Download Tax Authorities Declaration Program 2008

The Tax and Customs Administration has adopted the Declaration Program of 2008 made available. The Declaration program is from this page in front of Windows, Linux and Mac OS X and enables more than 9 million people to submit their income tax and national insurance contributions digitally. As in the previous two years, the declaration must be submitted via Digid. Digid stands for Digital Identity and enables government institutions to establish the identity of citizens and companies. If you do not yet have a Digid login code, you can do so via the website to be requested. The changes the Tax and Customs Administration has made in the tax return can be read below:

2008 income tax changes
With effect from 1 January 2008, the income tax has changed on a number of points. This may have consequences for the deductible items in your tax return. So read these changes carefully before you file a tax return.

New reference date WOZ value
The municipality determines the WOZ value every year. For the year 2008, you must use the WOZ value with value reference date 1 January 2007. This value is stated on the WOZ assessment that you received from the municipality at the beginning of 2008.

New rules for deduction of donations
Since 1 January 2008, ordinary and periodic donations to an institution are only deductible if the institution has been designated by us as a so-called public benefit institution (ANBI). Periodic donations to associations are not covered by this new regulation and remain deductible under the old regulations.

Medical or other extraordinary expenses
In 2008 you can no longer deduct the following medical expenses or extraordinary expenses:

• the fixed amount of health insurance premium for the basic package
• the income-related health insurance contribution withheld or paid on assessment
• premiums for comparable foreign schemes

The no-claim discount has expired. You now have a compulsory deductible of € 150. You cannot deduct this deductible. You can still deduct the premium for the additional health insurance. From 1 January 2008, the threshold for the deduction has been lowered from 11.5% to 1.65%.

Saving for the repayment of your home acquisition debt
Since 1 January 2008 you can save through a special blocked savings or investment account for the repayment of your home acquisition debt. In that case, you do not pay tax on the saved amounts. You also do not have to declare this as an asset in box 3: savings and investments.

Saving for an annuity
Since 1 January 2008 you can save for an annuity (an income provision for you or your dependents) via a special blocked annuity savings account or an annuity investment account. The amounts that you have transferred to a blocked annuity savings account or annuity investment account are deductible under the same conditions as premiums that you have paid for an annuity insurance policy.

Deduction of living expenses
If you have living expenses for a child, you may deduct a fixed amount. This is only allowed if the following 2 conditions are met:

• You are not entitled to child benefit.
• The child does not receive a student grant.

To be eligible for this deduction, you must have at least a certain amount of maintenance costs per quarter. These amounts were increased in 2008.

New rates in box 1 and box 2
The rates in box 1 (work and home) and box 2 (substantial interest) have changed compared to 2007.

Tax Discounts
The amounts of the tax credits have changed compared to 2007.

Child allowance instead of child discount
On 1 January 2008 the child discount expired. This has been replaced by a new allowance: the child allowance.

New rules for income distribution If you have a tax partner throughout 2008, you and your tax partner may divide the income from savings and investments as you both wish, as long as the total is 100%. From 2008 you may no longer apply this free distribution in the year of death or emigration/immigration. In these situations, each tax partner’s own assets and debts must be declared.

Company car
Since 1 January 2008, an environmentally friendly (delivery) car has been subject to a lower addition of 14%.

Will your own situation change in 2009?
Will anything change in your situation in 2009? In that case, this may have consequences for the provisional refund that you receive or the provisional assessment that you pay. More information can be found in the site section Provisional refund or assessment.

Extra control
Do you ever transfer money to charity? Then that’s a gift. You may deduct gifts as a personal allowance under certain conditions. This year we will pay extra attention to the deductible item when processing your tax return gifts. [break]