Shell companies annually siphon 199 billion euros out of the Netherlands in the form of dividends, interest and royalties. Approximately 22 billion of this amount end up in tax havens, according to a study bye SEO Economic Research commissioned by the Ministry of Finance, ANP reports.
The government plans to tackle the outflow to tax havens, countries with very low tax rates, by introducing a so-called withholding tax in 2021.
In the coming years the Netherlands plans to make itself a less attractive option for companies to establish shell companies in the country. The government is taking a number of measures to ban companies that only choose the Netherlands to avoid taxes at their home base.
The number 2 at the Finance Ministry, Menno Snel, wants to get rid of the image of the Netherlands as a place to dodge taxes. "The Netherlands is not a tax haven," he says. "We are going to make sure that the [business] constructions that were in the news are no longer possible."
The European Commission is launching an investigation into Ikea's tax construction in the Netherlands. European Commissioner on competition Margrethe Vestager is expected to officially announce the investigation on Tuesday, British newspaper the Financial Times reports.
The European Union published its black list of tax havens. It consists of 17 countries the EU believes help multinationals and rich people avoid the tax authorities. The Netherlands does not appear on the list - no EU countries do. But Aruba and Curacao, which form part of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, were placed on a "gray list" - they have two years to implement promised improvements, or they'll be blacklisted, the Volkskrant reports.
The Netherlands should be on the European Union's blacklist of tax havens, according to development organization Oxfam Novib in a report. The EU is currently working on such a list, to get a clear picture on which countries 'refuse to play fair', and the expectation is that the Netherlands will not be on it, RTL Nieuws reports.
The EU list is expected to be presented in December. According to Oxfam, if the criteria for non-EU countries were also applied to the Netherlands, the country would definitely end up on the blacklist.
The Netherlands is the number one choice in the world for multinationals to funnel money into tax havens, according to a study done by researchers at the University of Amsterdam. The researchers concluded that 23 percent of capital flows through the Netherlands go towards tax havens, ANP reports.
Britain comes in second place with 14 percent, followed by Switzerland with 6 percent, Singapore with 2 percent and Ireland with 1 percent. Together these five countries account for nearly half of the money globally funneled towards tax havens.
Bert Meerstadt, a member of ABN Amro's supervisory board, is mentioned in the Panama Papers - 11.5 million documents, spreadsheets, emails and other files leaked from Panamanian legal consultancy Mossack Fonseca that form the basis of a worldwide investigation into tax evasion.
Rotterdam attorney and notary firm Ploum Lodder Princen and Amsterdam trust office Infintax helped set up complex tax constructions for foreign companies and wealthy individuals, according to Trouw and Financieele Dagblad based on the Panama Papers.
The Dutch tax rules are attractive to large multinationals. The same is true for countries such as the United Kingdom, Switzerland and Luxembourg.
The Public Prosecution Authority (OM) is investigating hundreds of transactions in which residents from other EU countries have evaded taxes via The Netherlands. According to confidential criminal files obtained by the Financieel Dagblad, the OM has 26 suspects in sight.
The European Head Office from the coffee chain Starbucks is moving from Amsterdam to London, according to the Financieel Dagblad (FD).
State Secretary of Finance Minister Frans Weekers said the government is assessing its double taxation treaties with developing countries to decide if they are inequitable and if they need revisions on the terms.
There have been reports saying that the tax law in the Netherlands is costing hundreds of millions a year in less-developed countries, but Dutch Finance Secretary Frans Weekers denied this information.
