Erfbelasting is charged on what each heir personally receives, after that heir’s own exemption, at 10% then 20% for a partner or child, 18% then 36% for a grandchild, and 30% then 40% for everyone else. The higher rate starts above €158,669 in 2026. The exemptions are €828,035 for a partner, €26,230 for a child or grandchild, €62,110 for a parent and €2,769 for anyone else (Belastingdienst rate table, exemptions, read 26 August 2026).
If you have just inherited money in the Netherlands, the tax office is not shy about asking for its share first. Erfbelasting (Dutch inheritance tax) is calculated on what you receive, not on the estate as a whole, and the bill depends heavily on how closely you were related to the person who died. Once that bill is settled, a second, quieter mechanism takes over: Box 3, the deemed-return wealth tax that applies to savings and investments alike.
Most guides stop at the inheritance tax return. Few explain what happens the following January, when whatever you kept becomes part of your taxable wealth under Box 3 rules that treat cash and investments very differently. That second step often determines whether the inheritance quietly loses value in a savings account or starts working for you.
My honest take: file the erfbelasting return properly and on time, do not rush into any investment decision in the first few weeks, but do not leave a large sum idle in cash for years either. The Box 3 rules make holding pure cash a comparatively expensive choice, and that changes the calculus of when and how to deploy an inheritance into UCITS ETFs.
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Erfbelasting is levied on the heir, based on the value of what they personally receive, after deducting any exemption available to their relationship category. It is not a flat estate tax collected once from the total pot, which is why two siblings inheriting different amounts from the same parent can end up with different bills. The taxable base includes cash, securities, property, and most other assets, valued as of the date of death.
Debts of the deceased, funeral costs, and certain other deductions reduce the taxable base before exemptions and rate bands apply. Special relief exists for family businesses and agricultural assets, but for most heirs receiving cash, savings, or a portfolio, the calculation is fairly linear once you know the relationship category and the value received.
Exemptions and Rates by Relationship
Which of these two questions you get wrong matters more than the other: the exemption is a number that moves each year, but the tariff group decides whether you pay 10% or 30%. An earlier version of this table treated its figures as illustrative and put parents and siblings in the partner-and-children band and grandchildren in it too. That is not an indexation problem, it is the wrong group, and it understated the bill by tens of thousands of euros for three of the four rows. The 2026 figures below are the Belastingdienst’s own, read on 26 August 2026.
Two rules apply to every row. First, you deduct your own exemption from what you inherit, and only the remainder is taxed. Second, the lower percentage applies to the first €158,669 of that remainder and the higher percentage to everything above it (tarieven erfbelasting 2026).
| Relationship to deceased | 2026 exemption | Rate up to €158,669 | Rate above €158,669 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Partner or registered partner | €828,035 (reduced by half the value of survivor’s pension rights, but never below €213,915) | 10% | 20% |
| Child, stepchild or foster child | €26,230 (€78,671 for a child with a disability) | 10% | 20% |
| Grandchild or further descendant | €26,230 | 18% | 36% |
| Parent | €62,110 | 30% | 40% |
| Sibling, other relative, unrelated heir | €2,769 | 30% | 40% |
A grandchild is the row people get wrong, and it is expensive. Grandchildren are descendants, so instinct puts them with the children at 10% and 20%. The Successiewet applies an 80% surcharge to the descendant rate from the second generation onward, which is where 18% and 36% come from. On a €300,000 inheritance: deduct the €26,230 exemption to leave €273,770; the first €158,669 at 18% is €28,560 and the remaining €115,101 at 36% is €41,436, for a bill of €69,997. Run the same inheritance through this page’s previous 10%/20% row and you get €38,887 — an understatement of about €31,000, which is why the table has been rebuilt rather than re-indexed.
The gap between the child band and the “other” band is large, which is why estate planning between unmarried partners or distant heirs deserves advice well before death, not after. If you fall into the higher-rate group, ask an adviser whether lifetime gifts or exemption elections were used, since these can change your final bill.
When is the erfbelasting return due? 20 months for a 2026 death
The Belastingdienst split this rule, and the old eight-month answer is now wrong for anyone dealing with a death in 2026. For deaths in 2025 or earlier the return is due 8 months after the date of death. For deaths in 2026 or later it is due 20 months after the date of death, and the date is printed on the aangiftebrief you receive (Belastingdienst, wanneer moet mijn aangifte binnen zijn). Belastingrente follows the same split — it runs from 8 months after death under the old rule and from 20 months under the new one (belastingrente over de aanslag erfbelasting).
One trap worth naming, because the intuitive move is the wrong one: an extension (uitstel) does not stop belastingrente. Interest is charged if the return arrives after the filing date even where uitstel has been granted. The instrument that limits it is a voorlopige aanslag — ask to be assessed provisionally and pay, then correct later. Twenty months is more room than the old rule gave, but property, foreign accounts and a securities portfolio still take longer to value than heirs expect, so start early.
If the estate includes an existing portfolio rather than cash, the valuation date is asset-class specific and one detail catches people out: exchange-listed securities are valued at the official prijscourant of the working day before the date of death, not on the day itself. Bank and savings balances are taken on the day of death, including accounts held outside the Netherlands; foreign-currency balances are converted at that day’s exchange rate; real estate uses the WOZ value of the year of death or the year after (Belastingdienst, waarde van de erfenis). Pull the statement for the right day now rather than a current one months later.
Where Box 3 Enters the Picture
Here is the part that catches heirs off guard. Once the erfbelasting bill is paid and the inheritance is legally yours, it does not disappear from the tax system. On the following 1 January — the peildatum — whatever you still hold, cash, savings, shares, or ETF units, gets swept into your Box 3 wealth assessment alongside everything else you own, above the €59,357 per-person heffingsvrij vermogen. The 1 January reference date is what matters, not the date you received the money, so an inheritance settled in October is already exposed to a full year of Box 3 assessment just three months later.
Box 3 works on a deemed-return basis rather than taxing your actual gains or interest, and the 2026 numbers are settled enough to state. The deemed return is 1.28% on bank and savings balances (provisional, finalised in early 2027), 6.00% on investments and other assets (fixed) and 2.70% on debts; that notional income is taxed at 36%, and the first €59,357 of net assets per person is exempt (Belastingdienst, berekening box 3-inkomen 2026). An heir whose total Box 3 assets stay at or below the heffingsvrij vermogen owes nothing at all.
And there is now a way out of a deemed return you did not earn. Since 1 July 2025 the tegenbewijsregeling lets a taxpayer whose actual return was lower than the deemed one declare the real figure on the Opgaaf werkelijk rendement form and be taxed on that instead; it runs until the new system arrives (Rijksoverheid, box 3). For an inheritance sitting in a portfolio through a flat or falling year, that is the difference between paying tax on 6.00% you never made and paying tax on what you actually made. I go through the bracket structure in more detail in my Box 3 ETF tax guide.
The practical upshot: under a system that assumes cash earns less than investments, simply parking an inheritance in a savings account for years is not the “safe, tax-neutral” choice it might feel like. You are still assessed Box 3 wealth tax on that cash at a deemed rate, whether or not the account paid you anything close to it. That does not mean rushing into ETFs the week after probate closes, but an extended period of indecision has a real cost beyond the missed market returns.
Cash or Invest? Building the Practical Plan
The order I would follow looks like this. First, settle the erfbelasting return and pay the bill, keeping enough aside that you are not forced to sell anything at a bad moment to cover it. Second, give yourself a short, defined pause, weeks rather than years, rather than trying to grieve and invest at the same time. Third, park the remainder somewhere sensible while you decide; I cover practical short-term parking options for a meaningful lump sum in where to park a large sum short-term in Europe.
See also: selling a rental property and investing the proceeds in ETFs.
Fourth, define what the money is for. An inheritance earmarked for a house deposit in three years behaves differently from one meant to support retirement in twenty-five, and the honest answer to “invest or not” depends far more on that horizon than on any tax detail. Fifth, once the horizon justifies equity risk, deploy into low-cost, accumulating UCITS ETFs rather than distributing ones, since accumulating classes reinvest income automatically and are simpler to track for Box 3 purposes than manual dividend reinvestment.
On timing, whether to invest the whole sum at once or drip it in over several months, I cover the historical evidence in investing a lump sum versus dollar-cost averaging. The short version: lump sum investing wins more often than not over long horizons, but a staged approach over three to twelve months is a reasonable compromise if the size of the inheritance makes you uneasy. For the account itself, choose a broker that supports low-cost UCITS ETF trading and a clean annual overview for your Box 3 return; see my comparison of brokers for Dutch investors.
How This Compares to Inheriting Elsewhere in Europe
If part of your family or estate has ties to Germany, the systems are structured quite differently: German inheritance tax uses its own exemption and class structure, and there is no equivalent of a Box 3-style annual wealth tax on assets you keep afterward. I cover the German mechanics and what to do with an inherited amount there in inheriting in Germany and investing what remains, a useful comparison for a cross-border estate.
My Verdict: What I’d Do
File the erfbelasting return early and accurately, using a proper date-of-death valuation for any securities, and do not let the eight-month clock sneak up on you, particularly with a foreign account involved. Once the bill is paid, resist the urge to either freeze in indecision or invest everything within the week. Give yourself a short, deliberate pause, then commit to a plan: define the money’s purpose and horizon, park it sensibly in the meantime, and keep the 1 January Box 3 reference date in mind rather than letting fear of it talk you into an inefficient cash position for years. Every situation has its own wrinkles, so treat this as a framework and get a Dutch tax adviser (belastingadviseur) to check your specific numbers before you file or invest a meaningful sum.
Frequently asked questions
Q: How much is erfbelasting in 2026?
A: It depends entirely on your relationship to the person who died. After deducting your own exemption, a partner or child pays 10% on the first €158,669 and 20% above it; a grandchild pays 18% and 36%; a parent, sibling, other relative or unrelated heir pays 30% and 40%. The 2026 exemptions are €828,035 for a partner, €26,230 for a child or grandchild, €62,110 for a parent and €2,769 for everyone else.
Q: How long do I have to file the erfbelasting return?
A: 20 months from the date of death for deaths in 2026 or later, and 8 months for deaths in 2025 or earlier. The exact date is printed on the aangiftebrief. Belastingrente runs from the same point, and is charged even if you have been granted an extension.
Q: Is an inherited brokerage account taxable in the Netherlands?
A: Yes, twice over, and in two different ways. Erfbelasting is charged once on its value — for exchange-listed securities, the official price list of the working day before the death. Then, from the following 1 January, the holding sits in Box 3 at a deemed 6.00% taxed at 36%, above the €59,357 heffingsvrij vermogen. What the Netherlands does not levy is capital gains tax on privately held securities, so there is no acquisition basis to step up and the erfbelasting valuation has no later Dutch CGT consequence.
Q: Do I pay erfbelasting on an inherited investment portfolio, or only on cash?
A: Both. Erfbelasting is levied on the total value of what you receive, whether cash, a brokerage account, property, or other assets, valued as of the date of death. Only debts, funeral costs, and specific deductions reduce that base before your exemption applies.
Q: What happens if I miss the erfbelasting filing deadline?
A: Late filing triggers belastingrente on the amount owed and can invite closer scrutiny. Check which deadline applies first: 8 months after death for deaths in 2025 or earlier, 20 months for deaths in 2026 or later. And note the trap — an extension (uitstel) does not stop the interest, which is charged whenever the return lands after the filing date. Ask for a voorlopige aanslag and pay on account instead.
Q: Does Box 3 tax my actual investment returns or something else?
A: Something else. Box 3 applies a deemed, notional return to categories of assets rather than taxing what you actually earned, then taxes that figure at a flat rate. The bracket and category rules have changed several times following legal challenges, so verify the current structure before assuming last year’s rules still apply.
Q: Is it better to keep an inheritance in cash to avoid investment risk and Box 3 exposure?
A: Cash is not exempt from Box 3, and it has historically been assigned a lower deemed return than investments, which means holding it for years is not a tax-neutral parking choice. It can still be right for money you need soon, but it is not a way to sidestep the wealth tax entirely.
Q: Why does the 1 January reference date matter for an inheritance received partway through the year?
A: Box 3 wealth is assessed on what you hold on 1 January of the tax year, regardless of when you actually received it. An inheritance settled in autumn is still fully exposed to the following year’s assessment, which is why waiting indefinitely to invest rarely helps.
Q: Should I use accumulating or distributing UCITS ETFs for an inherited lump sum?
A: Accumulating share classes, which reinvest dividends automatically, are generally simpler to manage for Dutch investors since you are not tracking manual reinvestment. The Box 3 assessment applies to the fund’s value either way, so the choice is mainly about convenience and cost rather than a large tax difference.
This guide is part of our hub on investing a windfall, inheritance or payout — browse the full cluster for related situations.
European UCITS/ETF investor with 11+ years building a global dividend and index portfolio, and founder of Financial Expert Class. I write every guide here from first-hand experience investing across EU brokers and tax regimes — not theory. More about me →