Entrepreneurs to pay off tax debt starting 1 October 2022

Since 1 October 2022, entrepreneurs must pay off tax debts that are due to the special tax payment extension. You can read how this works in this article.

Entrepreneurs who had payment problems due to the corona crisis could request a special extension of tax payment from the Tax Administration between 12 March 2020 and 31 March 2022. Since 1 April 2022, you have to pay newly generated taxes on time again. Were granted a special tax extension? Then you have received, or will shortly receive, a letter from the Tax Administration with an overview of your debts and information about the payment arrangement.

Repay tax debt special extension

You will have to repay the tax debt from October 2022 to November 2027. You pay a fixed amount every month. This monthly amount is stated in the letter you receive from the Tax Administration. Additional or earlier repayments are possible. The monthly instalments remain the same. That way, you finish your repayment earlier and the collection interest is lower. Do you want to pay a lower monthly amount for the remaining debt? Then you can submit a written request for this to the Tax Administration.

Payment Arrangement Relaxation

Are you unable to repay the tax debt monthly or within 5 years? Then you can request a more flexible payment arrangement from the Tax Administration (in Dutch). You must meet the conditions (in Dutch) for this. An adjustment of the payment arrangement has consequences for the instalment amount, the amount of recovery interest, and the term of the payment arrangement. The Dutch Tax and Customs Administration offers 3 options:

• You can ask for a 1-time pause for a maximum duration of 6 months or 2 consecutive quarterly instalments
• You can ask if you can make quarterly payments instead of monthly
• You can ask if you can make payments for a maximum of 7 years (84 months) instead of 5 years (60 months). For this option, your debt must be more than 10,000 euro.

Liquidity budget

It is wise to make a liquidity budget. A liquidity budget shows the expected income and expenditure of your business per month or quarter. This will help you determine if you have enough money to pay off the debt and the best time to apply for a payment arragement. You can get help with this from your accountant.

Problems repaying

Are you unable to repay the special tax extension on time? Then take action as soon as possible to solve your problems. The rule is that entrepreneurs must pay off this tax debt in full. This means that there is only the possibility of a (partial) waiver of tax debt in exceptional cases.

You do not have to solve debts alone. There are organisations, such as debt counsellors, that can help you, sometimes for free.

Problems with tax repayment after 1 April 2022

This article is concerned only with corona-related debts. Different rules apply to other tax debts. From 1 April 2022, entrepreneurs have had to pay taxes as usual. Requesting a special extension is no longer an option. You may be able to get a regular tax extension or a payment arrangement (in Dutch) if you fail to pay your new tax bills on time. This does not affect the payment arrangement or the amount of the tax debt that you accrued during the special extension of repayment.