Parking tax

When you park your car at a ticket dispenser, you will have to pay parking taxes. Display your pre-paid parking receipt clearly visible behind the windscreen of your car.

Parking for persons with physical disability
There are 38 special parking spaces for persons with physical disability spread all over the city centre. An outline map containing the parking spaces for disabled persons is available at the Municipal Office (Stadskantoor), Mallegatsplein 10 in Alkmaar. You can also download the outline map.
You can only use a special parking space if you have a Disability Parking Card. Parking is free on those spaces for a maximum time of three or four hours. This is stated on the traffic signs at these spaces. To state the time of arrival you should use a Blue Area Parking Pass. Both the Disability Parking Card and the Blue Area Parking Pass should be placed clearly visible behind the windscreen of your car.

The Singelgarage and parking garage De Vest also have a few parking spaces for physical disabled people. Parking garage Kanaalschiereiland has a number of these parking spaces outside the barriers. Please note that you have to pay the standard fee applicable at the parking garage.

The no-car-area in the centre of the city is not accessible for disabled people with a special parking permit. Service buses are available in this closed area. For people with a ‘wgv’ indication (according to the Dutch Law for the disabled), there are buses adapted for wheelchairs available and special call-taxis which have access to this area to bring and pickup passengers. Disabled people have access to the centre with their own car with a special day permit.
For more information about the OV taxi: call 0900-88 78.

Additional tax assessment
When you are not a holder of a valid parking ticket or permit, and/or it is not detected at your front windscreen by the parking inspector, you will receive a fine. This parking fine, placed under the windscreen wiper of your car, is officially called an additional assessment of parking tax. The amount of the fine is equal to the hourly fee applicable at the parking place in question, increased with additional costs. After a few weeks, the holder of the vehicle registration certificate receives a copy of the fine, together with a pre-pinted giro credit slip at his home address.

To submit a notice of objection
A notice of objection must be submitted to the department Belastingen, P.O. Box 53, 1800 BC Alkmaar, within six weeks after the date mentioned on the additional tax assessment (the fine placed on your car).
If you have a lease car then please take into consideration that the lease company (being the holder of the vehicle registration certificate) is the party that can submit the notice of objection. They can also appoint you as their authorized representative.

Note that submitting a notice of objection will not postpone the payment of the fine. There also will be no payment arrangement.

Force majeure
The motivation mentioned in most of the notices of objection is that someone has not paid due to special circumstances or has not been able to pay.
Very different reasons are mentioned to explain why someone did not or could not pay, which are undoubtedly substantial reasons to these persons. So a strict policy has been developed for the judgment of these notices of objection. The policy implies that the fine will only be cancelled if there is a question of force majeure, so if someone could not have influenced it and there were unforeseeable circumstances.

Extension of the medical examination
In case of an extension of a medical examination there is no question of an unforeseeable non-compliant circumstance. It is generally known that visits to medical institutions can take longer than expected. Notices of objections based on this reason will be dismissed.

Changing money
Based on a decision of the court of appeal of The Hague No. 93/2998-E3, Belastingblad 1995, page 772, the fact that you were changing money cannot be regarded as an excuse.
The Court has determined in this case that, in order to be able to fulfil the obligation to pay parking tax, the person liable to pay this tax should be given reasonable time to activate the parking dispenser. The time necessary to change money should not be taken into consideration, because it can be expected from persons who want to park their cars that they have sufficient change at their disposal. The court did not consider going to a shop in order to change money as an act indicating that a start of the payment of the parking tax has been made.

(The same decisions were also given by: The Court of Appeal of Arnhem of 7 July 1992, No. 92/0439,EI, FED 1992/717, the Court of Appeal of The Hague of 12 October 1994, No.933929-E-9, and the Court of Appeal of The Hague of 20 September 1994, No. 931958-E-3 and more recently the Court of Appeal of Amsterdam of 26 August 2003, No. 03/00709, E III)

Pay your fine
You can pay your fine in three ways:

at the main desk at the Stadskantoor (Council Office). Address: Mallegatsplein 10, NL 1815 AG Alkmaar. Open: see opening hours.
by international transfer to Postbank account number 25163, in the name of Gemeente Alkmaar, quoting IBAN: NL91 PSTB 0000 025163 BIC: PSTBNL 21. Your vehicle registration number and fine number must be indicated clearly on the transfer.
By sending a cheque made payable to Gemeente Alkmaar (Your vehicle registration number and fine number must be indicated clearly)
You can pay the ‘naheffingsaanslag’ (additional assessment levy parking tax) with your credit card. The city of Alkmaar accepts only Visa-Card or Eurocard MasterCard.

More information
For more information please contact the department Belastingen.

Laatste wijziging: 07 oktober 2011