Four things you need to know before you decide anything. They sound technical, but together they determine thousands of euros.
Inheritance tax is based on the WOZ value (the municipal property valuation) minus the mortgage debt, not on the sale price. You may choose between the WOZ value for the year of death and the one for the following year. Choose the lower one. If you then sell above that value, it costs no extra inheritance tax.
For inheritance tax, the starting point is the WOZ value (the municipal property valuation), not the market value. The mortgage debt may be deducted from that WOZ value.
You may choose between two WOZ values: the one for the year of death and the one for the following year. Choose the lower one, as that is the most favourable. So if someone dies in 2026, you choose between the 2026 WOZ value and the 2027 WOZ value.
How much you end up paying depends not only on the WOZ, but also on your relationship to the deceased and the exemption that goes with it. A partner has a considerably higher exemption than a child, and a child in turn a higher one than a nephew or niece. So don't calculate with the WOZ alone. The current amounts are published by the Belastingdienst (the Dutch Tax Administration).
This is where a problem arises. You only receive the WOZ value for the year after death from the municipality the year after that. Your inheritance tax return must be filed within eight months. So you often don't know that second value yet when you file.
The Belastingdienst says: in that case, file using the WOZ value for the year of death. If it later turns out that the value for the following year is lower, you may still lodge an objection (bezwaar). Even after the usual six-week deadline.
Everyone knows the rule that you have six weeks to object. Here it does not apply. Anyone who doesn't know this thinks they are too late and pays too much. That is no small sum: in a falling market, the one-year difference can easily mean thousands of euros in inheritance tax.
If you sell the home for 380,000 while the WOZ value used was 320,000, inheritance tax is calculated on that 320,000. The difference is not additional taxable gain for inheritance tax purposes.
This is why selling in a rising market often works out better than holding on to the home.
A sale is only possible if all heirs sign. One who refuses blocks the whole thing. In practice, that is rarely unwillingness and almost always an information problem: someone thinks the home is worth more, or wants it for themselves.
If you really cannot agree, the court can decide that the home is to be sold, or that one of the heirs takes it over at the estimated value. That is a heavy route and rarely necessary.
Note the difference: for the Belastingdienst, the WOZ value is mandatory. Among yourselves, you may agree on a different value for the division. Those are two different amounts that often get confused.
The inheritance tax return must be filed within eight months. Selling the home has no deadline. There is no reason whatsoever to decide within six weeks, and the decisions made within those six weeks are rarely the best ones.
There are exceptions where you do not use the WOZ value:
As an heir, you may also object to the WOZ value, even if the deceased never did. That objection goes to the municipality, not to the Belastingdienst.
Three children, a home in Helmond-Noord, and four months without speaking to each other. The youngest thought the home was worth €400,000, the eldest thought €300,000. They were both wrong. A half-hour valuation, a one-hour conversation, and three weeks later it was on the market. The problem was never the money. It was that nobody had a figure everyone trusted.
On the WOZ value, minus the mortgage debt. If you then sell above that value, the difference is not additional taxable gain for inheritance tax purposes.
The one for the year of death or the one for the following year. The lower of the two is the most favourable. So for a death in 2026, you choose between the 2026 WOZ value and the 2027 WOZ value.
File using the value for the year of death. If it later turns out the other value is lower, you may still object, even after the six-week deadline.
There is no deadline for that. Only the inheritance tax return has a deadline, of eight months. The home can wait until you are ready.
A sale is only possible if everyone signs. It is usually stuck on a different view of the value, not on unwillingness. A joint, independent valuation often solves that. If that doesn't work, the court can make a decision.
Yes. Towards the Belastingdienst, the WOZ value is mandatory, but for the division among yourselves you may use the actual value.
Yes, even if the deceased never did. The objection goes to the municipality.
Then separate rules apply. With ground lease (erfpacht), you may reduce the WOZ value by 17 times the annual ground rent. For rented-out homes there is a separate calculation method.
We are the estate agent of Helmond and we do things just a little differently. We take a look with you, run the numbers and tell you honestly what we would do. Even if that means you should hold off for now.
Your language. We speak English, German and French. Write to us in Polish by WhatsApp and we reply in Polish.
No surprises in the contract. The purchase agreement is in Dutch and comes with an English translation, so you understand every clause.
Selling from abroad. We guide the whole sale remotely and arrange the paperwork with the notary.
