Sun, 22 November 2009
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These are busy times for the Dutch Tax Administration. Not only must it process the annual tax returns, but it must also deal with the numerous Dutch citizens who have voluntarily disclosed details of their holdings in foreign bank accounts.In just the past couple of weeks, this has amounted to 24 milllion euro. And the picture's the same elsewhere in Europe. The financial crisis has put the tax havens under pressure.
For years the EU countries have carried out tough and difficult negotiations with the traditional tax havens such as Liechtenstein and Switzerland. But suddenly, one after another, in recent months they have decided they want to come clean.
Monaco, Austria, Switzerland, Luxembourg, Andorra and Liechtenstein have all stood in line with the message that they want to cooperate with other countries in the fight against money laundering. At a stroke, the cherished notion of banking secrecy is no longer sacred.
Tax havens afraid
One consequence of the credit crisis is that people living in the tax havens are afraid that soon all the foreign bank accounts will disappear, says Dutch tax advisor Emile Bunk:
"Times have changed, and you see that a whole load of countries are experiencing problems as a result of the recession. And of course, the world's banks are not exactly doing well. I think that's also the reason why the residents of the tax havens are more and more urging their governments to take the necessary measures."
Repentance
Dutch Deputy Minister of Finance Cees de Jager admits that so far there are no new agreements with the tax havens, but that negotiations are taking place at all sorts of levels. The result is that many people are looking for a new nest for their money and are making use of the so-called "repentance regulation."
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