Tax authorities withhold information from judge: 'You're down 1-0'

January 26, 2023 06:43 Updated January 26, 2023 08:13

The tax authorities sometimes withhold information from court, while the law requires that all relevant documents in a case must be submitted. This is evident from research by the political editors of RTL News. The Tax Inspectorate calls it “worrying” and is investigating the scale of this happening. According to Secretary of State Van Rij, these are incidents.Attorney Carlijn van Dijk regularly faces the tax authorities in court. She often has to “push and pull hard” to get the entire file on the table. “Sometimes you have to make a lot of effort to get documents in the procedure that are exculpatory.” Then you're down by one zero,” lawyer Mark Hendriks agrees. Hendriks also often has to fight to get information from the tax authorities. “To give you an example: in a case, I've been getting a file about FIOD documents for four years. We know they're there but we're not getting them.” It looks like the tax authorities believe they can determine what the documents are,” says tax lawyer Marco Bik. “However, that's not up to them, that's what the law says. Fortunately, judges are increasingly done with this.”

Read also: Tax authorities want citizens to come up with which structures are wrongTap fingersLawsuits are regularly held about whether all relevant documents are in a file. In doing so, the judge sometimes gives a firm slap on the fingers of the tax authorities. In one case last year, for example, the opinion was that the tax authorities “seriously violated the good rule of law” by withholding documents, and in a few other cases, additional taxes imposed for that reason were removed.” The fact that in a number of situations there is a discussion about the documents related to the case is true,” says responsible Secretary of State Van Rij for Finance. “But it's not like everything goes wrong. I really want to contradict the view that this would be a dime, because that's just not the case. Every statement is one too many, but we shouldn't blow it up.”Secretary of State Van Rij: 'Don't make it bigger than it'01:38 State Secretary Van Rij responds: “Don't make it bigger than it is.”Too oftenAccording to professor of tax law Jan van de Streek, the number of examples is too large to speak of incidents. “It just happens too often.” He fears that it can never be completely changed. “It's a matter of mentality. This lack of openness and transparency is in the DNA of the tax authorities.” The Tax, Customs and Surcharges Inspectorate says it has a number of examples where the tax authorities have not properly complied with the rules of procedure. “As a result, files are submitted to court incomplete,” says Inspector General Bart Snels. We have no idea of the reasons behind it and it is unclear on what scale it occurs. But of course, these kinds of signals are worrying.” The inspectorate is investigating this further.Tax Inspectorate investigates signals withholding information00:55 The Tax Inspectorate is investigating signs of withholding information. Bart Snels explains.Lower abdomenLawyer Touria Khidous also often spends a lot of time and energy to complete files. “Every day, we still see that information is being withheld or covered up. Often you find out by chance. Then my gut says: this isn't right, I need to dig.” It then takes a lot of hard work to get all the information out, says lawyer Marloes Lammers. “I had to spend a year and a half in one of my files to uncover exculpatory documents,” says Lammers.

Also read: 'Tax authorities do nothing with tens of thousands of tips about fraud'ExperienceIn response to all criticism from lawyers, Secretary of State Van Rij says: “That is their experience in their cases.” He maintains that things are usually going well.” There are 23,000 appeal procedures. If all 23,000 appeals were as they propose now, we would have a very big problem. And that is not the case. But again, I take what has been raised very seriously.”Court rulingsArticle 8:42 of the General Administrative Law Act (Awb) states that the tax authorities must submit “all documents relating to the case” to court in tax matters. Under article 8:29 Awb, the tax authorities can rely on the confidentiality of certain information if there are important reasons for doing so. If a party, for example the tax authorities, does not comply with its obligations, the court can impose sanctions (article 8:31 Awb). b) In a ruling of 4 May 2018 the Supreme Court has further formulated what should be understood by “documents related to the case”. If, when dealing with a case, it appears that this obligation has not been met, then, according to the Supreme Court, it is up to the court to determine what consequences this should have. If an incomplete file appears to be incomplete, the court often has no consequences, according to case law. But in some cases, it is a reason to annul an imposed attack. In 2022, too, many lawsuits were filed about whether the tax authorities had provided all relevant information. A few examples:

• On February 18, 2022 annuls the Supreme Court an earlier ruling by the Court of Appeal for violation of article 8:42 AWR.
• On May 3 the Northern Netherlands court rules that the tax authorities have “seriously violated the principles of a good legal order by not submitting documents in time” and that this is so serious “that the 2013 recovery assessment must be annulled”:
• On June 2, 2022 the North Holland District Court rules that the tax authorities wrongly withheld a FIOD file and that thus 'the good procedural order has been violated':
• On June 8, 2022 the Gelderland court reduces an attack to zero due to the failure to submit all documents related to the case.
• on June 29, 2022 condemns the Court in The Hague the tax authorities up to a court fee of 10,000 euros due to the attitude in the objection and appeal phase.
• On November 16, 2022 the 's-Hertogenbosch Court of Appeal annuls an attack because, despite repeated requests, the tax inspector has not submitted all the documents.

Source: RTL News