Coronavirus - Government measures in key jurisdictions - Flipbook - Page 81
The Netherlands
6
7
8
Litigation
Are the courts
operating?
Tax
•
The courts are closed for public but remain functional.
•
The deadlines for submitting documents to the courts remain unchanged as much
as possible, unless the court reports otherwise.
•
In-person hearings are suspended until at least 28 April. In urgent matters,
the courts may hear cases via videoconference or teleconference and, in very
exceptional cases, in-person hearings may be held.
•
Companies can obtain deferral of payment of income tax, corporate income tax, wage
tax and/or value added tax, excises (mineral oils, alcohol, and tobacco), insurance tax,
gambling tax, and landlord levy). The Dutch tax authorities will postpone collecting
payment and grant a deferral of three months immediately after receipt of the request.
The deferral applies to current debts as well as the debts that arise during the three
months after deferral application. Furthermore, a deferral for a period longer than
three months is possible but is subject to further conditions. The deferral application
may be submitted here.
•
The tax authorities will not impose default penalties for non-payment or late payment
of taxes. Default penalties (automatically) imposed will be reversed. Even though this
is not specifically confirmed, it is generally understood that both measures apply
since 12 March 2020. The collection interest that normally starts after the expiry of the
payment term will be temporarily reduced from 4% to 0.01% from 23 March 2020. This
applies to all tax debts. In addition, the interest rate for unpaid tax will also be reduced
to 0.01% as of 1 June 2020. An exception to this is the temporary reduction of the rate
for unpaid personal income tax, which will take effect from 1 July 2020.
•
If a preliminary corporate tax assessment has been imposed and the taxable profit is likely
to be lower than the taxable profit estimated for the preliminary assessment, a reduction
of the preliminary assessment may be requested. This creates a right to a refund (if the
preliminary assessment has already been paid in full) or provides for a reduction of the
monthly tax due (if the preliminary assessment is paid on a monthly basis).
•
The Dutch government has announced that the Dutch tax authorities will grant all
requests to reduce preliminary assessments. The application may be submitted here.
•
The Dutch Ministry of Justice and Security published a bill on 8 April 2020 on temporary
provisions in the area of the Ministry of Justice and Security in connection with the
coronavirus ( COVID-19) outbreak (the “Emergency Act”) and an accompanying
Explanatory Memorandum. The Emergency Act provides for, among other things:
Has any new
legislation been
introduced in light
of COVID-19?
Company
law matters
Have any measures
been put in place
to accommodate
social distancing
(such as remote
general meetings)?
– the facilitation of electronic decision-making by temporary derogation from the legal
and statutory provisions concerning holding physical meetings of legal entities;
– extension of the period for preparing annual accounts by the management board
instead of by the general meeting;
– a temporary limitation on the ‘presumptions of proof’ for directors’ liability in case of
bankruptcy if filing the annual accounts is delayed as a result of COVID-19.
•
The bill has now been adopted by the House of Representatives and must be adopted by
both the House of Representatives and the Senate.
•
More information can be found here.
Government measures in key jurisdictions
81