🇳🇱 The Netherlands has announced a 36% tax on UNREALIZED Capital gains.
The rule applies to stocks, ETFs, savings, and crypto. Each year, the government looks at how much your portfolio value increased and taxes that gain at 36%.
Here’s how it works:
If someone invests €100K and by year end the portfolio rises to €140K, they owe tax on the €40K profit even if they didn’t sell anything or take cash out.
After the €1,800 tax free threshold, the taxable gain becomes €38,200. At 36%, that equals €13,752 in tax paid, even though no cash was taken out of the market.
Now imagine the next year markets crash and the same portfolio drops to €60K.
The investor has already paid tax on Year 1 gains but the portfolio is now €40K below the original €100K investment.
No tax is paid in Year 2 because the portfolio fell.
But a €80K loss carry forward is created (from €140K down to €60K). Now extend this one more year:
If the portfolio rises from €60K to €110K, the investor’s portfolio is now above the original €100K investment on paper.
But because there is still €30K of unused carry forward losses left, no tax is paid in Year 3.
3-year outcome:
Original investment: €100K
Year 1 tax paid: €13,752
Year 2 tax paid: €0
Year 3 tax paid: €0
Total taxes paid: €13,752
Portfolio value: €110K
Real net capital after taxes: €96,248
So even though the portfolio shows a €10K profit on paper, the investor is still below the original €100K after taxes already paid earlier.
This creates forced selling risk because investors may need to liquidate assets just to pay taxes on paper gains.
And history shows aggressive capital taxes often trigger capital flight, France saw €200B leave before scrapping its wealth tax, Sweden and Denmark abolished similar systems, and Norway is already seeing wealthy residents relocate after recent tax hikes.
Now the Netherlands is attempting one of the most aggressive unrealized gain tax systems globally.
Few points.
Losses can be carried forward to offset future gains, but no refunds are issued on prior years’ unrealized gains.
It still requires Senate approval before becoming law.If approved by the Senate, the law is scheduled to take effect January 1, 2028
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