Strike through tax interest due to negligence by the Tax Authorities

An entrepreneur registers her business with the Chamber of Commerce, but it is not yet active. That year, she only has income from employment. For her tax return, she gets help from a Tax Authority employee, who indicates that there is €0 profit from the business, but that she is entitled to the self-employed deduction and start-up deduction. This leads to a substantial refund, which later has to be repaid with interest.

The entrepreneur appeals because she believes the error lies with the Tax Authority. The court rules that the principle of due care was violated by the inspector, as the Tax Authority employee made mistakes when filing the return. These mistakes were not discussed, and the entrepreneur was unaware of them. As a result of the violation of the principle of due care, the court has annulled the tax interest assessment.

However, the IB/PVV assessment remains in place. The court rules that the principle of legitimate expectations was not violated. The discrepancy in the preliminary assessment (an amount of negative €7,872 profit from the business, instead of zero) is so significant that the entrepreneur should have realized there was an error.