OZB: the Dutch property tax bill homeowners actually pay

Once a year, every homeowner in the Netherlands gets a letter from their municipality with a number on it that has nothing to do with the Belastingdienst. That's OZB, onroerendezaakbelasting, a local property tax that funds your municipality directly, not the national government. It's often confused with the eigenwoningforfait on your income tax return, but the two are calculated completely differently and paid to different places entirely.

If you own a home in the Netherlands and live in it, you pay the eigenarenbelasting (owner's levy) portion of OZB. Renters don't pay OZB on the home they live in, that changed in 2006 when the gebruikersbelasting (user's levy) was abolished for residential occupants. It still applies to non-residential property, so businesses renting commercial space typically pay both the owner's and user's portion, split between landlord and tenant.

Your OZB bill is your home's WOZ value (the same official value used for the eigenwoningforfait, assessed annually by your municipality) multiplied by a percentage your municipality sets for itself every year, entirely independent of the national government or of neighbouring towns. That independence is exactly why two nearly identical homes, a short drive apart but in different municipalities, can owe noticeably different amounts.

For 2026, the national average owner's rate sits around 0.0968% of WOZ value, but individual municipalities range roughly from about 0.06% at the low end to 0.15% or more at the high end, a gap of more than double between the cheapest and priciest towns. See Vastelastenbond: OZB per gemeente for a municipality-by-municipality breakdown.

OZB usually arrives bundled with other municipal and regional charges on the same combined assessment (aanslag gemeentelijke belastingen): things like the afvalstoffenheffing (waste collection levy) and rioolheffing (sewage levy), plus a separate waterschapsbelasting from your regional water authority that isn't part of the municipal bill at all. OZB is specifically the percentage-of-WOZ-value line, the rest are flat or usage-based fees that happen to show up around the same time of year.

We don't calculate OZB itself, since it depends on a municipal rate table that changes every year for every one of roughly 340 municipalities. What our property tax calculator does calculate is the WOZ value lookup and the resulting eigenwoningforfait, the number both your OZB bill and your income tax return start from. Enter your address, get your official WOZ value, then apply your own municipality's published OZB percentage to that same figure for your actual bill.

Is OZB the same as the eigenwoningforfait?

No. Both use your home's WOZ value, but OZB is a real cash bill from your municipality at a rate that municipality sets itself, while the eigenwoningforfait is a notional amount added to your national income tax return at one fixed rate set by the government.

Do renters pay OZB?

Not on the home they live in. The user's levy on residential property was abolished in 2006. Only owners pay OZB on a residential home; the user's levy still applies to non-residential (commercial) property.

Why do OZB rates differ so much between municipalities?

Each Dutch municipality sets its own OZB percentage independently every year, with no national rate. For 2026, rates range from roughly 0.06% to 0.15%-plus of WOZ value depending on the municipality, more than double between the cheapest and most expensive.

How do I find my own OZB rate?

Your municipality publishes its OZB percentage annually, usually on its own website or in the explanatory notes attached to your combined aanslag gemeentelijke belastingen. Multiply your home's WOZ value by that percentage for your owner's levy.