25 november 2002

www.expatax.nl

At the moment a lot of our clients seem to be contacted by foreign companies trying to sell their investment and retirement plans. Examples are Britex and De Vere. They have a huge phonenumber list from expatriates in the Netherlands and are now calling them one by one.

This is not the way we work. We are not trying to invade your privacy, especially not after a hard day of work. We offer the client free information and the possibility to contact us whenever he or she wants to. Privacy is very important to us. We don't believe in those aggressive tactics. We believe in personal contact instead of calling people without knowing their situation.

This doesn't mean we aren't there when you need our advice. Our expertise includes the offshore products which are being offered to you on the phone and we have contracts with those companies we believe have the best solutions for expats.

So if you were contacted by another broker lately or already had a meeting please contact us for a second opinion and be sure you get the best advice in your personal situation.

It could be possible that the return got lost in the mail (happens more although every postman should know that a blue envelop should go to 'a' taxoffice).

Other reason could be that a time extension has been requested for your tax return but something has gone wrong here. The taxoffice doesn't always respond to requests or forgets to look at them.

The fine this year will be maximum Euro 1.134 (depending on your situation). This means they are more friendly then last year when they also threatened with four years in prison.

When you received a reminder please take the proper action. Otherwise the taxoffice will estimate your income and they will estimate it as high as they can. Let me know when you received one.

Did you know that it's also possible to receive a refund from the taxoffice during the year instead of having to wait till the end of the year?

This is for example possible for interest you pay on a mortgage or other deductions.

If you file the request before 1 December you will start receiving the refund in January. Otherwise it will start in February or another month depending on when you file the request. In that case the monthly payments will be higher.

You can ask the tax office to send you a request or you can contact me. I have the necessary forms available.

As mentioned in the previous newsletter the government indeed decided to keep part of the 'Spaarloon'. The maximum yearly amount of Euro 788 is reduced to Euro 470.

Part of the Premiesparen and Spaarloon will fall free (without tax) in 2003, more than what normally would fall free. When you would like to use these amounts for your retirement there are some possibilities. We would be happy to provide you with more information.

The gross income above which you have to get a private health insurance for 2003:

The past couple of months we could again help a lot of expats getting a mortgage. By buying a property you could in fact most of the time be better of financially than when you are renting. Because of the deductible interest net monthly terms are often lower than the rent which had to be paid in the past. Interest on a mortgage are still low, so why not find out if you can get a mortgage?

Mortgage quotation

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Kind regards,

Arjan Enneman