The Dutch Association of Tax Advisers (‘NOB’) has compiled the below Tax Principles to promote the quality of advice given by NOB members and to protect the reputation of members and the profession. These principles are to be observed by members when providing advice. VanOlde applies these tax principles.

Adopting a position

  1. Tax advice must be based on a realistic assessment of all relevant and known facts and on interpretations of the applicable national and international tax legislation and regulations that can be reasonably defended in law. Members must not recommend tax planning routes or structures that, based on the law applying at the time of the advice, conflict with the aim and purport of the law and are highly artificial or contrived.
  2. As well as being based on relevant sources of legal opinion (in other words, the legislative text and history, case law and legal doctrine), members’ advice on matters of interpretation must also take account the legislator’s intentions.

Transparency and disclosure

  1. Members must comply with all statutory duties of disclosure and reporting, and clients are also expected to do the same.
  2. Members must not perform work where the advice relies on or results in relevant information consciously being withheld from tax authorities.
  3. Any member entering into contact with tax authorities must correctly and fully disclose all facts relevant to the case and known to the member.

Real economic objective

  1. Members must establish the real economic objective of the transactions to which their advice relates. If a real economic purpose is not sufficiently plausible, and achieving a tax benefit is the primary aim, members must discuss the aspects referred to in principle 8 below in their advice.
  2. If no real economic purpose can be identified, but the tax benefit is explicitly envisaged or recognised by the legislator or accepted by the relevant tax authorities, members must nevertheless include the aspects referred to in principle 8 below in their advice.

Societal aspects

  1. As well as complying with legislation, regulations and technical standards, members’ advice must also, where relevant, explicitly take economic, business and reputational risks, as well as the interests of the client’s internal and external stakeholders, into account.
  2. These Tax Principles do not restrict members from discussing all tax positions that can reasonably be defended in law with clients. A request for advice may even result in members having to provide information to their clients on all the possible options, with due observance of these principles.