Committee formed to investigate conduit companies

The cabinet has set up a committee that will conduct research and advise on the phenomenon of conduit companies – also known as letterbox companies – in the Netherlands. Just like the Advisory Committee on taxation of multinationals, the committee will be chaired by Bernard ter Haar. The Council of Ministers has appointed the committee on the recommendation of State Secretary Vijlbrief of Finance.

In recent years, the cabinet has taken many different measures against tax avoidance. Besides, a number of recommendations from the Advisory Committee on taxation of multinationals, also chaired by Ter Haar, were immediately followed up. The committee that will investigate conduit companies is a follow-up on this.

The committee is asked to answer questions such as how much tax conduit companies in the Netherlands pay and how this relates to

 their contribution to the real economy. The influence of newly introduced measures such as the withholding tax on interest and royalties and the tightening of the Trust Offices Supervision Act will also be examined. The committee was asked which tax and non-tax policy options there are to combat undesirable use of conduit companies. The aim is that the committee’s proposals can be included in the next cabinet term.

The committee consists of external experts and one internal expert from the Tax and Customs Administration. In addition, it concerns tax specialists and non-tax specialists. In addition to Bernard ter Haar, the committee includes the following persons: Martin Bergwerff, Brigitte Unger, Pieter Moore, Francis Weyzig, Anja de Haan and Henk Vording.

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