The Lower House has today the 2017 tax plans adopted. The Upper House It is now up to them. This House is expected to vote on the bills on 21 December. When the bills were tabled on Prinsjesdag, we described in a article A brief overview of the key points. We will then briefly consider the points that received particular attention during the debate in the House of Representatives.
Income policy
Of course, due attention is being paid to income policy. However, this involves a discussion of tenths of a per cent (or less) and euro cents. We do not wish to bore you with the details. You will see the final result on your first payslip in 2017.
Transfer from Box 3 to Box 2
Members of Parliament have expressed serious concern about the expected (further) shift from Box 3 to Box 2. This concerns taxpayers who, before 1 January 2017, transferred their assets taxed under Box 3 (often savings earning only minimal interest) into a private limited company (or an open-ended mutual fund). See also our article Box 3 in 2017: you can still limit the damage. The 2017 tax plans do not yet include measures to address this tax loophole.
However, the loophole arising from the transfer of liquid assets from a private limited company (B.V.) to an exempt investment institution (VBI) will be closed. This rectification applies retroactively to 20 September 2016, 15:15 (the time at which the 2017 tax plans were presented).
Phasing out self-administered pensions
The most talked-about aspect of the 2017 tax plans concerns the phasing out of self-administered pensions (PEB). We have summarised this aspect of the plans in a comprehensive note. In the House of Representatives, the position of the partner of the director-major shareholder or pensioner was discussed at length. This concerns two issues:
- the partner’s required consent to the waiver of the claims or a substantial part thereof, and the compensation which the partner will stipulate in that regard;
- to what extent a gift subject to gift tax has been made if the partner is not compensated, or is not sufficiently compensated.
Postponement of the start of the PEB phase-out
If the Senate adopts the 2017 tax plans on 21 December, the director/shareholder or pensioner will have only a few days left to carry out the necessary actions, which must be completed before 1 January 2017. What’s more, this must be done during the period when Christmas and New Year are being celebrated. The legislation therefore provides for the Minister of Finance to allow these company directors and pensioners to carry out these actions in 2017. The deadline will then be 31 March 2017.
In all likelihood, this extension will be granted for the following actions:
- making pension entitlements that are still being accrued non-contributory;
- bringing externally insured pension entitlements (back) under the organisation’s own management.
Listed buildings and education expenditure
The abolition of the tax deduction for expenditure on the maintenance of listed buildings and of the deduction for training costs already appeared to have been shelved during the debate in the House of Representatives. The Government therefore did not put the relevant bill to the vote alongside the other parts of the 2017 tax plans. However, it has not yet been possible to withdraw this bill either. The status of this part of the legislation therefore remains unclear for the time being.