Dutch lower court rules on 16% crisis tax

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In May 2014 the District Court in The Hague issued the first decisions in numerous court cases against the 16% crisis tax which we wrote about in a previous update. The Court ruled in favour of the tax authorities, the arguments against the crisis tax having been weakened following the Supreme Court’s decision of 20 June 2014 in relation to the employer only tax on excessive termination payments.  In both cases, an appeal may succeed if it can be shown that the tax creates an individual and excessive burden. For both taxes the salary earned prior to the relevant legislation entering into force is included in the basis for taxation. We refer you to the separate article on the employer tax on excessive leave bonuses. Please note that the crisis tax, although comparable, is not identical with the employer tax on excessive leave bonuses. Therefore, a tailor-made approach is required in each situation.

Resources

Recent cases (in Dutch language): ECLI:NL:RBDHA:2014:5590 ECLI:NL:RBDHA:2014:5588 ECLI:NL:RBDHA:2014:5589 ECLI:NL:RBDHA:2014:5586 ECLI:NL:RBDHA:2014:5583 ECLI:NL:RBDHA:2014:5581 ECLI:NL:RBDHA:2014:7439 For further information or to discuss the consequences of the above, please contact Hans van Ruiten on +31 10 224 6 418 or Rina Driece on +31 10 224 6 424 at Loyens & Loeff Rotterdam. Disclaimer Content is for general information purposes only. The information provided is not intended to be comprehensive and it does not constitute or contain legal or other advice. If you require assistance in relation to any issue please seek specific advice relevant to your particular circumstances. In particular, no responsibility shall be accepted by the authors or by Abbiss Cadres LLP for any losses occasioned by reliance on any content appearing on or accessible from this article. For further legal information click here. Circular 230 disclosure To ensure compliance with requirements imposed by the IRS and other taxing authorities, we inform you that any tax advice contained in this article (including any attachments) is not intended or written to be used, and cannot be used, for the purpose of (i) avoiding penalties that may be imposed on any taxpayer or (ii) promoting, marketing or recommending to another party any transaction or matter addressed herein. Copying If you would like to copy or otherwise reproduce this article then you may do so provided that: (1) any such copy or reproduction is for your own personal use or if it is made available to any third party it is done so on a free of charge basis; and (2) the article is reproduced in full together with the contact details, disclaimer and any logos as they appear on each article.