New State Secretary for Taxation is allowed to take notes from letterbox companies
The new CDA State Secretary for Taxation Marnix van Rij immediately receives a number of tough files, including the approach to letterbox companies that Brussels advocates. ‘That will be quite a job for him’, says Professor of Fiscal Economics Peter Kavelaars of Erasmus University.
There is a lot of money to be missed by Dutch letterbox companies, the shell companies that are used to reduce taxes on dividends and interest and royalty. Still, Brussels is preparing new legislation to counteract this. ‘We really want to put an end to that. The intention is that this will also work for flows from outside the EU.’
To ignore
‘People want letterbox companies to act, if they are shell companies through which only money flows.’ Brussels wants to be able to directly receive the tax, but there is a difficult task ahead – the letterbox must be an office where people work.
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Support base
Holland Quaestor, the earlier said not to worry much, but according to Kavelaars the industry is following the new rules and the future of Brussels. ‘I think there is quite a bit of support, you can see that the European Commission is getting through all measures aimed at combating tax avoidance. There is a lot of money there and it is also about a lot.’
According to Kavelaars, it works, but it is happening throughout the EU and beyond. ‘The scope is broader, the scope has also been developed and is being rolled out worldwide. but that will also work in the long run.’
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