Some taxpayers transfer their assets into foreign legal structures such as trusts, Antilliaan Stichtingen Particulier Fonds (Private Fund Foundation), Liechtenstein Stiftungen, Anstalts and Genossenschaften and Panama Foundations, for tax evasion purposes. Deputy Minister of Finance Mr. Weekers has issued a decree which provides taxpayers the opportunity to report these separate pools of assets if they have incorrectly omitted to do so previously, as part of a voluntary disclosure scheme.
As a result of an amendment to legislation in 2010, separate pools of assets are, in principle, attributed to the contributor for tax purposes. This is not the case when the separate pools of assets are subject to a realistic levy of taxes according to Dutch standards. In this case, a levy rate of 10% or more is considered realistic. In response to this rule, some trusts and foreign foundations containing separate pools of assets have changed their residency to jurisdictions which impose such a levy. Mr. Weekers' decree indicates that the Dutch Revenue will investigate whether these changes of residency have indeed taken place. In 2009 some separate pools of assets were dismantled in anticipation of the amendment of the law, whereby the assets were made payable to the contributor or their next of kin. The Dutch Revenue will also scrutinize these payment to make sure no tax claims are lost.
Finally the decree also contains an approval concession: taxpayers are given the opportunity to provide the Dutch Revenue full information about their separate pools of assets, dismantled or not, as part of a voluntary disclosure scheme. The Dutch Revenue will then try to come to an overall settlement with the taxpayer. The taxpayer or his tax advisor will need to report this to the Dutch Revenue before December 1, 2011. The Dutch Revenue will impose lower penalties if the taxpayer sent in an incorrect or incomplete tax return, provided the information is given under the voluntary disclosure scheme. Any voluntary disclosure within two years will not result in penalties being imposed. This is on the condition that the taxpayer is unaware or could not reasonably be aware that the Dutch Revenue knows that the taxpayer sent in an incorrect or incomplete tax return. In that case the voluntary disclosure scheme no longer applies.