One number decides most of what an Amsterdam homeowner pays: the WOZ valuation, which drives the property tax, part of the water board levy and a line added to your income tax return.
This guide covers the annual bills, how the WOZ is set and challenged, how the house enters your income tax, and the one-off taxes at purchase, gift and inheritance.
The Annual Bills
The municipality sends a combined assessment in the first quarter, and a separate bill arrives from the regional water authority.
OZB - onroerendezaakbelasting - is the property tax, charged only to owners, and calculated as a percentage of the WOZ value rather than as a flat sum.
The percentage is set annually in the city’s tax by-law, so the arithmetic is your WOZ value multiplied by that year’s rate.
Rioolheffing funds the sewer network and afvalstoffenheffing the waste collection, the latter set by household size as registered rather than by what you throw away.
Both are charged to occupiers, so a tenant pays them and a landlord does not.
Waterschapsbelasting from Waterschap Amstel, Gooi en Vecht is billed separately and splits in two: a resident’s levy everyone pays and a property levy based on value that falls on the owner.
Taken together these charges typically run to four figures a year for an Amsterdam household before the mortgage, and every rate is reset annually - take the current figures from amsterdam.nl rather than from any guide, including this one.
Low-income households can apply for kwijtschelding, which waives the waste and water levies, and it has to be claimed rather than being applied automatically.
The WOZ Value
The WOZ - Waardering Onroerende Zaken - is the municipality’s assessment of what your property was worth on 1 January of the preceding year, which is why it always trails the market.
It is built from recent sales of comparable properties nearby, adjusted for your property’s own characteristics, and it appears on the annual assessment in February or March.
Because it feeds OZB, the water board’s owner levy and the eigenwoningforfait on your tax return, an inflated WOZ costs you money in three places at once.
You have six weeks from the date on the assessment to object, it is free to do so, and a successful objection reduces every tax tied to the value for that year.
Two things make an objection work.
Request the taxatierapport, the municipality’s own valuation report, so you can see which comparable sales were used; and look up those addresses and your own free of charge at wozwaardeloket.nl.
Arguments that succeed are factual - wrong floor area, a comparable that is a better property, an ignored leasehold or shared entrance - and arguments about the market in general do not.
The House On Your Income Tax Return
Your main home sits in Box 1, and the Belastingdienst treats it as producing a notional income.
That is the eigenwoningforfait: a percentage of the WOZ value added to your taxable income, currently 0.35 per cent for most homes and higher above a threshold for expensive properties.
Against it runs the hypotheekrenteaftrek, the deduction for mortgage interest, which for most owners more than cancels the forfait out.
Three conditions attach to the deduction: the property must be your main residence, the mortgage must repay in full within thirty years, and it must do so on an annuity or linear schedule.
Interest-only borrowing taken out since 2013 does not qualify.
The rate at which the deduction is granted has been reduced in steps and no longer matches the top income tax rate, so the relief is worth less than the headline percentage implies.
You file with DigiD, and the return is largely pre-filled with your WOZ value and your lender’s interest figure - check both rather than accepting them.
Holders of the 30 per cent ruling get less from the deduction, because a lower taxable income means less tax for the deduction to reduce.
The ruling also ends after five years while the mortgage does not, so model the payment against your post-ruling net income before you commit to it.
Tax At Purchase And Transfer
Overdrachtsbelasting, transfer tax, is 2 per cent of the purchase price for a home you will live in yourself.
Buyers who will not live in the property - investors and second homes - pay 8 per cent from 2026, reduced from 10.4 per cent.
First-time buyers aged 18 to 34 pay nothing at all, provided they have not used the exemption before and the price is at or below the annually indexed ceiling - around €555,000 for 2026.
You sign a declaration at the notary confirming you will live there, and the exemption is available once in a lifetime regardless of nationality.
Budget roughly 4 to 6 per cent of the purchase price for total buying costs, and the spread is almost entirely explained by whether the transfer tax exemption applies to you.
Property that is not your main home falls into Box 3, taxed on a deemed return on net value after deducting related debt and the tax-free allowance, which for a rental property has worked out at an effective couple of per cent of value a year.
Inheriting or being given property brings erfbelasting or schenkbelasting, at rates set by your relationship to the giver and the value received, with substantially better rates for a spouse or child than for anyone else.
Frequently Asked Questions
What do I pay every year as an Amsterdam homeowner?
OZB, rioolheffing and afvalstoffenheffing from the municipality in one combined assessment, and waterschapsbelasting separately from the water board.
All rates are reset annually and published by the city.
What is the WOZ value and why does it matter?
The municipality’s estimate of your property’s value on 1 January of the previous year, and it drives your OZB, part of your water board levy and the eigenwoningforfait on your tax return.
How do I challenge it?
Object within six weeks of the assessment date, free of charge, after requesting the taxatierapport to see which comparable sales were used.
Factual errors and unsuitable comparables win; opinions about the market do not.
How much transfer tax will I pay?
2 per cent as an owner-occupier, nothing if you are a first-time buyer aged 18 to 34 below the annual price ceiling, and 8 per cent from 2026 if you will not live there.
Is mortgage interest still deductible?
Yes, for a main residence on an annuity or linear mortgage repaying within thirty years.
The relief rate has been reduced in steps, and the eigenwoningforfait is added back on the other side.
Does the 30 per cent ruling change any of this?
It reduces the value of the mortgage interest deduction, because there is less tax for it to offset.
It also expires after five years, so test the mortgage against your income without it.
