The tax authorities made a mistake by charging so-called collection interest, as a result of which 155,500 people jointly paid almost 30 million euros too much. There had been an error in a calculation program for years, as NH Gooi journalist Wouter Schutte discovered in collaboration with the investigative editors of RTL Nieuws.
Incorrect calculations were made from the Tax Authorities’ computer program for no less than nine years. The error only came to light in 2021 when a taxpayer objected that the collection interest was incorrect.
Compensation
“When the objection was handled, it turned out that the collection interest was not calculated correctly and that this resulted from an incorrect calculation in the system,” the Tax Authorities wrote in a response. The victims will receive the excess amount paid back plus the statutory interest on it.
The story came to light through NH Gooi investigative journalist Wouter Schutte. As a small self-employed person, he had requested a few months’ deferment for his tax return. He is one of the victims and he received a compensation amount of 79 euros because he had paid too much collection interest. And Schutte thought: “I’m sure I’m not the only one.”
Wouter’s premonition was correct, according to joint research with RTL News. The journalists toured accountants, administrators and tax advisors. The error was caused by a change in the law in 2013. “The interest to be corrected was not properly adjusted in the automation system due to a human error,” according to the Tax Authorities. “As a result, no recalculation of collection interest calculated in the past took place.”
30 million euros compensation
It was only three years after discovering the error that the Tax Authorities were able to correct the 283,250 incorrect assessments from citizens and companies.
The tax authorities want everyone to receive a refund before the end of this year. The lowest damage amount paid is 18 euros and the highest is around 200,000 euros. The total compensation amount is almost 30 million euros.
Victims had to wait three years for their money. Faster was impossible. “The Tax Authorities have a limited capacity to carry out recovery actions,” the Tax Authorities write.
Moreover, the officials could only start restoring the collection interest after another error by the Tax Authorities regarding unjustified reminder costs had been resolved.
Benefits affair
The 155,500 victims include approximately 33,000 people who received benefits during this period. Not only parents are affected by the childcare allowance affair, but also other people who received allowances.
Calculation error
How can such an arithmetic error go unnoticed for nine years? To that question, the Tax Authorities respond that in recent years ‘the (specific) internal control over testing changes in the automated systems has improved.’ The Tax Authorities also ‘periodically carry out regression tests to check whether the calculation rules still work correctly.’
The Tax Authorities also work with outdated computer systems, which in ‘some cases contributes to the occurrence of an error’. Knowledge of such a computer program is limited and you have to make changes in various places in different systems.
Outdated computer systems increase the risk of errors
The Tax Authorities are waiting for a new automation system in which changes can be easily implemented and which reduces the risk of errors.
But even if there had been a new computer system, this error would not have been prevented. “In this case it was a human error and the legislation was incorrectly interpreted and incorrectly entered into the system. This could also have occurred with a new computer system.”
The tax authorities and UWV make mistakes more often
Things go wrong more often at government implementation organizations. The tax authorities have made mistakes before, with the best-known example being the benefits scandal, where thousands of people are still waiting for compensation. But the UWV also went wrong when calculating benefits.
Too little attention for citizens
Reinier van Zutphen, the National Ombudsman, also pointed out to the Tax Authorities in 2020 an error that injunction costs were wrongly not reduced. At that time it concerned more than 266,000 citizens.
Last year, the National Ombudsman wrote the report ‘Providing recovery: a profession in itself’, in which he notes that government agencies pay too little attention to affected citizens and entrepreneurs when offering recovery.