Pollution tax

Is your home or business premises connected to the sewer system? Then you pay a sewage treatment levy. This means you contribute to the cost of cleaning wastewater.

How it works

Living spaces

If you live with several people at one address, you pay the rate for a multi-person household (3 persons). Do you live alone? Then the rate for a single-person household (1 person) applies to you.

Commercial premises

For commercial premises, we determine the amount of the levy in most cases by multiplying the amount of (drinking) water consumed by the wastewater coefficient that applies to your business category. See the download at the bottom of this page.

Do you only discharge domestic wastewater and is your water consumption less than 218 m³? Then you will receive a tax assessment of 1 or 3 ve.

Water consumed Pollution value (number of ve)
 ≤ 44 m³ 1 ve*
 > 44 m³ to ≤217 m³ 3 stars
 ≥ 218 m³ number of m³ x wastewater coefficient = tax assessment

* when you only discharge or dispose of domestic wastewater

Companies with a water consumption of 218 m³ or more receive a provisional assessment. The final pollution value is determined at the end of the year on the basis of the wastewater coefficient table. All companies are classified into one of 15 categories depending on their business activities.

A number of companies receive an annual tax return on the basis of which the tax assessment is determined. This includes companies that are subject to a measurement obligation. Most companies automatically receive a tax assessment in which the pollution value is determined on the basis of data from the drinking water company PWN or Waternet.

Rates

The rate (sewage treatment levy) varies per levy year. You can find the rates on the Rates page. 

Downloads

Frequently asked questions

When can I expect to receive my water board tax assessment?

At the end of January, we issue tax assessments to residential property users. We send tax assessments to owners of residential or commercial properties at the end of April or the end of May.

Will you become liable for tax during the course of the year? If so, you will receive your tax assessment as soon as possible. We are dependent on your municipality and the Land Registry for the imposition of the tax assessment. We can only impose the tax assessment once we have processed the necessary data. It may therefore take some time before you receive your tax assessment.

What does a pollution unit mean?

A pollution unit (pu) is the average amount of water pollution caused by one person per year.

I only live here with two people, so why are there three pollution units (3 PU)?

If you live with several people at one address, you pay the rate for a multi-person household (3 pollution units (pu)). It does not matter whether you live with two people or five, for example. People living alone pay the rate for a single-person household (1 pu).

What is the difference between a residential pollution tax and a residential purification tax?

Is your home connected to the sewer system? Then you pay a sewage treatment levy. This means you contribute to the cost of cleaning wastewater. If you live with several people at one address, you pay the rate for a multi-person household (3 persons). Do you live alone? Then you pay the rate for a single-person household (1 person).

Is your home not connected to the sewer system? Then you will have to pay a pollution tax. We calculate these costs in the same way as the sewage treatment tax.

Why am I being charged a sewage treatment levy for commercial premises instead of residential premises?

If you rent out rooms or there is a residential group, we consider the occupied space to be commercial space.

I have a shared water meter, how is the tax calculated?

If you have a shared water meter with one or more residential units, we will reduce the total water consumption by 44 m³ per enrolled per year. The reference date for this is January 1 of the tax year as recorded in the BRP Basic Registration of Persons).

Do you share the water meter with another business premises? Then you must demonstrate how much water you consume, for example by using a sub-meter. If you do not know how much you consume, we will make an estimate.

We would like to receive the tax assessment in someone else's name. Is that possible?

Yes, you can submit a request for the next tax year. Whether we implement the name change depends on the following conditions:

  1. When it comes to user fees, the co-user must enrolled at the address on January 1 of the year.
  2. When it comes to owner levies, the co-owner must be registered as the owner in the Land Registry on January 1 of the year.
  3. Both the person who currently receives the tax assessment and the newly proposed taxpayer must sign the request.
  4. If there is a combined assessment (taxes for use and ownership on a single tax assessment notice), it cannot be split. The newly proposed taxpayer must be liable for all taxes listed on the tax assessment notice.
  5. The name change must not prevent the tax assessment from being collected.

Send your request, signed by you and your co-resident or co-owner, tobelastingen@hhnk.nl (you can scan your request or take a photo of it), or by mail to: 

Hollands Noorderkwartier Water Board
Tax Team
Postbus
1700 AA Heerhugowaard

How do you calculate the provisional assessment?

The provisional assessment is an estimate, usually based on an assessment you received for the previous year. This is always followed by a final assessment, which is calculated based on the current data for the relevant tax year.