Scary news for those taxpayers still not reporting their worldwide assets in Box 3. If you are ready to come clean and want to take advantage of the amnesty program, there is a specific form to complete, called a "Vrijwillige Verbetering", which can be downloaded from the Belastingdienst web site at http://download.belastingdienst.nl/belastingdienst/docs/vrijwillige_verbetering_buitenlands_vermogen_ib151z3plfol.pdf.
Unfortunately the form seems to be available only in Dutch. Note that tax paid in Box 3 is a "creditable" tax for US tax purposes, so playing it by the book usually doesn't give too bad of a result for US citizens, aside from avoiding penalties down the road.
Per DutchNews.nl (www.dutchnews.nl), Monday 06 April 2009:
The fine for people found to have secret bank accounts abroad is to be tripled to 300% of the non-declared savings, tax minister Jan Kees de Jager told tv show Buitenhof on Sunday.
At the moment, people found with secret savings face having all of the money confiscated by the tax authorities. If MPs back de Jager's proposals, they will also have to pay the same amount twice over in fines.
Since 2002, the government has operated an amnesty for people with secret accounts. If they admit to having money stashed abroad they have to pay an extra tax surcharge but no fine and will not face criminal prosecution.
So far this year 317 people have come forward, admitting to secret savings totalling some €70m.
Drug dealers
The Telegraaf reports on Monday that a considerable percentage of the people declaring their foreign savings are soft drugs traders who made their money in the 1990s.
'If they declare their money to the tax before an investigation is begun, they do not have to say where their capital came from,' one lawyer told the paper.
Since it emerged that Switzerland, Liechtenstein, Luxemburg and Andorra are reforming their bank secrecy laws, the number of people declaring their foreign accounts has gone up by 20 a day, the paper says.
Tax havens are coming under increasing pressure on their banking secrecy laws and world leaders agreed at last week's G20 summit in London to take tougher action against them.
David Colvin is a CPA and CFP® based in Amsterdam, Netherlands since 1998. His niche focus is serving high-net-wealth individuals with cross-border tax and financial issues. He is also an advisor to Maxim Global Wealth Advisors, based in Amsterdam and Portland, Oregon.
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