A 2025 Annuity Can Disrupt a Founder’s 2026 Year-End

The wider Dutch rule starts too late for older expiries, bringing tax, cash and governance into one decision.

An old annuity policy lies beside a provider’s letter and several historic tax returns. Its owner remembers arranging it during busy entrepreneurial years, when retirement planning competed with wages, customers and bank payments.

Now the policy has expired, but the payment terms remain unsettled. The date on the contract suddenly matters more than the good intentions around it.

The Belastingdienst Knowledge Group clarified the position on 21 September 2026. Where a life-contingent annuity contractually expired in 2025, the statutory deadline is 31 December 2026. By then, the payment terms must be fixed or the entitlement converted into another qualifying annuity.

That answer is narrow. Its consequences reach further. A missed date can affect private income tax, available cash and decisions around an owner-managed business. The policy may sit outside the BV accounts, yet the resulting tax pressure can quickly reach the company’s door.

The date that starts the clock

Article 3.133(3) of the Dutch Income Tax Act 2001 changed on 1 January 2026. Under the general rule for expiries from 2026, the deadline links to the calendar year after the taxpayer reaches an age five years above the state pension age.

A contract that expired in 2025 falls under the earlier wording. That rule takes the contractual expiry date as its starting point. Processing the policy during 2026 leaves it a 2025-expiry case.

This is a familiar administrative trap. People organise work by the year in which they pick up a file. Tax law may organise the same matter by the year in which a contractual event occurred. Those are different calendars, and confusing them can change the financial result.

The age of the contract matters too. Certain Brede Herwaardering and pre-Brede Herwaardering annuities have specific transitional treatment under a Belastingdienst decision from March 2026. An older policy deserves identification by its actual terms and history, rather than treatment as a standard modern product.

Private tax can reach business cash

When the deadline passes without a completed payment arrangement or qualifying conversion, the annuity receives deemed surrender treatment. Its value can enter box 1. Where all premiums or contributions were deducted, the full taxable surrender amount is included.

Revisional interest may also arise. It is generally capped at 20 per cent, although the outcome depends on the arrangement and any applicable exception.

This is where a private retirement matter can become a company concern. The BV does not owe the owner’s annuity tax. Yet a founder facing an unexpected assessment may reconsider a dividend, increase a private withdrawal, postpone an investment or seek liquidity through another properly structured route.

A lender may see a different household position. So may a spouse who expected the annuity to provide regular future income. Tax treatment can concentrate the financial effect into one year while the family planned around gradual payments.

The question is wider than whether the paperwork is nearly finished. What private tax exposure is taking shape, and which business decision may eventually supply the cash?

Good administration starts with ownership

The necessary records often sit in different places. The contract may be in a home folder, amendments in an insurer’s portal, payment evidence with a bank and deduction history inside old income tax returns. An adviser may hold only part of the correspondence.

That fragmentation creates a control weakness, even when every document exists somewhere.

A useful review starts with the contractual expiry date and the applicable annuity regime. It then follows the decision itself. Have the payment terms been fixed? Has a qualifying conversion been completed? Which dated records confirm that position?

The premium history matters as well. Which premiums were deducted, and were any contributions left undeducted? That distinction can affect the taxable amount.

The Belastingdienst may require a declaration concerning non-deducted premiums or contributions. Policies, payment records, returns and assessments can support that declaration. For an arrangement that reaches back many years, memory is a poor substitute for a proper record.

Where special circumstances prevented timely completion, the taxpayer can request an extension from the relevant tax office. The request should set out the circumstances and include supporting documents. Extra time follows from a decision on that request, rather than from an unfinished provider process alone.

The calendar deserves a real decision

Return to the policy on the table. Its owner does not need a grand tax project. The immediate need is a reliable answer to a few connected questions: what expired, when did it expire, what arrangement has been completed, and what evidence can be produced before 31 December?

For an owner-manager, the private tax estimate belongs beside the company’s year-end choices. A dividend proposal, director salary discussion, mortgage application or planned investment can look different once the possible box 1 effect and revisional interest are visible.

The business need not solve a private tax matter. The owner does need to make business decisions with a complete household picture.

Dutch administration can leave room for correspondence, explanation and correction. A statutory deadline creates a different kind of pressure. It turns delay into a legal and financial result.

The sensible response is neither alarm nor improvisation. Give the matter an owner, establish the governing date and obtain dated confirmation of what has been completed.

For a 2025 annuity expiry, 31 December 2026 is more than a diary entry. It is the point at which an old retirement arrangement can begin shaping today’s tax, cash and business choices.

The data, sourcing, and analysis behind this article were conducted by Linda Pavan Geraedts. AI was not used to identify sources, build the factual basis, or produce the analytical judgment contained here. AI was used only as a drafting aid. The final English text was personally reviewed, edited, and approved by Linda Pavan Geraedts before publication.

References

• KG:070:2026:5 Overschrijding wettelijke termijn bij expiratie in 2025 | Kennisgroepen Belastingdienst
• Belastingdienst - The post-2026 rule and the operational distinction for 2025 contracts
• Belastingdienst - Tax and cash consequence of a deemed or actual surrender
• Belastingdienst - Value of the annuity that was not converted or started in time
• Centraal Aanspreekpunt Pensioenen Belastingdienst - Special regimes and the 2026 transition are not mechanically uniform
• Wettenbank - Legal basis before and after the 2026 amendment
• Belastingdienst - Uitgaven voor inkomensvoorzieningen
• Belastingdienst - Waarover betaalt u belasting bij een lijfrente?