Gold in box 3: what do the Dutch box 3 plans mean for your gold and silver?

Anyone holding gold in box 3 may face two different systems in the coming years. In February 2026, the House of Representatives approved the Real Return in Box 3 Act, which is now before the Senate. The government wants to amend that act, but the Council of State is highly critical. For 2026, nothing changes.

In this article you will read what currently applies to gold and silver in box 3, what the plans for 2027 and beyond involve, why physical precious metals are treated differently from a gold ETF in those plans, and what to keep in mind while the political decision is pending.

Box 3 applies to residents of the Netherlands, and in certain cases to non-residents with Dutch assets. If you live elsewhere, please check the rules of your own tax authority.

Whether and in what form these plans proceed depends on ongoing tax package negotiations and subsequent approval by the House of Representatives and the Senate. We will update this page as soon as further details emerge.

What currently applies to gold and silver in box 3?

As long as no new system has been introduced, your precious metals fall under the current box 3 system based on an assumed return. The Dutch Tax Administration applies a fixed percentage to your assets rather than looking at the actual price development of your gold or silver. Physical precious metals fall into the category of 'other assets'.

In addition, the counter-evidence scheme applies. If you can demonstrate that your actual return was lower than the assumed percentage, you can ask the Tax Administration to use that lower figure. This scheme remains in place as long as the new system has not taken effect, which means it also applies to the 2027 tax year.

What you declare is the value of your precious metals on the reference date of 1 January. For that valuation you can consult our page on the annual reference value of investment gold.

The government intends to transition Box 3 taxation from a deemed (fictitious) return to an actual return system. In recent years, many investors perceived the wealth tax as unjust, resulting in numerous legal challenges. Consequently, a proposal has been drafted to tax you on the actual gains generated by your wealth rather than on a statutory assumed yield.

Under the current transitional bridging regime, precious metals are categorized as "other assets." The Dutch Tax and Customs Administration (Belastingdienst) applies a fixed deemed return percentage to this category. You pay tax based on that percentage, regardless of whether the price of gold surged by 15% or dropped during that tax year.

Two tracks: taxation upon sale and capital accrual tax

The government's proposal outlines two distinct tracks depending on the asset class:

• Capital gains tax starting in 2028: applicable to equities, bonds, ETFs, other financial instruments, and real estate. You will only pay tax at the moment of liquidation/sale. Gold ETFs also fall under this regime.
• Capital accrual tax projected until 2030: applicable to physical precious metals, direct cryptocurrency holdings, and bank deposits. Under this mechanism, you pay annual tax on unrealized capital appreciation, even if you do not sell any assets. The government anticipates transitioning these assets to the capital gains regime by 2030 as well.

This distinction serves a practical purpose: according to the government, IT systems at the Tax Administration and commercial banks cannot process all asset classes simultaneously by 2028. However, this remains a legislative proposal. It still requires parliamentary approval from the House of Representatives and the Senate, and on November 2, 2026, the Council of State (Raad van State) advised against proceeding with the proposal in its current form.

What the capital accrual tax means for your gold

If the proposal is enacted, physical gold and silver will be subject to the capital accrual tax until at least 2030. The mechanics function as follows:

• Two reference valuation dates: the Tax Administration calculates your return by comparing the valuation of your precious metals on January 1 against their valuation on December 31 of the same tax year.
• Taxation on paper gains: if your gold or silver appreciates in value during that calendar year, the tax authority treats that appreciation as taxable return, even if you haven't liquidated any metal. Consequently, you pay tax on unrealized paper gains.
• The tax rate: the draft bill includes a proposed tax rate of 36%, levied on capital appreciation after deducting the tax-free return allowance.
• Exclusively capital gains: while equities yield dividends and cash deposits generate interest, physical precious metals yield no intermediate income. For gold and silver, taxable returns are driven entirely by price movements.

For many long-term investors, taxing unrealized paper gains feels counterintuitive: you are paying cash taxes in euros on price appreciation that remains stored as physical bars or coins in your vault. Should this levy take effect, maintaining adequate liquid cash reserves alongside your precious metals is advisable, ensuring you can satisfy tax assessments in strong gold years without needing to liquidate physical metal.

From tax-free wealth allowance to tax-free result

In the current system, you benefit as an investor from a tax-free wealth allowance. You only pay tax in Box 3 if your total wealth exceeds a certain threshold (in 2026, for example, this is € 59,357without a fiscal partner).

This familiar system will disappear in the new bill for 2028. Because the Tax Authorities will soon no longer look at the total size of your wealth, but purely at the return you achieve on it, the exemption is also changing.

The tax-free wealth allowance will be replaced by a tax-free result.

• The threshold values: The bill assumes a tax-free return of € 1,000 per person, and € 2,000 for tax partners. These amounts are not fixed as long as the bill has not been passed.
• How it works: This simply means that you pay no tax on the first € 1,000 of realized actual return (or paper accrual). Only when the increase in value of your gold or silver in a calendar year is higher than this threshold, will you pay tax on the excess.

Gold in Box 3: how the capital accrual tax works

When the new system definitively comes into effect in 2028, as an investor in physical precious metals you will face the capital accrual tax. This system differs fundamentally from the way the tax authorities deal with your savings account or your own home (Box 1), for example. It is important to understand how this works in practice for your coins or bars.

The core of the capital accrual tax is that you are not only taxed on regular income, but also on the value development of your assets in a given year.

No regular income, only price gains

When calculating the actual return, the Tax Authorities look at two components:

• Regular income: Think of interest, dividends, or rental income.
• Value development (accrual): The increase or decrease in the market value between January 1 and December 31.

For physical precious metals, whether you own gold coins, silver bars, or platinum, an important characteristic applies: it generates no regular income. You do not receive dividends or interest on your precious metal. As a result, the taxation in Box 3 for this investment category revolves exclusively around the second component: the annual price development.

How is the accrual calculated?

The Tax Authorities look at the value of your total precious metals portfolio on January 1 of the calendar year and compare this with the value on December 31.

• Has the value increased? Then this difference is seen as your realized return (your 'accrual') in that year.
• Tax on unrealized profit: The crucial point of this system is that you pay tax on this increase in value, regardless of whether you have sold the precious metal. You are thus settling on paper profit.

This applies to all forms of physical precious metals, whether it involves bullion coins like the silver Maple Leaf or gold bars of a kilo. The tax authorities make no distinction in this.

A calculation example for precious metals in Box 3 (2028)

To make the impact concrete, we use a simplified calculation example based on the current bill (which includes a tax-free result of € 1,800 and a tax rate of 36%).

Please note: the example below is based on the bill as it currently stands before the Senate, with a tax-free return of € 1,800 and a rate of 36%. If the bill is amended, the outcome will change. Use it as an illustration of how the system works, not as a calculation of what you would actually pay.

Suppose you own a portfolio of gold and silver pieces worth € 80,000 on January 1, 2028.

• Valuation: On December 31, 2028, the price of precious metals has risen considerably. Your portfolio is now worth € 88,000.
• Return (accrual): Your actual return in that year is the increase in value: € 8,000.
• Exemption: From this return, you may deduct the proposed tax-free result (assuming fiscal partnership): € 8,000 - € 3,600 = € 4,400.
• Tax: On the remaining amount of € 4,400, you pay the proposed rate of 36% income tax.
• Tax payable in Box 3: In this scenario, you pay € 1,584 in tax on the increase in value of your precious metal.

Please note: this is separate from taxes upon purchase. You can find more information about this on our page regarding the taxation of precious metals.

The government wants to move box 3 from an assumed return to the actual return; for physical gold, the details are still uncertain.

Is physical gold taxed differently than a gold ETF?

Under the new proposal; yes, between 2028 and expectedly 2030. A gold ETF is a financial instrument and would fall under the capital gains tax starting in 2028: you only pay tax when you sell. Physical gold and silver temporarily remain subject to the capital accrual tax in the proposal, under which you pay annual tax on unrealized price appreciation, even if you do not sell anything.

During that period, this represents a tax disadvantage for owners of physical precious metals. This discrepancy disappears if precious metals also transition to the capital gains tax regime from 2030 onwards, as the cabinet anticipates. Furthermore, the proposal has not yet been enacted, and the Council of State has advised against proceeding with it in its current form.

A gold ETF also differs from physical gold in other respects, such as direct ownership and counterparty risk. You can read more about this in our guide on gold ETFs. If you are uncertain about how this impacts your personal tax situation, please consult a qualified tax advisor.

Much anger over tax on 'paper profit'

The new bill for Box 3 is causing a storm of criticism among investors, tax advisors, and in politics. The fuss revolves almost exclusively around the choice for the capital accrual tax for illiquid investments such as physical precious metals. The tax authorities will soon demand tax on money that has been earned on paper, but has not yet been realized.

The liquidity problem

You typically buy physical gold and silver for the long term. Does the gold price rise significantly in a calendar year? Then that is a wonderful return. However, the Tax Authorities do demand a payment in hard euros on that unrealized profit at the end of that year.

Have you fully locked up your wealth in precious metals and have insufficient free savings? Then in theory, you are forced to sell a portion of your gold purely to be able to pay the tax assessment. To many investors, this feels unjust and contrary to the idea of wealth preservation.

The call for a capital gains tax

Critics therefore strongly advocate for a capital gains tax. Under this, you only pay tax at the moment you actually sell your gold. Although the House of Representatives recently passed motions to investigate this system in the long term (towards 2029 or later), the reality for 2028 is different.

Due to limitations in the IT systems of the Tax Authorities, the tax on paper profit is for now the bitter pill that the precious metals investor will have to swallow.

What happens in the event of a decrease in the value of gold or silver?

Precious metals are market-dependent and inevitably experience peaks and valleys in their price trend. What happens under the new legislation if the gold or silver price falls in a calendar year and your portfolio is worth less on December 31 than on January 1?

The positive news is that the proposed system for Box 3 finally offers the possibility of loss offset (verliesverrekening). This is a fundamental difference from the current (and previous) system, where you had to pay tax on a fictitious positive return, even if your investments had actually fallen sharply in value.

How does loss offset work?

If the value of your precious metals portfolio falls over the calendar year, you realize a negative return (a negative accrual). From a tax perspective, you do not lose this loss.

• Dampening future profits: You may carry this loss forward to the future. For example, did you suffer a loss in 2028 due to a falling silver price? Then you can deduct this loss from your positive return in 2029 (or later years). As a result, you pay less tax on balance in those future, good years.
• The threshold: Do note that the bill includes a threshold amount to limit the administrative burden for the Tax Authorities. For the time being, this threshold is set at € 500. Losses (or profits) below this amount are disregarded for tax purposes.

What does this mean for your precious metals?

For now, nothing changes in the way your gold and silver are taxed. The current system remains in place, including the counter-evidence scheme, and this also applies to the 2027 tax year. At the same time, the new system has not disappeared: the bill is still before the Senate, and the government is expected to present new proposals with the Spring Memorandum of 2027. If a decision takes longer, the accompanying documents indicate a delay of at least a year.

That uncertainty makes planning ahead difficult, but one principle remains useful. Should a tax on unrealised gains ever arrive, it is helpful to hold sufficient free savings alongside your precious metals. That is a sound starting point in any case for an asset you would rather not sell off in parts.

Physical gold and silver are usually not bought for the short term, but to spread your assets over ten, twenty or thirty years. A change in the calculation method in box 3 does not alter the reason you hold precious metals. We follow developments closely and will update this page as soon as new decisions are taken.