The Municipal taxes and WOZ news alert addresses interesting developments and court rulings concerning local taxes and the Valuation of Real Estate Act (WOZ). The news alert is published in principle every four months. Hereby we present you the August 2014-edition.

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Table of Contents

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1. Developments

Which care homes qualify for the landlord levy?
The return for the 2014 landlord levy must be filed before October 1, 2014. This also applies to care facilities. However, self-contained accommodation, which is part of an intramural residential care complex whose residential component is funded through the Exceptional Medical Expenses Act (Algemene Wet Bijzondere Ziektekosten; AWBZ) or the Medical Research (Human Subjects) Act (Wet medisch-wetenschappelijk onderzoek; WMO) or by a health insurer, does not qualify for the landlord levy. The accommodation is covered by the landlord levy if the individual resident pays the residential expenses.

Change to tax on tap water reversed
Major water consumers, such as those in the food and industrial sector, can heave a sigh of relief. The Deputy Minister of Finance has decided to maintain the 300 cubic meter tax ceiling. Nevertheless, the rate has been doubled to EUR 0.33 per cubic meter of tap water. The Tax Plan 2015 will probably provide more clarity on the future of the tax on tap water.

Save on inheritance tax
Is the property (WOZ) value too high? Beneficiaries can also file an objection. Beneficiaries have the option to request a new WOZ decision and may then lodge an objection against it within six weeks. Even if the WOZ decision was sent to one of the beneficiaries and this beneficiary has allowed the six-week objection period to expire without taking any action, another beneficiary may request a decision that is open to objection. An objection can certainly make sense if the inherited property has already been sold for less than the WOZ value.

With effect from 2010, the WOZ value serves as the starting point for the determination of the value of the inherited property. From 2012, the taxpayer may – in view of the deteriorating housing market – choose between the WOZ value that applies in the year of death or in the subsequent year.

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2. Case Law

WOZ value of retail outlet
Municipal authorities must  provide the addresses of reference properties to the taxpayer during the objection stage.  In an objection against the WOZ value of a retail outlet, a municipality had – for privacy reasons – refused to provide the addresses of the reference properties it used. Because of this anonymizing, the taxpayer was unable to verify the value. The situation is different during an appeal and municipal authorities are required to provide the courts with complete, non-anonymized data. Unlike the District Court, the Court of Appeals (ECLI:NL:GHSHE:2014:1818) ruled in the taxpayer's favor. It is essential to know which reference property is involved, because without this information, the taxpayer cannot verify the information provided by the municipality.

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3. Contact

If you would like to receive more information about municipal taxes and the WOZ, please contact either your tax advisor at KPMG Meijburg & Co, or one of the contacts listed below, or click on the following link www.meijburg.nl.

Merijn Betjes
E. betjes.merijn@kpmg.nl
T. +31(0)20 656 14 72

Annemiek van Dijk
E. vandijk.annemiek@kpmg.nl
T. +31(0)20 656 12 46

Chris Oude Lohuis
E. oudelohuis.chris@kpmg.nl
T. +31(0)20 656 14 37