{"id":516,"date":"2017-07-27T09:00:39","date_gmt":"2017-07-27T07:00:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/vwg.nl\/uncategorized\/vrijwilligersregeling-gaat-uit-van-bruto-bedrag\/"},"modified":"2026-03-03T10:33:01","modified_gmt":"2026-03-03T09:33:01","slug":"the-volunteer-scheme-is-based-on-a-gross-amount","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/vwg.nl\/en\/vrijwilligersregeling-gaat-uit-van-bruto-bedrag\/","title":{"rendered":"The volunteer scheme is based on a gross amount"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-large wp-image-3797\" src=\"https:\/\/vwg.nl\/wp-content\/uploads\/20170724_Vrijwilliger-1024x384.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1024\" height=\"384\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Volunteers can receive tax-free \u201crewards\u201d. However, the application of the volunteer scheme is subject to strict conditions. We explain these conditions in our <a href=\"https:\/\/vwg.nl\/en\/nieuws\/vrijwilliger\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">factsheet<\/a> regarding the volunteer scheme. Recent case law shows that the tax court also applies these conditions strictly.<\/p>\n<h4>Holiday pay<\/h4>\n<p>The same applies in the <a href=\"http:\/\/deeplink.rechtspraak.nl\/uitspraak?id=ECLI:NL:RBZWB:2017:3380\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">ruling<\/a> of the South-West Brabant District Court. The interested party in this case is the secretary of a foundation. He receives an attendance fee of \u20ac520 per meeting for attending meetings. In 2013, he attended four meetings. The foundation deducted \u20ac1,082 in payroll taxes from the gross allowance of \u20ac2,080. The secretary received a net attendance allowance of \u20ac998.<\/p>\n<h4>Volunteer scheme<\/h4>\n<p>In his 2013 income tax return, the taxpayer declared \u20ac580 as income from work and home (Box 1). Of the total remuneration of \u20ac2,080, he declared \u20ac1,500 as non-taxable under the voluntary work scheme.<\/p>\n<p>The Tax and Customs Administration has taken a different view from that set out in the tax return. In the tax return, the full gross remuneration of \u20ac2,080 is included in taxable income from employment and home (Box 1).<\/p>\n<h4>No source<\/h4>\n<p>According to the secretary, his work for the foundation was not a source of income. At the hearing, he stated that his work for the foundation had cost him approximately 100. He did not incur any expenses in connection with this work.<\/p>\n<p>The Court finds that the remuneration received amounts to approximately \u20ac20 per hour gross. The Court considers such remuneration to be proportionate to the time involved and the nature of the work carried out. It therefore does constitute a source of income.<\/p>\n<h4>Partial application<\/h4>\n<p>In order to qualify for the volunteer scheme, the allowance must not exceed \u20ac150 per month and \u20ac1,500 per year. The Court confirms that the gross allowance is the decisive factor in this regard. The gross remuneration received, amounting to \u20ac2,080, exceeds this threshold.<\/p>\n<p>The Court also confirms that it is not possible to apply the volunteer scheme on a partial basis. It is not possible for a volunteer to receive \u20ac1,500 tax-free and have the excess amount (in this case \u20ac580) taxed. If the thresholds are exceeded, the total remuneration is subject to tax.<\/p>\n<h4>Principle of good faith<\/h4>\n<p>Naturally, the secretary also states that the Tax and Customs Administration made no comments regarding his tax returns for previous years. In 2012, too, he received remuneration from the foundation. The Court ruled that the mere fact that the Tax and Customs Administration accepted the tax return without raising any queries is not sufficient to successfully invoke the principle of legitimate expectations. Furthermore, in 2012, the remuneration received from the foundation amounted to only \u20ac1,040 and therefore remained within the limits of the voluntary work scheme.<\/p>\n<h4>Cheating<\/h4>\n<p>Incidentally, the interested party also accused the inspector of \u201ccheating\u201d. However, the Court does not regard the inspector\u2019s adjustment of his position as the proceedings progressed as improper conduct. Adjusting one\u2019s position in light of the arguments put forward by the interested party is a logical consequence of what is expected of an inspector in such proceedings.<\/p>\n<h4>On a cash basis<\/h4>\n<p>Some time ago, the same court ruled that the volunteer scheme operates on a cash basis. We describe this ruling in an article published at the end of last year <a href=\"https:\/\/vwg.nl\/en\/nieuws\/the-volunteer-scheme-operates-on-a-cash-basis\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">article<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Vrijwilligers kunnen belastingvrij worden &#8220;beloond&#8221;. Maar de toepassing van de vrijwilligersregeling kent strikte voorwaarden. Wij lichten deze voorwaarden toe in onze factsheet over de vrijwilligersregeling. Uit recente rechtspraak blijkt dat ook de belastingrechter deze voorwaarden strikt toepast. Vacatievergoeding Zo ook in de uitspraak van de Rechtbank Zuid-West-Brabant. Belanghebbende in deze zaak is secretaris van een [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-516","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/vwg.nl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/516","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/vwg.nl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/vwg.nl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vwg.nl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vwg.nl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=516"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/vwg.nl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/516\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/vwg.nl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=516"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vwg.nl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=516"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vwg.nl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=516"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}