The cabinet expects that 25 to 30 percent of companies that have been granted tax deferrals in the corona crisis will never pay off their debt again. This concerns about 6 billion euros, said State Secretary Marnix van Rij (Fiscality) in a debate in the House of Representatives on Thursday evening. That is considerably more than the 1.5 billion that the cabinet originally counted on.
The State Secretary estimates that percentage based on the number of companies that have already gone bankrupt during the corona crisis or are currently doing less well and are heading for bankruptcy.
At the start of the corona crisis, the cabinet set up a package of support measures for companies. They could, among other things, apply for wage support or receive an intervention in the payment of their fixed costs. In addition, they could request tax deferrals so that they are not pushed under the water by the charges.
Part of this has already been repaid, but an amount of 20.7 billion euros is currently still outstanding at 282,000 companies, Van Rij said on Thursday. The Tax and Customs Administration will probably never see 6 billion euros of this. Van Rij clarified that part of the support went to companies that were already on the brink of collapse before the corona crisis.
This means that the cabinet will have to find an extra 4.5 billion euros in the coming Spring Memorandum, in combination with a few other setbacks such as the tax compensation for savers in box 3 and the wish for a higher state pension.
Bankruptcy wave expected due to stopping corona support
Earlier on Friday, it appeared that the number of bankruptcies in April is at its lowest level ever, but experts expect another wave of bankruptcy now that the corona support has ended.
Last week, Statistics Netherlands (CBS) also reported that nearly half of the companies that went bankrupt in the first quarter of this year had applied for corona support. The CBS endorses the findings of the State Secretary, who said that a number of companies that would go bankrupt anyway have been kept alive by the aid.
Companies that have requested tax deferrals will be given five years to pay off their debts, although some political parties want to increase that period to ten years.