Amsterdam sends most of its local taxes in one combined assessment each spring, and the amount is set by who is registered at your address and what your home is worth - not by what you earn.
This guide covers the tourist tax, the four charges residents pay, how the WOZ valuation drives three of them, and the six-week window in which you can argue with it.
Tourist Tax
Amsterdam charges 12.5 per cent of the accommodation price, per person, per night, on every kind of paid overnight stay - hotel, hostel, B&B, holiday rental or campsite.
It is a percentage rather than a flat fee, so a €200 room carries about €25 of tax and a €90 hostel bed carries about €11.
The accommodation collects it and passes it to the city, which is why it often appears only at checkout even when the booking platform quoted a room-only price.
There is no exemption for business travellers, for Dutch visitors from other municipalities, or for children.
Stays of thirty consecutive nights or more can fall outside the tax as residence rather than lodging, which is worth confirming with the accommodation before you book a long stay.
Cruise passengers who do not stay overnight are charged separately, per person per day, under the day-visitor rate rather than this one.
What Residents Actually Get Billed
Once you are registered in the BRP at an Amsterdam address, three charges follow automatically and a fourth applies only if you own property.
Afvalstoffenheffing is the waste levy, and it is set by household size as recorded in the register - one rate for a single-person household, a higher one for two or more.
It has nothing to do with how much rubbish you actually produce, so a couple who recycle scrupulously pay exactly what their neighbours pay.
Rioolheffing funds the sewer network and is charged per property, to occupier and owner alike.
Both arrive together in the combined municipal assessment, the blue envelope, usually in February or March.
Waterschapsbelasting comes separately, from Waterschap Amstel, Gooi en Vecht rather than from the city, and covers flood defence, water treatment and canal management.
Everyone registered at an address pays the ingezetenenomslag; owners pay an additional part calculated on the property’s value.
The rates for all of these are reset every year in the city’s tax by-law, so check the current figures at amsterdam.nl before you budget rather than trusting last year’s total.
If your income is low, the city can waive the waste levy and the water board levy entirely under kwijtschelding - it is applied for, not granted automatically, and a great many people who qualify never ask.
OZB And The WOZ Value That Drives It
Property owners pay onroerendezaakbelasting, calculated as a percentage of the home’s WOZ value rather than as a flat amount.
The WOZ value is the municipality’s estimate of what your property was worth on 1 January of the previous year, which is why it always lags the market by roughly a year.
The arithmetic is simply WOZ value multiplied by that year’s rate, and the rate is published in the same by-law as everything else.
At the order of magnitude Amsterdam has charged in recent years - a little over 0.05 per cent - a €500,000 home produces a bill in the region of €250 to €300.
The WOZ figure does more work than the OZB bill suggests: it also feeds the water board’s owner levy, and nationally it sets the eigenwoningforfait added to your Box 1 income.
You have six weeks from the date on the assessment to lodge an objection, and the deadline is enforced strictly.
Look up your own address, and your neighbours’, free of charge at wozwaardeloket.nl - an objection stands or falls on comparable recent sales, so gather two or three before you write.
Grounds that actually work are factual: floor area recorded wrongly, a valuation that ignores a shared entrance or a leasehold, or comparables that are plainly better properties.
Why This Is Not Your Income Tax
Municipal charges and the national income tax are collected by different bodies, on different bases, on different timetables.
The Belastingdienst taxes income progressively and lets you claim deductions and credits.
The city and the water board charge fixed amounts by household or by property value, and there are no deductions to claim against them.
Two people sharing a flat on wildly different salaries owe the municipality exactly the same.
You can pay the combined assessment in one go or spread it across the year by direct debit, which is arranged through the city’s tax office and is the default most residents choose.
Frequently Asked Questions
How much is Amsterdam’s tourist tax?
12.5 per cent of the accommodation price, per person, per night, on every category of paid overnight stay.
Your accommodation collects it and remits it to the city.
Which local taxes will I be billed for as a resident?
Afvalstoffenheffing and rioolheffing from the city in a combined assessment, and waterschapsbelasting separately from the water board.
Owners also pay OZB, calculated on the WOZ value.
Is the waste levy based on how much rubbish I produce?
No - it is set by the number of people registered at your address, with one rate for single-person households and a higher one for larger ones.
How do I challenge my WOZ value?
File an objection with the municipality within six weeks of the date on the assessment, citing comparable recent sales rather than an opinion about the market.
You can look up comparables free at wozwaardeloket.nl.
What if I cannot afford the bill?
Apply for kwijtschelding, the remission scheme that can waive the waste and water levies for low-income households, or ask the municipal tax office for a payment arrangement.
Do I pay these while renting?
Yes, for the waste levy, the sewer charge and the water board’s resident portion.
OZB and the water board’s owner portion fall on the landlord.
