Home Enforcement order or seizure by the Belastingdienst?
Enforcement order or seizure by the Belastingdienst?
A reminder went unpaid, and now there is a writ of execution (a dwangbevel). Or worse: your car has already been taken. Here is how that process works, how much time you have left, and what helps most today.
How it gets to this point
If you do not pay an assessment on time, the tax collector (the ontvanger) first sends a reminder, a letter giving you a new two-week payment term. If you still do not pay, a writ of execution can follow at the earliest around sixteen days later. Once that writ is served, the collector can proceed to enforce it without going to court first.
If payment still does not follow, a tax bailiff acting on the collector's instructions can seize property. That can be money, wages, or movable property such as a car. Costs are added at every step; see below for how much.
Seizure of, for example, your car
When movable property is seized, the bailiff draws up a report listing what has been seized and serves it on you. From that report, the public sale may not take place within four weeks. In practice, those four weeks are the time you have.
If it turns out during that period that you can keep to an acceptable payment plan, the sale is postponed and a new date is set. This is called prolongation, and it is the most common outcome when there is still something to arrange.
What helps most today
Do not call the general tax helpline first. The letter or writ from the bailiff states the name and phone number of the specific collector handling your file. That is the person who decides on deferral or postponement, and calling directly is faster than the standard route.
You can also formally object to a writ of execution by summons to the district court (article 17 of the Tax Collection Act). Important to know: since 1 January 2018, such an objection no longer automatically suspends enforcement. Collection generally just continues unless the court orders otherwise. That makes objection rarely the fastest option. Talking to the collector usually is.
If any tax returns are still outstanding, file them as soon as possible. Without the real figures there is nothing to base a payment plan on.
What the reminder and the writ itself cost
On top of the tax debt, collection costs are added: € 9 for amounts up to € 454, and € 21 above that. The costs of the writ and of any public sale come on top of that. The sooner you act, the less of this stacks up.
Is a bailiff already involved, or did you receive a writ of execution?
Tell us briefly what is going on. Within one working day you hear what we can do for you and what it costs, before we start.
Rather talk it through? Call now