The GDPR, which stands for the General Data Protection Regulation, has received a great deal of attention in recent months. In a procedure At The Hague District Court, a taxpayer is attempting to make clever use of the GDPR.
Estate
The case concerns the levying of inheritance tax. It relates to the death of the mother. The heir in question argues that, under the GDPR, the Tax and Customs Administration’s file should not contain any data relating to the settlement of the estate of the father, who died previously. This is because such data may only be retained by the Tax and Customs Administration for a maximum of seven years.
The court swiftly dismisses this claim. Perhaps the most amusing argument is a remark the court makes as an aside. It turns out, in fact, that the heir submitted the majority of the documents to the proceedings himself.
The court has ruled that the GDPR does not apply to the personal data of deceased individuals. Furthermore, the Tax and Customs Administration is permitted to use personal data for the performance of its statutory duties. There is no evidence that, in this case, the Tax and Customs Administration used the data outside the scope of a statutory obligation or a duty laid down by law.
Interest
This relates in particular to the will of the deceased father. The will stipulates that claims for over-allotment against the heir (the only child) are to be compensated at a simple interest rate of 6% per annum.
Subsequently, the heir agreed a higher rate of interest (9%) with his mother. That rate of interest was to be applied once the debt became due and payable as a result of her admission to a care home.
By arguing that the father’s will should not be included in the Tax and Customs Administration’s file, the heir is attempting to prevent the higher interest rate from being classified as a gift. The court, in our view quite rightly, does not accept this argument.