Dutch Tax Authority sets record with nearly 10.7 million tax returns filed

The Belastingdienst, the Dutch Tax Authority, received a record nearly 10.7 million tax returns from individuals and entrepreneurs before the May 1 deadline, surpassing the previous record of more than 10.5 million set last year. More than 3 million people who missed the deadline requested extensions.

Steef Cobben, the Belastingdienst’s manager of income tax, described the filing season as good progress. He credited the agency’s efforts to simplify the process.

“We are trying to make filing a return increasingly easier, for example, by pre-filling data and referring people to help,” Cobben said.

Requests for free support also rose, with more than 53,000 appointments made this year compared with more than 51,000 last year. About 65 percent of those appointments took place in person at a tax office or support point. “We see that people are finding our help better and better,” Cobben added.