News item | 01-10-2022 | 09:55
The government wants to do more to support entrepreneurs with temporary payment problems. That is why a number of structural adjustments will be made to the policy on payment arrangements of the Tax and Customs Administration as of 1 October 2022. In this way, more customization can be offered if the situation of an entrepreneur requires it. The relaxations are mainly aimed at smaller companies.
Two of the relaxations that were temporarily introduced in connection with corona are now being definitively continued. For example, the payment arrangement now also takes effect for entrepreneurs on the date of the postponement decision. It also remains possible to request a deferment of payment for the motor vehicle tax.
State Secretary van Rij: “Together with the Tax and Customs Administration, we are working on possibilities to help entrepreneurs and private individuals with more customization if necessary. Central to this is that we only use forced recovery as a last resort, we prevent taxpayers from getting into payment problems and that entrepreneurs and private individuals do not feel a barrier to report if they are unable to pay a tax assessment. These relaxations in the postponement policy help with this.”
In addition to the two relaxations, the Tax and Customs Administration can waive the 100% security requirement for entrepreneurs as of 1 October. This security requirement obliges entrepreneurs to provide the Tax Authorities with certainty that the debt will be repaid, for example with a bank guarantee or mortgage, in order to obtain a payment arrangement. The Tax and Customs Administration will always ask for certainty if the amount of the tax debt, the nature of the tax debt or the declaration and payment behavior give rise to this. The option to waive the 100% security requirement mainly helps small businesses that are not always able to provide security, but are in temporary financial difficulties.
At the moment it is not yet possible to request a payment arrangement if a short deferment has already been granted for a tax debt. In order to prevent people from getting or staying in problematic debts as much as possible, this will be possible from 1 October 2022.
The threshold for businesses to request deferral of payment in special circumstances will also be lowered. This is done by canceling the mandatory statement of an external expert for a tax debt below €20,000. Special circumstances exist if an entrepreneur has (mainly) encountered temporary liquidity problems due to a cause beyond his control. In such a case, the entrepreneur can be deferred for longer than 12 months if this is necessary due to the liquidity problems.
The announced relaxations are in principle open to all entrepreneurs. However, the easing is mainly aimed at smaller companies.