Mortgage Interest Deduction: How Much Do You Get Back? (2025)

The short version: you deduct your mortgage interest from your income and get up to 37.48% back through taxes. On a EUR 350,000 mortgage at 3.8% interest, that's about EUR 375 per month.

Just want to calculate it? Go straight to the mortgage interest deduction calculator

How much do you get back? A worked example

Let's start with what matters: money.

Situation: Mortgage of EUR 350,000, interest rate 3.8%, WOZ value EUR 380,000, gross income EUR 65,000.

• Mortgage interest per year: EUR 13,300
• Imputed rental value (0.35% x EUR 380,000): -EUR 1,330
• Deductible balance: EUR 11,970
• Tax refund (37.48%): EUR 4,486

Net monthly cost after deduction: EUR 735 instead of EUR 1,108. You save EUR 373 per month.

Your numbers are different. Calculate your own situation

Do I qualify?

Quick checklist:

• The property is your primary residence
• The mortgage is for purchasing, improving, or maintaining your home
• You're repaying on an annuity or linear basis within 30 years (for mortgages after 1-1-2013)
• The repayment terms are in your mortgage deed

Exception: Have an interest-only mortgage from before 2013? That still qualifies. The annuity/linear requirement only applies to mortgages taken out after 2013.

Increased your mortgage after 2013? The original portion keeps the old rules; the new portion falls under the repayment requirement.

What can you deduct?

Not just the interest itself. Many people forget these when filing:

Deductible

• Mortgage interest — On your qualifying home debt
• Advisory/brokerage fees — Mortgage advisor
• Notary fees for mortgage deed — Not the transfer deed!
• Land registry fees — Mortgage registration
• Appraisal costs — For the mortgage application
• NHG guarantee fee — National Mortgage Guarantee
• Commitment fee — Locking in the interest rate offer
• Prepayment penalty when refinancing — Under certain conditions
• Construction interest — Between preliminary and final purchase contracts
• Ground lease payments — Periodic ground-use fees (erfpachtcanon)

Not deductible

Transfer tax, real estate agent fees, notary fees for transfer deed, maintenance costs, principal repayment, bank guarantee costs, insurance premiums.

Include all these items in one calculation: mortgage interest deduction calculator

The "catch": imputed rental value (eigenwoningforfait)

The tax authority gives with one hand and takes with the other. The imputed rental value is a fictitious amount you must add to your income — the government assumes you benefit from not paying rent.

For most homes it's 0.35% of your WOZ value:

• Up to EUR 12,500: 0%
• EUR 12,500 – EUR 25,000: 0.10%
• EUR 25,000 – EUR 50,000: 0.20%
• EUR 50,000 – EUR 75,000: 0.25%
• EUR 75,000 – EUR 1,330,000: 0.35%
• Above EUR 1,330,000: EUR 4,655 + 2.35% on the excess (villa tax)

With a WOZ value of EUR 380,000 that's EUR 1,330 per year eating into your deduction.

Earn more than EUR 76,817?

Then you pay tax in the highest bracket (49.50%), but you can only deduct your interest at a maximum of 37.48% in 2025. The tax authority automatically calculates a correction.

• 2024: Max deduction rate 36.97% — Income threshold EUR 75,518
• 2025: Max deduction rate 37.48% — Income threshold EUR 76,817
• 2026: Max deduction rate 37.56% — Income threshold EUR 78,426

Below the threshold? You deduct at the normal rate of 37.48% — no correction needed.

Moving? Watch out for the equity carry-forward rule

Selling your home with equity and buying a new one? You must invest that equity in your new home. If you don't, your maximum qualifying home debt shrinks — and so does your deduction.

Example:

• Sale price old home: EUR 400,000
• Remaining debt: EUR 250,000
• Selling costs: EUR 10,000
• Equity: EUR 140,000

New home costs EUR 500,000 → maximum EUR 360,000 as qualifying home debt. No deduction on the excess.

The equity reserve expires after three years. Don't buy within that window? Then you're free.

Want to calculate what moving costs you versus staying put? Build both scenarios in Sonalflow

Mortgage almost paid off? The Hillen Act

When your imputed rental value exceeds your deductible costs (typically when your mortgage is small or zero), you'd pay tax on the difference. The Hillen Act compensates this — but less and less each year:

• 2024: Compensation 80.0%
• 2025: Compensation 76.67%
• 2026: Compensation 71.87%
• 2030: Compensation 47.87%
• 2035: Compensation 23.87%
• 2041: Compensation 0%

The phase-out has been accelerated: -4.8% per year instead of -3.33%. Fully gone by 2041.

In practice: Home worth EUR 400,000, mortgage paid off. In 2025 you pay tax on EUR 327. By 2035 on EUR 1,066. By 2041 on the full EUR 1,400.

This effect creeps up on you over the years. Simulate it over your full mortgage term

The 30-year time limit

You get a maximum of 30 years of interest deduction. After that it stops, but the imputed rental value continues.

• Mortgage after 2013: clock starts on origination date
• Mortgage before 2001: clock starts on 1-1-2001 — deduction expires no later than 31-12-2030
• Mortgage 2001–2013: clock starts on origination date

Fiscal partners: allocate wisely

Fiscal partners can freely divide the home deduction between them. Different each year, as long as the total is 100%.

Since the deduction rate is capped at 37.48%, "everything to the highest earner" isn't always optimal. It depends on:

• Both incomes and tax brackets
• Tax credits (heffingskortingen)
• Other deductions

The optimal allocation can save hundreds of euros per year.

Special situations

Home under construction: Deduction applies if you move in within 3 years of the tax year you incur costs.

Home vacant and for sale: Deduction continues in the year of vacancy + the 3 following years. No renting it out.

Divorce: The departing partner keeps deduction rights for 2 years, even without living there.

Refinancing: Original 30-year clock keeps running. Prepayment penalty, notary, and advisory costs are deductible.

What's changing in 2025 and 2026?

• Max deduction rate: 2025 37.48% / 2026 37.56%
• Imputed rental value: 2025 0.35% / 2026 0.35%
• Hillen Act: 2025 76.67% / 2026 71.87%
• Villa tax threshold: 2025 EUR 1,330,000 / 2026 EUR 1,350,000
• Income threshold: 2025 EUR 76,817 / 2026 EUR 78,426

Summary

• Maximum deduction period: 30 years
• Repayment requirement (post-2013): Annuity or linear
• Maximum deduction rate: 37.48%
• Imputed rental value: 0.35% of WOZ
• Hillen Act compensation: 76.67%
• Equity carry-forward period: 3 years

Calculate your mortgage interest deduction

Sources: Belastingdienst — Mortgage interest deduction, Belastingdienst — Imputed rental value, Belastingdienst — Rate adjustment, Belastingdienst — Equity carry-forward, Belastingdienst — Hillen Act