likely didn’t pay any taxes due to loonheffingskorting, a tax credit that reduces the income tax. All students have a right to loonheffingskorting, but Xander and Detmer warn that some might not realise it can be applied only at one employer at a time. If you are working two jobs simultaneously, you are required to pay the income tax on your second job. If you changed jobs during the year, you can still apply it to the second job after discontinuing loonheffingskorting at your first employer.
If you didn’t apply loonheffingskorting at your employer last year, you have a right to a tax refund. Students who worked two jobs at the same time may also receive a refund if they overpaid taxes. However, if you didn’t know how loonheffingskorting works and applied it to two jobs simultaneously, you might owe taxes to the government.
Tip 3: Don’t forget to claim your deductible costs
The process of filing taxes might seem unbearable, but let’s face it: getting money back from the government is a rewarding feeling. So don’t forget about any deductible expenses you may have had in the past year. ‘Those are most often overlooked and that’s a shame’, says Xander.
While study costs are sadly not deductible anymore, certain medical expenses are. Costs you made due to illness or invalidity and which are not covered by your health insurance can be deducted from your income. For example, treatment by a physiotherapist or podiatrist.
Xander recommends to ‘always make an overview of deductible health costs from the whole year, as it makes it easier to fill in the form. And you can also deduct the travel costs to the hospital.’
Tip 4: Still lost? Ask law students for help!
If you are not confident in filing your taxes on your own, you can book an appointment with the Belastingwinkel Groningen for a fee of five euros and they will do all the work for you. Xander and Detmer say the law students at the Belastingwinkel ‘are happy to help everyone that needs help with filling in their income tax forms – especially international students, as it can be a struggle to file an income tax if it’s not in your mother tongue’.