Logging into the Tax and Customs Administration has been a lot less easy than usual for two days now due to problems with DigiD. Annoying, because it not only affects people who want to file their tax returns, but also people who are waiting for the results of a medical examination, for example. Or people who want to make an appointment with the doctor.
The DigiD login system is used by all government websites and other important sites. The overload of the system affects the Tax and Customs Administration, the UWV and the RDW, among others. But also websites of general practitioners, hospitals, pension funds and health insurers.
According to a spokesperson for DigiD administrator Logius, the number of login requests is already three times as large as in 2022. “Extra crowds from March 1 had already been taken into account,” he tells NU.nl. Wednesday was the first day on which tax returns for 2022 could be filed.
The Tax and Customs Administration received 600,000 returns on Thursday afternoon, compared to 700,000 a year earlier. “That may be due to the login problems, but it may also be that it is holiday time and nice weather,” a spokesperson told NU.nl. “We can’t see if more people want to log in. If you can’t get through, we can’t see it either.”
So what is the main culprit of the overload? The introduction of two-step verification in the DigiD app. This security measure performs two identity checks. Previously, it was just one identity check. “This doubles the number of login requests,” says the Logius spokesperson.
In addition, according to Logius, users try to log in several times if there are problems with DigiD. That also creates extra crowds.
Due to adjustments during the day, DigiD could go completely flat
The DigiD administrator was able to process approximately 110 DigiD logins per second on Wednesday. This means that if, for example, 150 logins per second take place, 40 will fail. Logius does not want to tell NU.nl how busy it was exactly. The company does confirm that the crowds exceeded that maximum capacity.
“Further expansion of capacity was not possible on Wednesday,” the spokesperson explains. “If we had done that, DigiD could have gone completely flat.”
Technical adjustments were made in the night from Wednesday to Thursday. “As a result, we can expand the capacity even further today and even more people can log in at the same time later in the day.” According to Logius, this should ensure that the problems decrease.