Naheffingsaanslag parkeerbelasting: that paper is not a fine, it is a tax (and you have 6 weeks)

You come back to a paid parking spot and there is a paper under the wiper, or two weeks later a letter in your letterbox: naheffingsaanslagadditional assessment · the official assessment letter that claims tax you did not pay in full parkeerbelastingparking tax · in the Netherlands, what you pay at a paid parking spot is legally a tax. Most people read it as a traffic fine and wait for something from the CJIB. It is not a fine. It is unpaid tax, the other party is the municipality rather than the police or the CJIB, and objecting costs nothing.

The difference matters, because which letter you received decides where your objection goes.

Fine or tax: who sent the letter?

Letter	From	For what	Route
Naheffingsaanslagadditional assessment · the official assessment letter that claims tax you did not pay in full parkeerbelastingparking tax · in the Netherlands, what you pay at a paid parking spot is legally a tax	Municipality	You did not pay the parking tax, or paid too little	Bezwaarobjection to the municipality, 6 weeks
Beschikking (Mulder)	CJIB	Parking where it is forbidden, on the pavement, in a disabled bay	Beroepappeal to a court to the CJIB, 6 weeks
Naheffingsaanslagadditional assessment · the official assessment letter that claims tax you did not pay in full motorrijtuigenbelastingroad tax · abbreviated mrb; its naheffingsaanslag comes from the Belastingdienst, not from a municipality	Belastingdienst	Road tax unpaid or paid late	Bezwaarobjection to the Belastingdienst, 6 weeks

All three look like a "naheffing" or a "boete", all three run for 6 weeks, and all three have a different address. An objection sent to the wrong body does not stop the clock.

There is one more detail with parking tax: the letter goes to the kentekenhouderregistered keeper of the vehicle, not to the driver. Even if somebody else had the car that day, the registered keeper is the one addressed.

The two amounts in the letter

The total of a naheffingsaanslagadditional assessment · the official assessment letter that claims tax you did not pay in full is made up of two parts:

• Parkeerbelastingparking tax · in the Netherlands, what you pay at a paid parking spot is legally a tax. The parking charge you owed. Usually the hourly or daily rate for that zone.
• Kostencosts · the amount the municipality adds on top of the tax for issuing the assessment. The cost of issuing the assessment. This is the larger part of the total.

There is a national ceiling on the cost item. From 1 January 2026 municipalities may charge at most 82 euro in costs; in 2025 the ceiling was 78.80 euro. A higher ceiling does not mean every municipality raises its amount: each one sets its own, and many stay below the ceiling. The item in your own letter is what your municipality decided on for that year.

Which day does the 6 weeks start from?

The period runs from the dagtekening, the date printed on the letter. Not from the date on the paper left on your windscreen: that paper is usually a notice, and the assessment itself is posted later.

It is enough that your objection is in the post by the evening of the last day. If you send it by post, an objection that arrives within 1 week after the deadline still counts as timely, but treat that as a last resort rather than as margin. Most municipalities have an online objection form with DigiD, and that records the moment you sent it.

Do you have to pay while you object?

Usually not. When you object, the municipality puts the amount on hold (uitstel van betalingdeferral of payment). In some municipalities this happens automatically, in others you have to ask for it in one sentence in your objection:

Ik verzoek om uitstel van betalingdeferral of payment voor het volledige bedrag totdat op mijn bezwaarobjection is beslist.

If the objection is rejected, the amount becomes payable again and you are given a new period to pay.

When an objection actually works

With this letter, an objection is won by showing a document, not by explaining that it feels unfair. The ones that usually work:

• You paid but the plate was typed wrong. A screenshot of the payment app or the machine ticket, with the time and the plate visible.
• You paid and the ticket was not visible. The ticket itself, or the timestamp on your bank transaction.
• You had a permit for the zone. A bewonersvergunning or bezoekersvergunning was active; add the permit number and the activation record.
• The car was not yours that day. The sale agreement and the transfer date at the RDW. If the transfer predates the check, the assessment falls.
• The rate did not apply at that hour. Loading and unloading time, or a free hour; refer to the municipality's own parkeerverordening.
• Two assessments for the same period. Put the numbers and the times of both letters side by side.

With proof of payment, one paragraph is enough. Without proof, a long letter changes nothing.

When does the municipality decide?

For tax objections the period is not the familiar 6 weeks: the municipality has to decide by 31 December of the calendar year in which it received the objection. If you objected in the last 6 weeks of the year, it has 6 weeks after the objection period closed. So an objection made in January can go unanswered until December, and that wait gives you no rights by itself.

If no decision comes at all, you can put the municipality in default in writing (ingebrekestelling). That can create a right to compensation for the delay.

If it is rejected: the court

Within 6 weeks of the date of the rejection you can go to the tax chamber of the rechtbank (belastingkamer). In 2026 the court fee for a natural person in a first instance tax case is 54 euro. If you win, the fee is refunded.

The assessment itself is often not much larger than the fee, which is why going to court makes sense mainly where the point matters more than the money.

What happens if you do not pay?

The order is fixed and every step makes the amount bigger: aanmaningreminder, then dwangbevelenforcement order · a document that allows collection without going to court, then seizure. With the 2026 amounts, a reminder costs 10 euro for claims under 454 euro and 22 euro from 454 euro up. Serving a dwangbevelenforcement order · a document that allows collection without going to court starts at 56 euro and rises as the claim grows.

If you cannot pay, silence is the most expensive option. Most municipalities accept instalments for a parking assessment too, and asking before the reminder arrives stops the costs.

A naheffingsaanslagadditional assessment · the official assessment letter that claims tax you did not pay in full from the Belastingdienst is a different thing

The same word turns up in road tax letters. When motorrijtuigenbelastingroad tax · abbreviated mrb; its naheffingsaanslag comes from the Belastingdienst, not from a municipality is unpaid or late, the naheffingsaanslagadditional assessment · the official assessment letter that claims tax you did not pay in full comes with a default penalty: 100 percent of the tax not paid, at least 55 euro and at most 5,514 euro. If the same default happens again within a year, the penalty starts at 67 euro.

Here too the period is 6 weeks. Since 10 September 2026 an objection against a road tax assessment, penalty or payment can also be filed online; before that there was only a paper form.

What does Letrin do with this letter?

A parking assessment is a short letter, but there are things in it that have to be told apart: the date, the plate, the time of the check, the zone code, the tax itself and the cost item. Letrin reads it from the photo and says it in your language: which body sent it, for which vehicle and which hour, how much of the total is tax and how much is costs, and which date is the last day of the 6 weeks.

If you are going to object, it drafts the letter in formal Dutch, adds the sentence that asks for the payment to be put on hold, and keeps the translation beside it. It sets reminders for the last day: 7 days before, 2 days before, and on the morning itself.

The button below is all you need to download the app: no account, and the first explanations are free.

Check it against the paper

Explanations are there to help and they are not legal advice. The cost item differs per municipality and per year; the amount that applies is in your own assessment, and the rate is in the municipality's parkeerverordening.

If you need help, Juridisch Loket and the municipality's sociaal raadslieden are free.