Forums » Netherlands » Business and Finance in the Netherlands

• opelashu

  

  • 2 posts
   

  February 10, 2012 10:58:46 AM CET

  Hello,

   

  we made a tax return via a broker for 2010 in 2011. 

  2010 was our first year in Netherlands, and the Tax Office site sugested that we should do it via an M form. We did not receive any mail from the tax office to do our tax for 2010, but we thought it would be better if we take the initiative and not wait any longer.

   

  So we hired a broker that said it was specialized in the M forms, paid quite more than average, hoping that the broker knows what he's doing.

   

  Now we received much less than the estimations (15%) and the broker sais that there is a problem in processing the M Form by the tax office. And that they aknowledge it.

   

  My question is:

  - Has anyone faced the same issue? (meaning, is it an error done by the broker, or are there also expats facing the same problems with the M Form?)

  - If I would call the Tax authority to check for myself or find out more details, what should i be asking for?

  - is it possible to actually never see the money back? (even after an appeal)

   

  Thank you!

  R

• mrfook

  

  • 5405 posts
   

  February 10, 2012 12:43:46 PM CET

  You can make an appointment with the belastingdienst(tax office) and they will help you fill everything in.....for free.
• halfdutch

  

  • 93 posts
   

  February 14, 2012 1:39:56 AM CET

  Will they speak English during this appointment?
• opelashu

  

  • 2 posts
   

  February 14, 2012 1:23:24 PM CET

  mrfook said:
  You can make an appointment with the belastingdienst(tax office) and they will help you fill everything in.....for free.

  yes, i know it sounds great in theory, but they are kind of useless... i sat with them on the phone for an hour and they could not hep me with anything, according to them everything is correct and fine.

  and yes, good question about the language. my tax office speaks english, but my wife's office is not allowed or does not speak english, for some weird reason... why is it so they cannot tell me (again, useless...)

  my question remains: is anyone facing the same problems like we do?

• expatax

  

  • 97 posts
   

  February 27, 2012 8:50:50 PM CET

  Problems which may occur when an M form is filed:
  
  - The tax authorities have a different migration date in their system. If the (de)registration with the local municipality took placer later (or earlier) than declared in the M form based on the actual migration date differences will occur. The tax assessment will show the migration date which the tax authorities have used.
  
  - The pro rata calculation of the premiums social security is wrong. If you haven't been in the Netherlands the whole year the (maximum) premium income can be reduced pro rata. If this reduction has not been requested or the tax authorities forgot to grant it, the refund will be too low.
  
  - Did the employer send the same year end statement to you and to the tax authorities? It rarely happens that due to the recalculation of the 30% ruling (grant date after January 1) the employer doesn't send the revised year end statement to the tax authorities. As said, this rarely happens though due to the automatic actions in the professional payroll software.
  
  If you don't agree with the tax assessment it is possible to file an objection. This needs to be done within 6 weeks of the date the tax assessment was issued. After 6 weeks it is not possible to object anymore but instead an "informal" request can be sent to have the tax assessment adjusted. The tax authorities will have to process this request.
  
  Of course it is important that the information which has been handed over to the broker was correct.
  
  
• expatax

  

  • 97 posts
   

  February 27, 2012 8:54:10 PM CET

  halfdutch said:
  Will they speak English during this appointment?

  
  Internal guidelines don't allow tax officers to speak English over the phone. Not even those working at the special helpline for foreign residents, which of course doesn't make sense at all.

   

  It may be possible that during an appointment English can be spoken though. That depends on the flexibility of the tax officer.