News item | 01-07-2022 | 17:15
The cabinet wants to relax the existing payment scheme for companies that have built up a tax debt during corona. In this way, the problems that essentially healthy companies experience when paying off the tax debt can be met. This is stated in a letter that State Secretary Van Rij sends to the House of Representatives as a result of an internet consultation and talks with business organizations.
Entrepreneurs were able to temporarily defer tax payments during the corona crisis as part of the corona support package. The support package has ended since April and from 1 October 2022, entrepreneurs have five years to repay this accrued tax debt. Currently, 279,000 entrepreneurs still have an outstanding tax debt of 21 billion euros. In total, about 400,000 entrepreneurs have taken advantage of the temporary postponement. Some of the entrepreneurs who have taken advantage of this tax deferral have already partially or fully paid off their debt. As a result, more than half of the original amount of 47 billion euros has already been repaid.
The government sees two options for offering fundamentally healthy companies more flexibility in repayment. This can be done by being allowed to pay monthly amounts to be paid quarterly and by making an occasional payment break possible within the existing payment arrangement. This can help, for example, for companies with a strongly fluctuating turnover due to seasonal influences.
The cabinet does not want any further relaxation of the fiscal corona measures, such as the temporary postponement of tax payment. Last spring, the cabinet already announced that it would no longer offer generic corona support in the future for economic and budgetary reasons. However, the cabinet has recently mapped out which problems entrepreneurs still experience when making repayments, via an internet consultation and through discussions with affected sectors. The government has considered several options to meet the problems experienced by entrepreneurs, a number of which have dropped out.
A relaxation of the payment scheme does carry the risk that companies that do not need such a measure will also make use of it. To prevent this, entrepreneurs must submit a written request showing the repayment problems. Entrepreneurs can also only use this option if newly emerging obligations are met.
In addition, in case of remediation agreements, the Tax and Customs Administration will already agree to a lower remediation amount until 1 October 2023. As part of the restructuring policy, TVL and NOW debts are now no longer an obstacle to concluding a restructuring agreement. In a restructuring agreement, the entrepreneur agrees with his creditors that part of the company’s debts will be forgiven. In doing so, the cabinet wants to support healthy companies in the core and increase the chance of a remediation agreement.