Eigenwoningforfait is an amount the Dutch tax authority adds to your taxable income because you own the home you live in, on the reasoning that living in your own property is a benefit worth taxing. In 2026 it is 0.35% of your WOZ value for homes valued between €75,000 and €1,350,000 — €1,400 a year on a €400,000 house. Above €1,350,000 the rate is €4,725 plus 2.35% of the excess. You deduct mortgage interest against it, capped at 37.56% regardless of your income bracket, which for most owners with a mortgage still leaves a net deduction. Owners who have repaid their mortgage rely on the Wet Hillen relief, which covers 71.867% of the difference in 2026 and is now being withdrawn 4.8 percentage points a year — bringing full taxation forward from 2048 to 2041. The WOZ value used is the one dated 1 January of the previous year.
Eigenwoningforfait is an amount the Dutch tax authority adds to your taxable income simply because you own the home you live in. The reasoning is that living in your own property is a benefit, so it is taxed as if it produced income. In 2026 it is 0.35% of your WOZ value for homes between €75,000 and €1,350,000 — €1,400 a year on a €400,000 house. You then deduct your mortgage interest against it, which for most owners with a mortgage still leaves a net deduction. For owners who have repaid their mortgage, the picture is changing fast.
What it is, and why it exists
Your own home (eigen woning) sits in Box 1, the same box as your salary. The Dutch system treats home ownership as producing a notional benefit — you live somewhere without paying rent — and taxes that benefit. That notional benefit is the eigenwoningforfait, and it is added to your income before tax is calculated.
Against it you may deduct the mortgage interest you paid. For most owners the interest still exceeds the forfait, so the net effect is a deduction rather than a charge. The forfait is best understood not as a separate bill but as a reduction of the mortgage-interest benefit.
The 2026 rates
| WOZ value | Eigenwoningforfait 2026 |
|---|---|
| Up to €75,000 | Reduced rates apply on a sliding scale |
| €75,000 – €1,350,000 | 0.35% of the WOZ value |
| Above €1,350,000 | €4,725 + 2.35% of the amount above €1,350,000 |
The percentages are unchanged from 2025; the villatarief threshold rose to €1,350,000.
| Your WOZ value | Added to taxable income | Roughly costs you |
|---|---|---|
| €300,000 | €1,050 | ~€394 of tax |
| €400,000 | €1,400 | ~€526 of tax |
| €550,000 | €1,925 | ~€723 of tax |
| €800,000 | €2,800 | ~€1,052 of tax |
“Roughly costs you” assumes the forfait is taxed at the 37.56% bracket. Your actual figure depends on your income and on the mortgage interest you deduct against it.
Mortgage interest deduction: capped at 37.56%
Since 2023 the mortgage-interest deduction has been limited to the rate of the first Box 1 bracket, regardless of what you earn. In 2026 that cap is 37.56%, up very slightly from 37.48% in 2025.
In practice: if your income falls in the 49.50% top bracket, you still only deduct interest at 37.56%. The tax authority applies a correction for the difference. A high earner and a middle earner now receive the same proportional benefit from the same mortgage — a deliberate flattening of what used to favour higher incomes substantially.
Wet Hillen: the deduction for owners without a mortgage
If you have repaid your mortgage, or repaid most of it, you would otherwise pay tax on the full forfait with nothing to deduct against it — a tax bill for the achievement of being debt-free. The Wet Hillen was introduced to offset that, and it is now being phased out.
For 2026 the relief covers 71.867% of the difference between your forfait and your deductible costs, down from 76.667% in 2025. More significantly, the Belastingplan 2026 accelerated the phase-out: the relief now falls by 4.8 percentage points a year instead of 3.33, which brings full taxation forward from 2048 to 2041.
Worked example: a paid-off home
WOZ value €350,000, no mortgage. The forfait is 0.35% × €350,000 = €1,225. Wet Hillen relief covers €881 of it, leaving €344 added to taxable income.
Under the old phase-out schedule that residual amount would have grown slowly to 2048. Under the accelerated one it reaches the full €1,225 by 2041. If you are planning to repay your mortgage early, this is a real change to the arithmetic — worth modelling before you decide.
Practical points
Which WOZ value applies
The forfait uses the WOZ value with a reference date of 1 January of the previous year. So your 2026 tax return uses the WOZ value dated 1 January 2025. This is also why a successful WOZ objection is worth more than it first appears: it reduces the forfait as well as your municipal taxes.
Part-year ownership
Buy or sell mid-year and the forfait is apportioned to the days you owned the property. The notary’s completion statement is the reference point.
It only applies to your main residence
One property at a time. A second home, a holiday house or a rental sits in Box 3 instead, where a different and generally heavier regime applies — an assumed 6.00% return taxed at 36%. If you move out and let your former home, it leaves Box 1 and the mortgage interest on it stops being deductible.
Where the direction of travel points
Two long-running trends meet in this article. The interest deduction has been progressively capped, and Wet Hillen relief is being withdrawn faster than originally legislated. Both reduce the tax advantage of owner-occupation, and both particularly affect people who repay their mortgages rather than maintaining them for the deduction.
All figures here are the 2026 position. This is an area where secondary sources are unusually unreliable — several circulating summaries quote the 2025 Hillen percentage or a superseded villatarief threshold. Check the Belastingdienst directly, and take advice before making a repayment decision on the strength of any of it.
