Municipal Taxes in the Netherlands: OZB, Waste and Water Board Bills

Some of the first Dutch tax bills you receive are not from the Belastingdienst at all. They come from the municipality and from a body you have probably never heard of: the regional water authority. Two envelopes, several line items each, all in Dutch, all with payment deadlines.

They are worth reading closely: one line item is calculated from a property valuation you can challenge, and there is a remission scheme for low incomes.

Rates are deliberately absent below. They are set locally, every year, by hundreds of municipalities and 21 water authorities, so any national figure would be wrong for most readers. Your own assessment and your gemeente’s website are the accurate sources.

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💡 Related: Dutch utilities explained for expats, renting versus buying in the Netherlands, how to file Dutch taxes as an expat.

Why There Are Two Bills

A municipality may only levy taxes explicitly named in law. Rijksoverheid makes the point with a nice example: a gemeente may charge dog tax, because that appears in the Municipalities Act, but may not invent a cat tax.

Those taxes split in two. General taxes (OZB, parking tax, dog tax) go into the general funds and the council decides what to spend them on. Heffingen must be cost-covering — the municipality may not collect more than the budgeted costs the charge covers. Rioolheffing and afvalstoffenheffing are in that category, which is why they rise when waste processing gets more expensive.

The water authority is a separate government body with its own elected board and its own taxes. There are 21 of them, and you pay the one whose area you live in.

The Municipal Charges

Onroerendezaakbelasting (OZB) — property tax on owners, a percentage of your WOZ value set annually by the council. Renters do not get an OZB bill for their home; the landlord does.

Afvalstoffenheffing — the waste levy, charged to the household using the property. Some municipalities charge a flat rate per single- or multi-person household; most (59% in 2024) use diftar, where part of the bill depends on how much residual waste you put out. Diftar is mainly used in smaller, less urban municipalities (Rijkswaterstaat, Afvalstoffenheffing 2024). Where diftar applies, separating properly genuinely changes the bill.

Rioolheffing — the sewerage charge for the sewer network and rainwater drainage. Whether it falls on the owner, the user or both depends on the local ordinance.

Others you may meet: parking tax with a residents’ permit, dog tax where it still exists, tourist tax if you let out a room, forensenbelasting for a second home, and leges — administrative fees for a passport or permit.

For the running costs alongside these, see the Dutch utilities explained guide and the cost of living guide.

The Water Board Bill

Two main household charges, and the split matters for tenants.

The watersysteemheffing pays for maintaining dikes, ditches and waterways. Both tenants and homeowners pay it — tenants as residents (ingezetenen), owners additionally for the property. Landlords usually pay the ownership component. The zuiveringsheffing pays for cleaning wastewater and is paid by the users and occupants of homes and business premises.

What you pay depends on your water authority, whether you rent or own, the WOZ value of an owned property, and household size. The assessment arrives once a year, early in the year; the date and instalment options differ per water authority, so check the letter.

One detail: the bill covers a full calendar year. Move to a different water authority’s area mid-year having already paid the zuiveringsheffing and you may be able to reclaim part of it — but you have to ask.

The WOZ Value Is the Number to Check

Almost everything on the owner’s side is driven by one figure.

Municipalities determine it by valuation against the amount the property would have fetched on 1 January of the previous year — the waardepeildatum. A valuer looks at land and building data and visits one or a few comparable properties sold around that date; a computer model applies the comparison to the rest, adjusting for differences such as location and square metres. Mortgages and ground lease (erfpacht) are not taken into account.

You can request the taxatieverslag — the valuation report — from your municipality. It lists the reference properties used, which is where errors surface: a comparison house with an extension yours lacks, a wrong floor area, a shared courtyard counted as a garden.

The WOZ value also feeds the owner’s water system charge and the notional rental value (eigenwoningforfait) in your income tax return. Getting it wrong is not a one-bill problem, and our step-by-step guide to a WOZ objection covers the appeal in detail. If you are still buying, the expat guide to buying a house and the mortgage guide show where these costs land monthly.

How to Object: the 6-Week Window

You submit an objection (bezwaar) to the municipality; the assessment explains how. It must contain your personal details, your reasons, the assessment number and your signature.

The deadline is 6 weeks from the date on the assessment. Make sure your objection is in within that window.

The decision timeline is unusual. Normally a Dutch authority has 6 weeks to decide an objection, but for municipal tax assessments the municipality has until the end of the calendar year in which you objected. The exception to the exception: object in the last 6 weeks of the year and the 6-week term does apply, extendable by up to 6 weeks. A rejection can be appealed to the district court.

An objection works best when you point to concrete facts: the valuation, the household size, the dates. You do not need a “no cure, no pay” agency — you can object yourself with a factual letter. If a dispute escalates, the English-speaking lawyers guide covers when professional help is proportionate.

Kwijtschelding: Remission for Low Incomes

If you cannot pay, you can ask your municipality for kwijtschelding. It decides which taxes are eligible and whether you qualify, looking at assets, income and necessary expenses. Per Rijksoverheid: the asset test is stricter than for social assistance; where you have payment capacity, 80% of it is expected to go towards the tax; an income threshold applies that is set locally; holiday allowance is assumed to be 7% of net income unless you say otherwise; and tax or benefit debts are taken into account. Some municipalities grant it automatically. Water authorities run separate schemes with their own conditions.

The test looks at income, assets and costs; the rijksoverheid page lists no nationality condition. The information is often only in Dutch, so it is easy to miss.

The Insurance Gap Next to These Bills

Local charges cover dikes, drains and bins. They cover nothing inside your flat.

Contents insurance (inboedelverzekering) is not compulsory but is what pays out when a neighbour’s washing machine floods your floor; liability insurance is the companion policy for damage you cause others. Both are worth arranging in your first weeks.

For what each policy covers and what renters actually need, see contents insurance for renters and Dutch home contents and liability insurance for expats.

My Final Thoughts

Two habits pay off: read the assessment the week it arrives, and treat the WOZ value as a number that has to be right rather than one handed down.

Everything here is set locally and reset annually, so verify your own figures against your gemeente’s tax page and your waterschap’s assessment rather than any article — including this one. And if the amounts are unaffordable rather than merely annoying, the remission route exists.

For the wider first-year sequence, start with the first year in the Netherlands guide and the house moving checklist.