Application for a waiver if you are unable to pay

Go to your local community centre.

You can apply for a waiver for:

• Property tax (OZB)
• Sewerage levy
• Waste collection levy
• Encroachment tax for houseboats and caravans

You cannot apply for a waiver for:

• Dog tax
• Waste collection levy for an extra residual waste container
• Waste collection levy for a holiday home
• Additional assessment for parking tax
• Tourist tax
• Water tourist tax
• Taxes for commercial buildings

• Your income is at or under the social assistance benefit level. Your net disposable income must be under the statutory standards.
• As a single person, you have a maximum of € 3000 in savings. The maximum is € 4000 if you are cohabiting.
• As a single parent you are permitted to have € 3300 in savings.
• You do not own a vehicle (e.g. a car) worth more than € 3350.
• You have no equity on your privately owned home.
• You paid the assessment no more than three months ago.

Have you already paid the assessment?

Apply for the waiver within three months of paying it. Was the assessment paid more than three months ago? In that case, you are no longer entitled to the waiver.

Have you not paid the assessment yet?

You can apply for the waiver at any time. Also for an assessment from previous years, if you have not yet paid it. This is possible only if you have not previously applied for a waiver of the same assessment and received a decision on it from us.

Have you applied for the waiver online?

You will immediately receive an acknowledgement of receipt.

Have you applied for the waiver in writing?

You will receive an acknowledgement of receipt within two weeks.

Have you not received an acknowledgement of receipt?

Contact the City of Leeuwarden. It could be that something has gone wrong, or there is a postal delay.

Waiver for students

Is your income at welfare level or below? Apply for a waiver. Does the amount you have in the bank come from loans under the ‘Student Finance Act 2000’ and/or the Fees and Educational Expenses (Allowances) Act’ (WTOS)? In that case, your bank balance does not count as assets. However, you must be able to prove this.

Waiver for the self-employed

The self-employed can apply for a private tax waiver. Business expenses are always excluded from this. For example, your business expenses.

Processing takes longer than a normal application. This is because we use the tax data from the year for which you apply for the waiver. This data will not be available until the following year.

You will be granted a payment deferral as soon as we receive your application for the waiver. You do not have to pay until we let you know our decision on your request. This deferral only applies to assessments for which you can apply for the waiver. Be sure to pay on time the levies for which no waiver is available.

Waiver applied for but amount still debited?

It is possible that your request and the direct debit may have crossed. Ask your bank to refund the payment. This is called a payment reversal.

File a notice of appeal within 10 days. Those 10 days count from the date of our letter rejecting your waiver request.

Send your appeal to

Burgemeester en wethouders van Leeuwarden
Postbus 21000
8900 JA LEEUWARDEN

State in your appeal

• Your name and address.
• A phone number where we can reach you during the day.
• The date the notice of appeal was written.
• The decision you are appealing against.
• The subject number and assessment number.
• The reason for the appeal.
• Your signature.

Enclose with your notice of appeal

• A copy of our rejection letter.
• Supporting documents for all the reasons why you disagree with the decision.

When will you be notified?

We will send you an acknowledgement of receipt as soon as we receive your appeal. This will tell you when to expect our decision. This is usually within 3 months. We will let you know if the decision will take more time.

This is called an ‘automated waiver’.

Do you not agree to the automatic waiver?

You will need to apply for the waiver each year.

Do you agree to the automatic waiver?

If we granted you a waiver after your last request, we will carry out a check every year with:

• The Tax Authorities
• The Netherlands Vehicle Authority (RDW)
• The Key Register of Persons (BRP)
• The UWV Employee Insurance Agency

We will carry out this check before you receive your local tax assessment. We will check whether you are also entitled to a waiver this year. We use your data known at the time for this purpose.

Outcome: automatic waiver possible

The check has shown that you are entitled to an automatic waiver. The assessment shows which local taxes you do not have to pay.

Outcome: automatic waiver not possible

You will receive an assessment for local taxes. You must pay them.

Automatic waiver is not possible for business owners, students or home owners.

In that case, we will need more information to calculate whether you are entitled to the waiver. If you want to be granted a waiver, you need to submit a request yourself.

Automatic waiver in recent years? But not this year?

Perhaps your situation has changed, which means you are no longer entitled to the automatic waiver. If you want to be granted a waiver, you will need to submit a request yourself.

Want to know which schemes and allowances you are entitled to? Do the check via the Facilities Guide.