The road tax refund after a sale is automatic, and that is the whole problem. Automatic means the Belastingdienst works the sum out, decides when to pay it and sends it to the account number it already holds for you. Nobody at that end checks whether the account is still open.
So if you are selling the car on your way out of the Netherlands, the refund is not the thing to worry about. The landing strip is.
What the Belastingdienst does on its own
Road tax (motorrijtuigenbelasting) stops being yours from the moment the RDW register no longer shows the car in your name. Tax you had paid beyond that point comes back without you asking for it, and it makes no difference whether you were paying by direct debit or by quarterly bill.
Overpaid road tax reaches you within eight weeks. Very small amounts are not paid out at all, and a car on the oldtimer transitional scheme produces no refund on sale. Our guide to road tax when your car changes hands covers the calculation side of it.
Eight weeks is the number to plan around. Most people closing a Dutch account are closing it inside that window.
There are two account numbers, and two procedures
The Belastingdienst keeps the account it collects from separate from the account it pays into, and changing one for road tax is not the same job as changing the other.
If you pay road tax by direct debit, the change runs through the Belastingdienst overview of payments and receipts, or over the phone with the BelastingTelefoon Auto, who will send out a mandate form. If you do not pay by direct debit, a private individual downloads the form for notifying an account number, prints it, signs it and posts it.
Either way, the account has to be in your own name, and it has to be a payment account. A savings account will not be accepted. A confirmation letter follows within three weeks once the change has gone through.
A foreign account number goes by post, with enclosures
This is the part people underestimate, because none of it happens with a few clicks. A private individual giving the Belastingdienst a foreign account number writes a letter, and the letter has to state:
- your name, and your address with postcode, town and country
- your citizen service number (BSN)
- which tax the account number is for, which here is the road tax
- the new account number and the BIC code of your bank
- the name the account is held in, and the country the bank is in
- your signature
Two things go in the envelope with it: a copy of valid identification, and a bank statement showing your name next to the account number. Neither may be more than two months old. It goes to the Belastingdienst, Centrale administratieve processen, Unit Registreren, Postbus 2570, 6401 DB Heerlen, and a confirmation letter comes back within three weeks.
Read that list again with your own calendar beside it. A letter that has to be printed, signed and posted, with a photocopy of your passport in it, is not a job for the week you are flying.
The bank switching service does not reach the tax administration
Worth knowing before you assume it is handled. If you move to a new bank and use its switching service (Overstapservice), the Belastingdienst says that this does not change the account number in its records. The redirection your bank arranges is a private arrangement between banks. The tax administration keeps paying into whatever number you last told it.
The order that keeps the money visible
Sequence matters more than speed here, and the sequence runs backwards from the eight weeks.
- Sell the car first, and keep the proof of transfer (vrijwaringsbewijs). The date on it is the date the refund is calculated from.
- File the new account number while you are still in the Netherlands, with a working printer and a post box within walking distance.
- Wait for the confirmation letter. Until that letter exists, the Belastingdienst still holds the old number.
- Keep the Dutch account open, even empty, until the refund has actually arrived in the new one.
- When you deregister at the municipality (gemeente), give your address abroad, so that every letter about this follows you.
- Pay anything still open for the weeks before the transfer. That period was yours and the bill for it does not shrink.
Step four is the one people skip. Closing a Dutch current account is free and final, and it tends to happen on the same afternoon as the last rent payment.
Where the letters go once you have gone
Your address reaches the Belastingdienst through the municipality. You do not file it with them yourself. When you deregister and name your new foreign address, you are entered in the non-residents part of the population register, the RNI, and the tax administration receives the address automatically. If the address abroad is not settled yet, you can supply it later through the RNI, which needs DigiD.
Which is why the same page tells emigrants to make sure their DigiD works before they leave the Netherlands. A refund letter you cannot read, about an account you no longer have, is the version of this that goes wrong.
If the Dutch account has already closed and the refund is still owing, do not sit and watch. Send the new details with the registration number and the transfer date on them, and ring the BelastingTelefoon Auto to say what has happened.
If the car is still sitting on the drive while all of this runs, ask us for an offer and get the transfer date fixed, since every other date here is counted from it.
Frequently asked questions
Will the Belastingdienst pay a road tax refund into a foreign account?
Yes, provided you have given them the account number in the way they ask for it. For a private individual that means a signed letter with your BSN, the account number, the BIC code and the account holder name, plus a copy of your identification and a recent bank statement.
Can I file a foreign account number online?
No. The online route covers Dutch account numbers. A foreign one goes by post to the Unit Registreren in Heerlen, and you should allow three weeks for the confirmation letter.
How long should I keep my Dutch account open?
Until the money has landed somewhere else. The Belastingdienst gives eight weeks for overpaid road tax to be returned, and that clock starts from the transfer, not from the day you decide to leave.
Do I need to cancel my direct debit before I sell?
No. The refund is calculated and paid whether or not you pay by direct debit. Cancelling the mandate does nothing except remove the route they use to collect anything still owing for the period before the sale.
My bank is switching my accounts for me. Is that enough?
No. The Belastingdienst states that the switching service does not change the account number held in its records. You have to notify the new number yourself.
What if the refund is tiny?
Then it may never appear. Very small amounts are not paid out, and cars on the oldtimer transitional scheme get no road tax back on sale at all. Check which case applies before chasing it across a border.