News item | 21-06-2022 | 09:03
The Netherlands has a large number of organizations that contribute to the public benefit, of which about 45,000 are registered with the Tax Authorities as General Benefit Institution (ANBI). These are, for example, organizations such as charities, cultural institutions, churches and other religious institutions. At the request of the previous cabinet, a committee investigated which changes in the rules for ANBIs and their supervision could ensure that these institutions exhibit behavior that is in line with generally accepted values and standards. This report was sent to the House of Representatives today by State Secretary Van Rij.
The committee believes that ANBIs and gifts from private individuals to these ANBIs are of great social value. After all, the government cannot provide all the public benefit on its own. That is why, according to the committee, tax provisions for (gifts to) ANBIs are useful. The tax provisions for gifts to ANBIs also constitute a recognition of the independence of private initiatives.
At the same time, the committee indicates that the goals and activities of ANBIs can come into conflict with governments and companies. For example, if the goals conflict with government policy or with what is socially acceptable. Sometimes the activities of ANBIs do not move quickly enough with the social changes, sometimes they are ahead of their time. Partly due to the activities of ANBIs, social values and the interpretation of fundamental rights can also change over time. In view of the value of a pluriform society, limiting what we consider to be ‘public utility’ is not an obvious step, according to the committee. In addition, the committee believes that setting separate requirements on the basis of fundamental rights is not the right way to standardize the behavior of ANBIs. A fundamental rights assessment usually requires a difficult assessment based on all relevant circumstances. Carrying out this is not a task that fits with the tax authorities and within the system of granting and checking the ANBI status. The Committee therefore recommends other criminal and civil law means or measures that can be used against a single organization or specific behaviour. In this way, undesirable behavior can be prevented or combated.
The Committee also notes that the Tax and Customs Administration does not have a good administrative system to correctly process all data from ANBIs. In addition, according to the committee, insufficient capacity is used for supervision. The committee has included seven recommendations in the report, the most important of which are to intensify and improve the supervision of ANBIs, to strengthen self-regulation and to exclude ANBIs that do not undertake any activities from the ANBI status. The cabinet will study the conclusions and recommendations in more detail and State Secretary Van Rij will provide a substantive response to this report in the autumn. The government will also involve relevant stakeholders, such as the sector organizations and independent supervisors.