The Netherlands has announced temporary support measures for businesses that have been affected by COVID-19. MSI's Dutch accounting member Ruitenburg adviseurs & accountants provides a summary.
Deferral of payment VAT
For VAT, a deferral of payment can be requested. Entrepreneurs who get into financial difficulties due to the coronavirus and are therefore no longer able to pay VAT will receive, upon request, an immediate deferment of payment for three months. Requests can be filed online via the website of the Dutch Tax Authorities or by letter. Tax assessments that are imposed are also automatically deferred up to 3 months after the original request. This applies to all requests made from 12 March 2020 onwards for already imposed assessments.
Example: You receive an assessment for a missing VAT payment for the period from February to 21 April 2020. The payment deadline on the assessment is 5 May 2020. On 1 May 2020, you submit a request, the collection will be suspended until 1 August 2020. A VAT assessment over the period March will be postponed until 19 May 2020. Collection of this assessment will be done automatically – without request - and suspended until 1 August 2020. Please note that the coming periods will accumulate to the first set date. It’s recommended to start partial payments as soon as possible. VAT declarations must be filed in time.
If a delay of more than three months is necessary, you can send a motivated request by letter before the end of the extended date. Please note that this request will be assessed and not automatically granted. The interest on recovery that normally takes effect after the expiry of the payment term has temporarily been reduced to almost 0%.
It is possible that the Tax and Customs Administration will impose the assessment for turnover tax with a fine, even if a postponement has been requested. This fine will be reversed automatically. The fine does not have to be paid and you do not have to send a notice of objection.
Inability to pay notification
Directors of legal persons are jointly and severally liable in private for unpaid VAT. This liability is prevented by notifying the tax authorities within 14 days after the tax should have been paid originally (without postponement!). However a separate notification of insolvency is no longer required in connection with granted deferral on payment due to the coronavirus.
Example: The company does not pay its VAT over the month of February 2020, due to COVID-19. The additional assessment will follow on 24 April 2020. For this purpose, the company makes a request for postponement in connection with COVID-19 which is immediately granted. This is regarded as a notification of insolvency and the notification is also timely for February. This means that the company does not has to make a separate notification.
