News item | 07-02-2024 | 5:00 PM
A group of approximately 2,500 people will receive financial compensation from the Tax Authorities because it is unlikely that their tax returns have been selected on tax grounds. This is evident from research into reports between 2012 and 2019 in response to questions that arose regarding the so-called Selection at the Gate and the investigations into the Fraud Signaling Facility (FSV). This is stated in the State of Affairs Letter that State Secretary Van Rij (Tax and Tax Authorities) sends to Parliament in preparation for the Tax Authorities Committee Debate and which describes the progress of current files within the service.
To determine how many people were involved, 10,300 returns were manually assessed again. It was investigated which elements in the declarations, such as deductions for healthcare costs and/or donations, gave rise to selection of the declaration. This showed that no criteria relevant to tax supervision could be found in approximately 2,500 tax returns. This means that for these citizens it cannot be ruled out that their declarations were wrongly selected and that they may therefore not have received equal treatment.
State Secretary Van Rij: “People must be able to count on a fair selection and treatment of their tax return by the Tax Authorities. The fact that this did not happen to 2,500 citizens is serious, for which I offer my sincere apologies. Through this recovery we ensure that this group of people receive compensation and legal certainty. I will continue to work with the Tax Authorities to restore trust from what has not gone well in the past.”
The bill for paying out the compensation was included in the 2024 Tax Plan package and has been adopted. The Tax Authorities can therefore start implementing this scheme. The first citizens are expected to be informed in February 2024 about the results of the investigation into the selection of their tax return. Eligible citizens will receive their compensation in the first quarter of 2024 through a decision subject to appeal. This scheme is expected to cost approximately 15 million euros, making the average compensation approximately 6,300 euros per citizen involved.