(June 21, 2015)
On June 20, 2015 the Dutch Ministries of Finance and Foreign Affairs published a joint media statement. Below you will find an unofficial English translation we made of this media release.
“By now the Netherlands have reached an agreement on the inclusion of anti-abuse clauses in tax treaties with 5 developing countries. Discussions on the matter have been successfully concluded with Ethiopia, Malawi, Kenya, Zambia and Ghana. Mrs. Ploumen, Minister for Foreign Trade and Development Cooperation: ‘It regards the first batch of a total of 23 countries with which we want to reach agreement on combating tax evasion. It is a good thing that it is catching momentum. It is only fair that a company pays a realistic amount of taxes in the country in which the company is active.’
Seven
Currently discussions on the matter of including an anti-abuse clause in tax treaties are being held with another 7 countries. In general tax treaties provide certainty regarding the question which country is entitled to levy taxes to Dutch enterprises that are active in the respective countries, and by doing so encourage investments. They also strengthen de administrative cooperation between governments because of arrangements that are made regarding the exchange of information in tax matters and regarding administrative assistance to combat tax evasion. Mr. Wiebes (State Secretary for Finance): ‘The norm is that tax is paid where the income is earned. That is what the Netherlands is aiming for. The Netherlands wants to lead the way in adapting treaties with developing countries.’ Expectations are that before year-end new agreements will be concluded wit several countries.
In addition to revising tax treaties the Netherlands is also committed in strengthening the tax authorities of developing countries. By having Dutch tax officials train their Ghanaian counterparts on imposing tax assessments to multinationals, the Netherlands for example contributes to the program ‘Tax Inspectors Without Borders’ in Ghana. Furthermore the Netherlands cooperates with local authorities in over ten other countries in order to increase the quality of the local tax employees.
Addis
New in this context is an initiative for which the Netherlands strains, together with other donors: the ‘Addis Tax Initiative. This initiative should generate substantially more resources for capacity building in the field of taxation. Ploumen: ‘It regards a coherent approach: firstly, to increase the quality of tax regulations, and secondly to educate qualified inspectors that can actually collect taxes. It is the intention that this initiative will be launched on the ‘Financing for Development’ top, to be held mid July in Addis Abeba.
New is also the Dutch participation in the OECD initiative to support 14 developing countries in their participation in the Base Erosion and Profit Shifting (BEPS) negotiations in Paris. The Netherlands will amongst other contribute by ensuring that developing countries will sufficiently qualified to participate in the negotiations.”
Those who are looking for the Dutch version of the Media Statement can find it here.
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