Dutch corporate income tax return reminder. Or CIT reminder. That is one of the last messages you would like to receive. How is that?
Dutch corporate income tax return reminder
A simple letter, on black and white paper. Nothing fancy, you could think less of that message. The sender, Belastingdienst, make you pay attention. Then you realize this is the reminder for the corporate income tax return. Some wait a few weeks to send us such a message.
I do not want to say we freak out when we get this message, but actually we do. Why?
Why do we get nervous about this simple letter in black and white?
The consequence of being too late to file is our concern. What is the consequence? Indeed a penalty, and not just a penalty, but the EUR 5.514 (2024) fine for being late. This indeed starts instantly a discussion who caused this situation. Client looks at us, we look at the history how this could happen.
The tax office itself finds it reasonable of themselves to give you a 50% discount on the first time you receive this penalty. That implies the EUR 2.757 (2024) amount you are asked to settle then, is regarded a discount by the tax office. Indeed a discount, but the first amount we find already rather high, hence we have trouble seeing the still high amount of EUR 2.757 as a discount. To put it differently, that is not how we disclose that to our clients.
What to do instantly when the reminder is received?
Anybody receiving such a message is morally obliged to inform everybody and anybody that is part of the corporate income tax filing process. The reason being is the deadline set in that letter. The deadline is often the so called 10 day deadline. And in 10 days suddenly a lot can be done.
That is basically the whole point of the tax office. The amount is significant enough to get any corporate move a mountain to get the corporate income tax return filed in those 10 working days.
Exactly our point. It can happen that such a message is received, and at that moment it is not the time to reflect how this could happen. It is time to act, get the administration done, tax return approved and file. Reflection is hardly ever necessary after this event, as all parties involved do not want that to happen again, hence agenda points are made to prevent this.
What if you do not care, or what if the message was never read?
Believe it or not, but there are companies that do not open messages from the tax office. Or companies that do receive mail, but nobody collects the mail. Or any other reason why this message is not addressed.
The 10 days pass and the penalty is a fact. Not instantly, but on the tax assessment you receive after the return was filed too late, the amount is increased with the penalty.
This company did not open the mail, hence did not file. Then an ex officio assessment is send, including penalty. The penalty is already high, but the ex officio assessment is even more high to trigger a response. If no response comes, the collector is activated.
At the same time privileged disappear. The privilege to request a delay in filing the tax return is denied. This makes matters worse, as then the next penalty for the next return to file comes much earlier.
Tax is exciting
We think tax is exciting. Some say to us that we are busy every day and all day to find loopholes to avoid paying tax. That sounds indeed like a dream. And for us that is indeed a dream. Reality is that meeting the obligations serves you better. File in time, obey the rules and get no audit. That is our aim. And about those loopholes, in this digital world we think that the name should be temporary loopholes.
