Suppose you or your partner weren't eligible for the 2020 income tax return deferral scheme. Therefore, you filed your tax return online on time. Then you realize you've forgotten or overlooked something. What now?

Oops… You submitted your 2020 income tax return and made a mistake or forgot to apply something. Can you still amend the return, and if so, how?

As long as the 2020 income tax assessment is not final, you can still amend your tax return online. Once the 2020 income tax assessment becomes final, you will be subject to the rules for ex officio reduction. This means that it will no longer be possible to amend your income tax return in all cases.

Don’t panic, here’s what you do…

Six weeks after the date. As long as the 2020 income tax assessment is not yet final, you can still amend your tax return online. An assessment becomes final once the period for objections, appeals, and appeals to the Supreme Court has expired. This period expires six weeks after the date of the final assessment.

Term has expired. Once the 2020 income tax assessment becomes final, you will be subject to the rules for ex officio reduction (Article 9.6 of the Income Tax Act 2001). This means that it is no longer possible to amend the income tax return in all cases.

No official reduction. For example, the inspector will no longer grant an official reduction if five years have passed after the end of the calendar year to which the tax assessment relates or if you have not applied for a tax facility in time.

Example. In 2020, it's still possible to automatically reduce an assessment for the 2015 tax year. For the 2014 tax year, you're too late.

Check yourself or consult your advisor. For a complete overview of situations in which an official reduction is not permitted, please refer to Article 45aa of the Income Tax Implementation Decree 2001 or consult your advisor.

Tax facility

A tax facility is a scheme you can choose to use, such as the investment deduction, addition to the retirement reserve, or the division of joint income components between you and your tax partner. Under Article 45aa (section d, Implementation Regulation IB 2001), these tax facilities are excluded from automatic tax reduction. Tip 1. Tax facilities, such as the self-employed persons' deduction, starters' deduction and discontinuation deduction, are not excluded from official reduction. Tip 2. However, there's an exception to the investment deduction. If you forgot to opt for the investment deduction in a particular year when filing your tax return, you can still request an official reduction, even though the assessment for that year is final.

This means that the term commences after the end of the year in which the investment deduction could have been taken into account, even if the investment took place in an earlier year (BLKB 2014/106M). .

Income components of you and your partner

If you have divided joint income components (such as personal deductions, taxable income from owner-occupied property, the joint savings and investment basis, or the dividend tax levied) between you and your tax partner when filing your income tax return, you can amend the return until your assessment and that of your tax partner are final (Section 2.17, paragraph 4, Income Tax Act 2001). If the tax return involves a reduction of an irrevocable assessment, the tax inspector will assess the request. Therefore, they are not required to approve it.