Prinsjesdag 2025 IB entrepreneur & ZZP
- Jenifer Benton
- Oct 8
- 11 min read
Because the Schoof I Cabinet fell on June 3, 2025, elections for a new House of Representatives will be held on October 29. Due to this situation, the cabinet for the transition produced a relatively ‘policy-poor’ 2026 Budget Memorandum. Nevertheless, it is fair to say that the accompanying 2026 Tax Plan contains a number of measures that will directly affect you as an entrepreneur. Sometimes to your advantage, but often to your disadvantage.
As it does every year, the NOAB has shared an important update on this information and we are happy to provide you with a concise summary. Please do not hesitate to contact us to discuss how these changes will impact your situation.
This overview covers the most important measures that apply to you as an entrepreneur. Apart from these measures, many more tax changes have been announced. In addition, measures were also announced last year that will take effect in 2026 (or even later).
This overview is not set in stone. It is based on the content of the 2026 Tax Plan, as published on September 16, 2025. The final details of the plans may still change in the final legislation. This is even likely, as the new House of Representatives may have a different opinion.
Contents of this article
Self-employed deduction
The self-employed deduction (ZA) is a deduction for entrepreneurs who meet the hour criterion, which means that you must work at least 1,225 hours per year in your business.
It was already been announced that the self-employed deduction would be phased out more quickly. This year (2025), the self-employed deduction is still €2,470, but next year it will be reduced to €1,200 and will be further reduced to €900 in 2027. The start-up deduction will remain at the current €2,123.
In a table:
So what does this mean for your situation? Due to the reduction in the self-employed person's deduction, your taxable profit will increase in the coming years. And due to the increase in taxable profit, you will have to pay more box 1 tax.
Mkb-profit exemption
The Mkb-profit exemption is an exemption that all income tax entrepreneurs receive, regardless of whether they meet the hour criterion or not. The deduction is 12.7% this year and will not be adjusted next year.
Co-work deduction
The co-worker deduction is a deduction that an income tax entrepreneur with a sole proprietorship receives if their fiscal partner works in the sole proprietorship without receiving any remuneration for this. The deduction does not apply to, for example, a husband/wife firm. Nor does it apply if the partner is on the entrepreneur's payroll or receives a co-worker remuneration.
The deduction is a percentage of the profit, with the percentage depending on the number of hours the partner works in the sole proprietorship.
The government plans to phase out the co-worker deduction. This is not included in the 2026 Tax Plan, but it is included in other policy documents from the Ministry of Finance.
Starting in 2027, the deduction percentages will be reduced by 75%, and starting in 2030, the cooperation deduction will be abolished altogether. The reasoning behind this is, is that the entrepreneur and their partner can also simply enter into an employment contract.
Cessation deduction
The cessation deduction is a deduction of up to €3,630 that an entrepreneur receives if he ceases his business activities entirely. This allows (part of) the cessation profit – for example, through hidden reserves, cancellation of the tax-deductible retirement reserve, or divestment addition – to remain outside the scope of taxation.
The government also wants to phase out the cessation deduction. The deduction will be reduced by 75% with effect from January 1, 2027, and abolished entirely with effect from 2030.
In a table:
This means that the cessation deduction can be used in full until 2026. As a result, it may sometimes be more attractive to choose to cessate in 2026 rather than 2027.
Income tax rate box 1
The income tax rate in box 1 will be adjusted in the coming year.
The rates for 2026 will be as follows
Taking into account the 12.7% Mkb-profit exemption, the effective box 1 rates on the profit from your business are as follows:
The general tax credit, a tax exemption that everyone enjoys, will be increased slightly for everyone. In 2025, it will amount to a maximum of €3,068, and in 2026, it will amount to a maximum of €3,115. The earned income tax credit, to which you as an income tax entrepreneur are also entitled, will also be increased from a maximum of €5,599 to a maximum of €5,712.
However, these are the ‘bare’ income tax rates. They do not yet take into account, for example, the employed person's tax credit (AK), general tax credit (AHK), and income-related contribution under the Health Insurance Act (ZVW).
Act amending tax facilities for business succession 2025
As an income tax entrepreneur, you can transfer your business to your children, for example, under favorable tax conditions. A large number of tax facilities have been created for this purpose. Among other things, this allows:
The income tax claim on your cessation profit, such as on goodwill and hidden reserves, to be transferred to your successor(s);
To claim a transfer tax exemption if there is real estate that belongs to the business assets and is acquired by the successors;
To claim a substantial gift and inheritance tax exemption if you transfer the business at a price lower than the market value of the business.
To use this regulation to your advantage, it is important to start early and in the correct manner, as this is a complex procedure and it can take a while to make maximum use of all possible tax facilities.
The exemption for gift and inheritance tax in particular has been subject to constant change in recent years. This includes::
Elimination of business succession facilities for business assets that are (partly) leased or used for both private and business purposes;;
The introduction of an age limit: the successor must be at least 21 years old;;
The period during which the successor must continue the business has been reduced from five to three years for transfers from January 1, 2025;
Tax interest
There is currently a lot of discussion about the level of tax interest. This is interest that you have to pay in a number of cases when a tax assessment is imposed. The reason for this is a ruling by the District Court of Groningen on November 7, 2024, which concerned tax interest for corporate income tax. In this ruling, the court found that the tax interest stated by the tax inspector on the assessment was too high. Interest of 10% was charged on a corporate income tax assessment, which was reduced to 4% in the ruling.
This could also have an impact on the tax interest on income tax assessments. However, we must be honest and say that there are also rulings that upheld the inspector's decision to charge a higher tax interest rate.
If you receive a tax assessment in which tax interest is charged, you should contact us immediately. As long as the Supreme Court has not yet made an official ruling on the maximum permissible amount, we can file an objection against the tax interest.
Pseudo-taxation for passenger cars
An important legislative change has been announced for employers who provide their employees with a company car. This is a new measure that will take effect on January 1, 2027.
Under the new rules, employers will have to pay an additional amount of payroll tax in the form of a final levy, amounting to 12% of the catalog value of that car. This levy is calculated different when it is more than 30 years old, in this case the 12% tax is calculated on the market value instead of the catalog value. Suppose you have an employee with a company car with a catalog value of €50,000. In that case, it will cost you 12% x €50,000 = €6,000 in final levy per year. Please note that this is a tax that you must pay yourself; you may not pass it on to your employee.
The final levy is calculated per calendar month, but the employer only has to pay it in the second month after the end of the calendar year in question. This will apply for the first time in 2027, so the first payment will have to be made in February 2028.
When does this pseudo-tax apply:
If an employer provides an employee with a passenger car that the employee is also allowed to use privately. Private use also includes commuting between home and work. If an employee does not use the car privately, including for commuting between home and work, the pseudo-tax does not apply.;
The tax only applies to cars with CO2 emissions. The tax does not apply to completely emission-free cars. However, it does apply to hybrid cars;
The tax applies to all types of cars that are not completely emission-free, including, for example, camper vans, passenger vans for healthcare transport (with a maximum of 9 seats), and even hearses.
This tax is completely separate from the tax that the employee already pays as an additional tax liability for private use. It is an additional tax for the employer.
A transitional arrangement applies until September 17, 2030, in the following case:
The levy only applies to cars that are made available for the first time on or after January 1, 2027.;
If an employee is provided with a car before January 1, 2027, the employer does not yet have to pay the levy.;
From September 17, 2030, the transition time ends and the levy will be mandatory for all cars. If, for example, you make a new gasoline or diesel car available to your employee on December 1, 2025, the levy have to be paid stating from September 17, 2030.
Box 3
Since 2021, there has been much discussion about box 3, the taxation of savings and investments.
The latest development is that a new law has been enacted, the Box 3 Counterevidence regulation Act. Under this scheme, you are in principle liable for box 3 tax on a notional return on your assets, insofar as this exceeds the tax-free allowance.
If you can prove that the return you actually achieved is lower than this notional return, you only have to pay tax on that lower actual return. To prove this, you must submit a digital OWR form. OWR stands for Opgaaf Werkelijk Rendement (Actual Return Statement).
If you have already paid tax on your box 3 assets for the last few years starting in 2021, you will receive a letter from the Tax and Customs Administration inviting you to submit the OWR form. This letter will also state the date by which the form must be submitted. However, this is only useful if the actual return is lower than the notional return.
When should you be particularly alert::
If you have claims on others in box 3, with a fixed interest rate, in the year 2022;
If you had homes or other immovable property in box 3, such as a second home, whose WOZ value has fallen in any year;
If you had assets with a low return, such as government bonds that pay low interest;
If you had other assets in box 3 whose value has fallen. For example, cryptocurrency in a year of declining value;
If you had other assets in box 3 whose value has fallen. For example, cryptocurrency in a year of declining value.
Btw-herziening verbouwingsdiensten
This measure will take effect on January 1, 2026, and is only relevant if you provide VAT-exempt services, such as entrepreneurs in the medical sector, daycare centers, insurance brokerages, and other VAT-exempt entrepreneurs.
The VAT revision will now also apply to investment services relating to immovable property, with multi-year consumption and with a value exceeding the threshold amount of €30,000. The revision period will be five years (year of commissioning plus four subsequent financial years). A correction will be made both when switching from VAT-taxed to exempt use (which means repaying VAT) and vice versa (in which case you can reclaim VAT).
The effective date is January 1, 2026, and therefore only applies to investment services put into use from that date onwards. This measure does not yet apply to investment services prior to that date. If the investment was made in 2025, for example, VAT revision will not be an issue later on.
A practical example:
A healthcare institution decides to install new windows in 2026;
The costs amount to €40,000, plus €8,400 in VAT;
Let's say the pro rata is 5%, which means that the healthcare institution will be refunded 5% of that VAT (€420);
In 2027, the pro rata rate will fall to 4%, which means that the healthcare institution will have to repay part of the VAT (4/5 of €84).
Other measures
In addition to the above measures, a number of tax changes will be introduced that may be important to you as an entrepreneur or for your private situation.
The following changes to car taxes:
The rate reduction in motor vehicle tax for zero-emission passenger cars in the period 2026–2028 will be increased from 25% to 30%;
The quarter rates in motor vehicle tax will be limited to delivery vans from July 1, 2026, and removed altogether from January 1, 2028;
The excise duty rates for unleaded petrol, diesel, and LPG will not be increased as of January 1, 2026. Fuel excise duty will remain low for another year;
The transfer tax rate for homes that are not occupied by the owner as their main residence for a long period of time (a so-called owner-occupied home in box 1) will be 8% from January 1, 2026. This includes homes purchased as investment properties or second homes. Please note that this only applies to homes and not to other immovable property;
The starter threshold for the transfer tax exemption will increase from €525,000 to €555,000;
Gambling tax will increase from 34.2% to 37.8% on January 1, 2026.
The VAT increase on culture, media, and sports as of January 1, 2026, will not go ahead; the VAT rate will remain at 9%;
The deadline for submitting inheritance tax returns is currently eight months, which will be extended to 20 months from next year. Tax interest on inheritance tax assessments will also only start to accrue after 20 months;
The VAT on accommodation (provided by hotels, B&Bs, guesthouses, and short-stay vacation companies) will increase from 9% to 21% as of 2026. However, this does not apply to camping. A transitional arrangement also applies. This concerns single-use vouchers and payments made in 2025 for services applicable to 2026 and later. In this case, too, the entrepreneur must charge 21% VAT.
The following two points are issues that have been discussed frequently and are also likely to undergo changes in the long term:
There is increasing talk of elimination mortgage interest in the long term.
Compulsory disability insurance (AOV) for entrepreneurs has been announced. The parameters are as follows:
It will apply to all income tax entrepreneurs and their assisting partners, not just self-employed persons;
Entrepreneurs who already have suitable AOV insurance will not be affected;
The waiting period will be two years, rather than one year as originally intended;
The annual premium will probably be 5.4% of profits, with a maximum of €171 per month (i.e. €2,052 per year);
The benefit will be 70% of the last profits, with a maximum of 143% of the statutory minimum wage, so that the benefit will not exceed 100% of the statutory minimum wage.
To conclude about Prinsjesdag 2025 for IB-entrepreneurs & ZZP'rs
This update sets out the most important changes announced on Prinsjesdag 2025 for income tax entrepreneurs & self-employed persons. To find out exactly what consequences these new developments will have, don't hesitate to contact us, so we can optimize your tax situation.