Credit card company American Express (AMEX) has been told by the American court to provide the credit card details of accounts connected to a foreign bank account to the Dutch tax office.
Is that a problem?
The Dutch tax office has started the process in order to force any AMEX card holder that is a Dutch resident tax payer, to provide his AMEX details as per January 1 of any given year in that year’s income tax return.
The AMEX balance is then part of the so called Box 3 worldwide assets reporting. Up to and including 2016 the tax due over the world wide assets after deduction of the tax credit was 1.2%.
Yes, that could be problem
Not the actual balance of the AMEX card, that is most likely negative and will not result in a Box 3 taxation, is the problem. It is about the foreign bank account the AMEX card is connected to. If that account is not part of the Dutch tax return, the Dutch tax office would very much like to learn more about it.
For instance, where did the balance on that bank account come from? Basically that is the question.
Furthermore, what was the balance of that connected bank account on January 1 of any given year?
Amex credit card account penalty
If the bank account was not reported and there was a positive balance to be taxed. Then the penalty is the actual tax due, plus 300% of that amount as penalty for not reporting in time. Per tax year. The maximum period currently the tax office will look at is the five past years, but that will change in the future to the past twelve years.
Orange Tax Services
If you have the so called 30% ruling, you can have a connected foreign bank account that you have not reported in the Netherlands. But then again, you do not need to report your worldwide assets in the Netherlands.
If you are without the 30% ruling, also your tax partner, and you have not reported the foreign bank account, you will be treated as a criminal from a tax point of view. As the legislation is such that your tax advisor more or less committed the same act as you did, he or she is liable for your fault as well. Hence not many Dutch tax advisors can assist you in solving this issue. If we have not filed your tax returns before, we might be able to assist you. If we did file your tax return, we need to have an urgent talk.
