1. The 2026 Amounts at a Glance

Official Belastingdienst exemptions for gifts received in 2026:

The annual child amount and the one-off amount do not stack in the same year. The Belastingdienst states that the raised exemption replaces the annual one: if you use the €33,129 or €69,009 route in 2026, you may not also use the €6,908 annual exemption that year.

2. Parents to a Child: €6,908

Each child may receive €6,908 from their parent(s) in 2026 without schenkbelasting and without a gift-tax return, if that is the only parental gift that year and it stays under the exemption.

“Child” includes a stepchild and a foster child under the Belastingdienst definition. Adoptive children in the legal sense follow the same parent–child tariff.

The amount is per child, not per household of children. Three children can each receive €6,908. The money may be spent as the child wishes. No notarial deed is required for the ordinary annual exemption.

If the transfer is larger, the amount above €6,908 is subject to gift tax, and the child must file.

3. Grandparents and Everyone Else: €2,769

There is no special “grandchild bonus” above the general third-party line. A grandmother, an uncle, a sibling or a family friend all sit on the same annual exemption: €2,769 in 2026.

Grandparents who are partners for gift-tax purposes are one donor. If opa transfers €2,000 and oma transfers €2,000 to the same grandchild, the child has received €4,000 from one pair — above €2,769 — and must file.

The exemption resets every calendar year. A pattern of €2,769 each January is legal. A pattern of €5,000 “because we skipped last year” is not a carry-forward. Unused room does not roll over into the next year.

4. One-Off Extra: €33,129 or €69,009

A child may use a raised exemption once in a lifetime from the same parent(s), if at the moment of the gift the child is 18 or older and not yet 41, or the child’s partner is in that age band. The 40th birthday itself still counts.

Two flavours in 2026:

Grandparents do not get the parental one-off. They stay on €2,769 a year unless another relationship with the recipient creates a different tax treatment.

The one-off raised exemption must be claimed through the gift-tax return. It is not automatic simply because the transfer is large.

5. No More Tax-Free Gift for a House

The Belastingdienst states that from 1 January 2024 the one-off raised exemption specifically for an owner-occupied home no longer exists.

A child who wants help with a deposit can still use the free-to-spend one-off exemption of €33,129 if the age and other conditions are met — and then spend it on a house if they wish.

That is not a revived jubelton. There is no separate housing-specific tax-free amount on top of the €33,129.

Anyone quoting a six-figure “tax-free for the mortgage” number from 2023 is referring to an abolished rule.

6. Two Parents Count as One Donor

This is the sentence that produces assessments.

The Belastingdienst treats parents as one donor for these gift-tax exemptions. Two gifts from the same parents are added together. Parents therefore cannot simply create two annual €6,908 exemptions by sending the money separately.

The same adding-up principle applies when partners make gifts to the same recipient.

Divorced parents also need to be careful: the Belastingdienst says gifts from both parents to their child must be added together, even when the parents are separated. Check the current partner and parent rules before splitting a large transfer into two payments.

7. Rates Above the Exemption

Tax is due only on the amount above the exemption. 2026 rates:

The recipient normally pays the gift tax. If the donor agrees to pay the tax on behalf of the recipient, the calculation can be higher because the tax payment itself is treated as an additional gift.

Example: parents give a child €10,000 in 2026 and do not use a one-off exemption. Exemption €6,908. Taxable €3,092 × 10% = €309.20, before any other gifts that year.

Same €10,000 from a grandmother: exemption €2,769. Taxable €7,231 × 18% ≈ €1,302.

8. When the Child Must File

If the gift stays within the applicable annual exemption, there is normally no gift-tax return. If the gift exceeds the exemption, or if the recipient wants to use a raised exemption, the recipient must file a schenkbelasting return.

For gifts received in 2026, the return must be submitted by 1 March 2027. The recipient does not have to wait for a letter from the Belastingdienst before filing and can file through Mijn Belastingdienst once the gift has actually been received.

Keep the bank proof, the notarial deed if applicable, and documentation showing the purpose of the gift. For the expensive-study exemption, the money must be used for the qualifying study within the statutory period.

9. What Expats Get Wrong

Cross-border gifts are not automatically Dutch-taxable simply because the recipient lives in the Netherlands or has a Dutch BSN. The Dutch rules for gifts from abroad depend in particular on the donor’s nationality and whether the donor previously lived in the Netherlands.

If the donor lives outside the Netherlands and is Dutch, a Dutch gift-tax return may be required if the donor moved abroad less than 10 years ago. If the donor has another nationality, the relevant period is generally less than 1 year after leaving the Netherlands. If the donor has never lived in the Netherlands, the Belastingdienst says a Dutch gift-tax return is generally not required under these donor-residence rules.

So do not assume that sending money from a Turkish, British or US bank account automatically keeps the gift outside Dutch tax rules — but also do not assume that every foreign transfer received by a Dutch resident is automatically subject to Dutch gift tax.

Citizenship and residence are not interchangeable concepts in the gift-tax rules. A Dutch BSN by itself does not determine whether a foreign gift is taxable.

The 30% ruling does not create a separate gift-tax allowance.

If you already used a one-off raised exemption in an earlier year from the same parent(s), you cannot use the €33,129 or €69,009 raised exemption again.

Cash in an envelope that “nobody will report” is still a gift. The risk sits with the recipient if the source of funds later needs to be documented for a mortgage, bank compliance check or inheritance file.