Tips & Advice

Tips to sell a house in the Netherlands + 3 taxes key points

by André Piti On 03/03/2022

Both if you are a citizen or a foreigner willing to sell a house in the Netherlands, it’s important to be aware of what the offer’s conditions will include , and what are the taxes regulations (which are very different from most of other countries).

Let’s start with the offer that the buyer will make.

In most of the cases, the offer will include two conditions:

• The evaluation of the property conditions and of the utility system’s state from an engineer
• The approved mortgage application form a bank or financial institute

Furthermore, before issuing the definitive contract, you need to issue a preliminary contract that will constitute a legal guarantee for the two conditions stated above and confirming the buyer’s intention.

You can make this with a notary (mandatorily in Amsterdam) and/or through a real estate agent.

Finally, keep in mind that in the Netherlands buyers have the right for the so-called “cooling off period”, meaning three days to think about the offer where they can legally withdraw their offer.

If you need help to list your property before the receiving the offers, you can do it here.

The 3 main tax rules to sell a house in the Netherlands

The Netherlands has a peculiar system of taxation when it’s about to sell your property.

Here are the three main points to consider to come prepared before selling (don’t get nervous, it’s mostly good news).

1. Tax on possible revenue, not on capital gain

Differently from other European countries, the Netherlands doesn’t tax the capital gain of an individual. Instead, authorities rely on a fictional set percentage based on the profit you could make with that property.

This corresponds on the 1.2% of the net worth, regardless of your economic situation or market development.

2. The buyer pays transfer taxes

The transfer tax for selling a property can be the 2% or the 6% of the value depending on the type of real estate.

It will be always the buyer who has to take care of this expense as per the NL Government statement.

3. Selling profit is not taxed

Any income made as a return on the investment you’ve made by buying a property and re-selling it will not be taxed.

Moreover, the Netherlands’ law imposes that your home country cannot charge any taxes on this sale as well.

If you are ready to generate profit by selling your house in the Netherlands, you can enlist the property here.