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No—not yet. As of the Dutch government’s June 11, 2026 update, the Belastingdienst is reassessing its Microsoft 365 plans and examining an on-premises scenario before taking further rollout steps. It has not announced that M365 is cancelled, selected an on-premises system, or chosen an open-source replacement.
What the Dutch government has decided so far
The June 2026 position is a review, not a completed reversal. State Secretary Eelco Eerenberg said the Belastingdienst would revisit choices made in 2025 because datacenter capacity and available products had changed. The agency is to work out an on-premises scenario before taking further steps in the M365 rollout. The government’s June 11 announcement and parliamentary letter do not report that the review is complete or that a replacement has been chosen.
The government’s longer-term aim is for the Belastingdienst, Customs (Douane), and Benefits service (Dienst Toeslagen) to have a more autonomous, sovereign technology solution when a proven alternative suitable for those organizations is available. That is a stated direction, not a procurement decision or a date for leaving Microsoft.
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What the 2025 Microsoft 365 plan covered
In October 2025, the government announced a move to Microsoft 365 for staff office automation across the Belastingdienst, Customs, and Benefits. The announcement described a planned scope of 46,000 employees across those three services; it should not be read as a current audited headcount. Importantly, the plan said core tax assessment and collection applications and data would remain in the agency’s own datacenter in Apeldoorn. The announcement is available from Rijksoverheid.nl.
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So the issue is not described as moving every tax system and dataset into Microsoft’s cloud. The announced change concerned workplace and office software, while the core assessment and collection systems were described as staying in the agency datacenter.
Why the assessment changed
In February 2026, the government said the technical choices already made left no short-term alternative to M365, exploratory discussions had not uncovered a fully integrated European alternative, and designing and implementing a suitable replacement workplace would take at least several years. Those were the government’s estimates at that time, not a guaranteed migration schedule. See the February 2026 parliamentary answers.
By June, the government said datacenter capacity and market offerings had changed enough to justify examining an on-premises scenario. The record does not identify which products or technical changes made that scenario more plausible, nor does it publish a completed feasibility result. The two positions therefore describe a changing assessment, not proof that a full replacement is now ready.
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Is open source the replacement?
No open-source office suite or supplier has been named as M365’s replacement. The government’s wider digital-autonomy policy says open source should be the default for new software development unless there are weighty reasons to choose otherwise. The Belastingdienst already has an Open Source Program Office, and the June letter says its role is to expand. That is an agency-wide development and management strategy; it is not evidence of a selected open-source workplace product. The government’s digital-autonomy letter sets out the broader approach.
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The same policy includes more in-house development and management, investment in datacenter capacity, and consideration of European suppliers. It also recognizes a limit: “Volledige digitale autonomie is geen realistisch streven” (“Full digital autonomy is not a realistic ambition”), as Eerenberg wrote in the June letter. Security, reliability, and continuity of public services remain requirements, not trade-offs that can simply be set aside to reduce vendor dependence.
What an on-premises or sovereign alternative would need to prove
The government has not published a winner or a completed comparison. Its own statements point to several tests a viable alternative would have to meet:
- Security and maturity: the system must be sufficiently proven for services handling sensitive government work.
- Functional fit and integration: it must support the workplace functions staff need and work with the surrounding systems.
- Reliability and continuity: moving away from one supplier cannot interrupt essential tax, customs, or benefits services.
- Operational capacity: an on-premises option depends on datacenter capacity and the ability to operate and maintain the environment.
- Transition effort: a replacement workplace could take years to design and implement, according to the government’s February estimate.
- Dependency and control: the assessment must consider access to systems and data, as well as dependence on suppliers and geopolitical exposure.
These are considerations, not published scores. The June scenario work has not established that on-premises hosting, a European product, or open-source software is superior across them.
Does a parliamentary motion mean the switch is settled?
No. A 2025 parliamentary motion called for sovereign European ICT before the end of 2026. That deadline was a request in a motion, not a confirmed implementation date. The government’s June 2026 response describes an investigation and a future move toward a proven suitable alternative, rather than a completed plan to replace M365 by that deadline. The motion is recorded by the House of Representatives.
What to watch next
The key developments are whether the on-premises scenario study is completed, whether the government changes or resumes the M365 rollout, and whether it identifies an alternative that meets its operational requirements. Until an official decision or procurement announcement provides those details, the accurate description is that the Belastingdienst is reassessing M365—not that it has ditched it.
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