07-06-2010
Penalty for voluntary tax disclosure will be doubled to 30% as of 1 July, 2010

The Dutch tax law contains a voluntary disclosure regulation for taxpayers with foreign bank accounts. People willing to apply for voluntary tax disclosure still have to pay all taxes over the last 12 years, which they would have paid if the assets would not have been taken out of the sight of the Dutch tax authorities. Before January 1, 2010 this was possible without a fine. However, as of January 1, 2010, the regulations are tightened and a fine of 15% has been introduced. In order to give taxpayers more incentives to declare their assets held in foreign bank accounts, the Dutch tax authorities announced that the fine will be doubled by July 1, 2010. This means that people that make use of the regime of voluntary disclosure after July 1, will face a fine of 30%. Taxpayers who do not declare their foreign bank account risk a penalty with a maximum of 300%,  if the foreign bank account is discovered by the Dutch tax authorities.

It is clear that it is highly advisable for taxpayers, who think about applying for voluntary disclosure, to take the date of July 1, 2010 into account. Making a decisions before this date will result in a significant reduction of the penalty.

VMW Taxand assists taxpayers in applying for the regime of voluntary disclosure and gives them a scheme of the consequences in advance. Should you need our guidance, please contact us in order to discuss the possibilities. Our contactpersons: Roelof Vos (roelof.vos@vmwtaxand.nl) or Chris van Wijngaarden (chris.vanwijgaarden@vmwtaxand.nl).

In this respect we prepared a Q&A on the Dutch voluntary disclosure scheme, please contact Chris van Wijngaarden if you desire a copy.