If your study costs are business-related, they are deductible. But which study costs are business-related? We help you.
Costs in the interest of your company
That is the case if you incur the costs in the interest of your own company. These costs are only deductible if you incur them to maintain existing professional knowledge.
Do you want to acquire new knowledge, retrain for a new profession or take a new direction? Then the costs are not deductible as business expenses. This is seen as a personal investment.
Expats often try to claim the Dutch language course as business expenses. Unfortunately the Court decided that a Dutch language course is too general to be treated as education costs. According to the Court the ability to speak and understand Dutch is a necessity to function as a ‘normal’ resident in the Netherlands in general, and not just for work.
And as your Bookies we would wish for it to be different, but we do understand it. Have you ever seen an only in Dutch written letter by The Tax Authorities :(
The boundary between 'maintaining existing knowledge' and 'acquiring new knowledge' is difficult to indicate. Are you in doubt? Contact your Bookies.
Study costs that you incur privately
Since 2022, it is no longer possible to deduct study costs in the personal part of your tax return. Instead, every Dutch person receives a study budget of €1,000 per year. The STAP budget. This will be paid directly to the recognized institutes where you will follow the training, so you will have to pay less net. The scheme will run through the UWV:
https://www.uwv.nl/particulieren/stap-budget/detail/ik-wil-een-opleiding-volgen-met-stap
The step arrangement will end on January 1, 2024.