In this guide
There is a piece of Dutch admin that few relocation checklists mention and that quietly causes missed deadlines: much of your government post may no longer arrive on paper, and you may not have looked at where it went instead.
MijnOverheid is open to anyone aged 14 or over with a BSN and a login method such as DigiD. Inside it sits the Berichtenbox — a digital letterbox that connected government organisations use as an alternative to paper post. If you never log in, or never switched on the notification setting, letters about your tax return or your child benefit can be waiting in a room you never enter.
💡 Related: the complete DigiD guide for expats, BSN registration guide, Dutch tax deadline checklist.
What MijnOverheid Contains
Two halves, serving different purposes.
Uw gegevens — your data. MijnOverheid shows a selection of the data the government holds about you. MijnOverheid lists direct access to the BRP (Basisregistratie Personen), your registered income (Belastingdienst), Kadaster data, the WOZ value of your home, addresses and buildings, vehicle data (RDW), maintenance contributions (LBIO), the diploma register (DUO) and RVO, plus links to Mijn Belastingdienst, Mijn toeslagen, Mijn SVB, Mijn UWV and Mijn DUO. It is a quick way to check that the government has your details right.
De Berichtenbox — the message box. Your digital letterbox for post from connected government organisations, described by MijnOverheid with three typical examples: your tax return, child benefit, and passport renewal. MijnOverheid also mentions letters from the Belastingdienst and from your municipality. You can only receive messages in it; you cannot send or reply from it.
Two points are worth knowing. The first time you log in, you must enter an email address and your preferences, which MijnOverheid calls activating the account: go to mijnoverheid.nl and log in with your personal DigiD. And you cannot cancel the account, according to MijnOverheid’s own FAQ, so an unused account is simply one that collects post unseen.
If you do not yet have DigiD, that is the prerequisite. The DigiD guide for expats covers the application, the activation letter and the app.
The First Ten Minutes
Do these once, in order, and the system starts working for you instead of against you.
- Log in with DigiD and activate the account. Use the DigiD app if you have it.
- Turn on the notification. In Settings, switch on “Melding als er nieuwe post is”, and consider “Herinnering als u post niet hebt geopend” (reminder if you have not opened post). Use an email address you actually read.
- Install the Berichtenbox app, available in the official app stores (Apple App Store and Google Play), so you can read government post on your phone. It needs an activated MijnOverheid account and an activated DigiD app.
- Review the organisations list in your settings, and decide which connected organisations may send you post digitally. You cannot change these preferences from the app.
- Check your own data while you are there, such as your BRP registration.
What Still Comes on Paper — and the Belastingdienst Exception
An organisation can only deliver to your Berichtenbox if it is connected to MijnOverheid. Each connected organisation also decides for itself which post it sends digitally, so some post still comes on paper, and some organisations send both. Letters from private parties such as a landlord or health insurer are not government post and do not arrive this way. Some pension funds are connected, so check the organisations list in your settings.
You can decide which connected organisations may send you digital post. If you choose the Berichtenbox for an organisation, you will in principle no longer receive that post on paper, although organisations may still send some messages both ways.
The Belastingdienst is a special case. It is working towards sending post digitally only, and the switch takes time, so you may already receive some post digitally and other post on paper. Since 8 December 2025, MijnOverheid lets you indicate how you prefer to receive Belastingdienst post, via Settings, Organisations Berichtenbox. Even if you choose paper, you may still receive some Belastingdienst post digitally.
That matters most in filing season, when tax post may reach you through the Berichtenbox. The tax deadline checklist and the how to file Dutch taxes guide cover the calendar.
The Language Problem, Honestly
MijnOverheid has an English information page (“About MijnOverheid”), but the rest of the site is in Dutch, and the messages come from the sending organisations, so expect Dutch.
So build a workflow rather than hoping for a translation button:
- Read with your browser’s translate function, but verify every date and amount against the Dutch original. Machine translation is reliable on prose and unreliable on exactly the thing you need.
- Learn the words that signal an obligation: aanslag (assessment), beschikking (formal decision), bezwaar (objection), termijn (deadline), uiterlijk (no later than), herinnering (reminder), aanmaning (formal demand).
- Download PDFs to your own drive — much easier to hand a professional a saved file than to log in together later.
- Know the default: under article 6:7 of the General Administrative Law Act (Awb), an objection (bezwaar) must be filed within six weeks after the day the decision was made known to you. Check the objection period stated in the decision itself.
How Expats Specifically Get Caught Out
The activation gap. You have DigiD for the gemeente and the tax office, but never logged in to MijnOverheid. Post from organisations that send only digitally accumulates unseen.
The notification gap. Account activated, notifications off. You only see new post when you happen to log in. The notification itself has no legal status, so open the inbox regularly.
The moving gap. Your Berichtenbox does not depend on a postal address, but paper post does. Notify the municipality of your move on time, then check your BRP data in MijnOverheid to confirm the new address. The house moving checklist has the sequence.
The leaving gap. If you move abroad, the Berichtenbox still works worldwide, but MijnOverheid warns that new-post notifications can arrive late or not at all abroad, and that some data, such as marital status and family, are no longer updated. Keep logging in while anything is still pending, and see the leaving the Netherlands checklist.
The wrong-data gap. Data comes from different organisations, so you correct it at the source: contact the organisation that holds the data, and if it does not solve the problem, the Meldpunt Fouten in Overheidsregistraties.
It Is Also Where Your IND Post Can Go
Worth flagging for anyone on a residence permit: the IND can send post to your MijnOverheid Berichtenbox if you select it under Settings, Organisations Berichtenbox. According to the IND, post about applications that are still being processed is in My IND, while post about closed applications is in the Berichtenbox. The IND also advises updating your email address in both systems if it changes.
Whether you want IND decisions in the same inbox as other government post is a personal call. If you are mid-application, check both My IND and the Berichtenbox regularly. For what those timelines look like, see renewing your Dutch residence permit.
A Sane Routine
- Weekly if anything is pending, such as an application, an objection or a benefit change: open the app.
- Monthly otherwise: clear new messages, save PDFs worth keeping.
- Once a year: check your own data before filing season.
- Whenever life changes — move, new job, marriage, separation, a child: confirm the BRP data has been updated.
Treat email notifications as something you verify rather than assume. If you do not receive them, MijnOverheid lists causes such as an unknown or changed email address, the setting being off, a full mailbox or the spam folder. Adding noreply@mijn.overheid.nl to your safe senders is its suggested fix.
Final Thoughts
MijnOverheid is where connected Dutch government organisations send digital post. The cost of ignoring it is that a deadline can pass before you have seen the letter.
Ten minutes, once: activate the account, switch on the notifications, install the app and check your own data. Then open the inbox regularly.
For the rest of the digital-admin stack, the DigiD guide is the companion piece, and the first year in the Netherlands guide puts it in sequence with everything else.
Checked against mijn.overheid.nl, belastingdienst.nl, wetten.overheid.nl and ind.nl, 2 October 2026.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is MijnOverheid?
MijnOverheid is the Dutch government's personal portal. It shows some of the data the government holds about you, such as your BRP registration, your registered income, your vehicle data and your WOZ value, and it contains the Berichtenbox, the digital mailbox for government post. You can use it if you are 14 or over, have a BSN, deal with the Dutch government and have an approved login method such as DigiD. MijnOverheid states that the account cannot be cancelled.
What is the Berichtenbox and who sends messages to it?
The Berichtenbox is your personal digital letterbox for post from government organisations that are connected to MijnOverheid. MijnOverheid gives post about your tax return, child benefit (kinderbijslag) and passport renewal as examples. You can only receive messages in it, not send them. Each organisation decides which post it sends digitally, so some post still arrives on paper.
How do I get an email notification when a Berichtenbox message arrives?
In your MijnOverheid settings, switch on "Melding als er nieuwe post is" (notification when there is new post). MijnOverheid also advises switching on the reminder for post you have not opened, and there is a Berichtenbox app for phones and tablets. The notification has no legal status, so missing it does not change your rights or deadlines: you are expected to open your Berichtenbox regularly.
Can I choose to keep receiving Dutch government post on paper?
Partly. In your settings you decide which connected organisations may send you post digitally, but each organisation chooses for itself which messages it sends digitally, and some send both digital and paper. The Belastingdienst is working towards sending post digitally only, which takes time, so you may receive some post digitally even if you choose paper. Since December 2025 you can indicate in your MijnOverheid settings how you want to receive Belastingdienst post.
Is MijnOverheid available in English?
Only partly. There is an English information page, "About MijnOverheid", but the rest of the site is in Dutch. Plan for translation: read messages with a browser translator, keep the Dutch original for any formal reply, and never let a translation guess at a deadline. Check the date in the Dutch text.
What do I do if my data in MijnOverheid is wrong?
Contact the organisation that holds the data, for example the Kadaster for property data or the Belastingdienst for registered income. If that organisation does not solve it, you can contact the Meldpunt Fouten in Overheidsregistraties (MFO), the reporting point for errors in government records.