You must submit a notice of appeal (beroepschrift) to the district court in order to start the appeal process for tax cases (e.g. For matters relating to income tax, property valuation (WOZ), VAT returns, wealth tax or road tax). You are the claimant.

Submit your notice of appeal to the district court within 6 weeks of your objection being dismissed. The date of the decision made in response to your objection can be found in the letter from the Tax and Customs Administration, municipality, province or water board.

Documents to be included

Documents of importance to the court should be sent together with your notice of appeal. In all cases, these include:

• a copy of the appeal decision that you are appealing against;
• a copy of the appeal committee’s opinion, if the committee was involved in your appeal;
• documents and photographs to support your position, if you have them; and
• written authorisation, if you are using an authorised representative.

Additional documents for organisations (company, foundation or association)

Do you want to lodge an appeal in the capacity of an organisation? In that case, please include the following:

• an excerpt from the commercial register (and if there are parent legal entities, attach the excerpts for these as well). These excerpts must show who, as the ultimately authorised director, has the right (is entitled) to make an appeal. Excerpts must be less than 1 year old;
• a copy of the articles of association; and
• an excerpt pertaining to the holding company (less than 1 year old).

Informing the counterparty

The district court informs the counterparty, i.e. the public authority (Tax and Customs Administration, municipality, province or water board) that you have initiated appeal proceedings.

Rules of procedure

More information can be found in the Rules of Procedure for District Courts (overheid.nl)(in Dutch).

The public authority (Tax and Customs Administration, municipality, province or water board) that dismissed your objection is your counterparty (defendant) in this case. The district court will ask this public authority to write a statement of defence and to send all documents relating to the tax case (tax return, VAT return, road tax, etc.). The district court will send you copies of the documents submitted by the public authority.

You may also submit additional documents. Examples of these are a written response to the public authority’s statement of defence.

• Submit additional documents digitally (formulier.rechtspraak.nl) (in Dutch)
  

The judge will generally deal with your appeal case at a hearing.

Proceedings without a hearing

There is no hearing if:

• the judge considers that the documents are so clear that oral proceedings at a hearing would not add any value AND all parties state that they do not want a hearing. Once the parties have given their consent, the judge will rule on the matter without a hearing. If you do not agree with the judge's decision, you can appeal to a higher court (see step 6 below);
• the judge opts for simplified proceedings. For example, this may be because:
• the tax court is not the correct court to hear a case (the tax court has no jurisdiction [kennelijk onbevoegd]);
• the point of law, documents or case law are so obvious that no further oral proceedings are necessary (this is called 'manifestly well-founded' [kennelijk gegrond] or 'manifestly unfounded' [kennelijk ongegrond]); or
• the notice of appeal was filed late (the appeal is manifestly inadmissible [kennelijk niet-ontvankelijk]).

Do you disagree with the judge's decision following the simplified proceedings dealing with your case? If so, you can object to this ruling (see step 6 below).


Proceedings with a hearing

You and the public authority will receive an invitation to the hearing. This states when (date) and where (location) the oral hearing will take place.

Attendees at the hearing

You are not obliged to come to the hearing, but it is recommended. If you do come, you will have the opportunity to present an oral explanation. You can also answer any questions that the judge asks. The same applies to the public authority (Tax and Customs Administration, municipality, province or water board).

Public or private nature of tax cases

1. Not public
   Tax cases are not public. Members of the public are not allowed attend the hearing.
2. Tax penalty: public
   Proceedings relating to tax penalties are held in public. Is the penalty part of a broader tax case? If so, only the proceedings on the penalty issue are held in public.
• Attending a hearing (in Dutch)
  

Witnesses and experts 


If you wish to summon a witness or expert or bring one with you, you must notify the judge and the public authority in writing at least 10 days before the hearing. The judge is not obliged to hear any witnesses or experts that you bring with you.

Oral proceedings

The judge presides over the oral proceedings. The judge asks questions and discusses the points of disagreement between the parties. If both parties are amenable, they may still reach a settlement together:

Reaching a settlement

The possibility is still open for both parties to reach an agreement together at the hearing. The settlement is a binding agreement. This means that the parties must honour the agreements.

 


Out-of-court mediation

This means that the parties try to reach an out-of-court resolution with the help of an external mediator.

Legal proceedings focus on the legal aspects of a conflict. Out-of-court mediation means that you and the other party/parties seek a solution to all aspects of the dispute. Therefore, the judge will see if your case lends itself to mediation. You also have the option of indicating that you wish to follow the mediation route.

 

 


The judge’s ruling

What happens if the parties are not amenable to reaching a solution together? Or if the dispute does not lend itself to this? The parties will then be able to further explain their positions and answer questions that the judge asks. Tax judges generally try to reach a decision themselves. Occasionally, an interlocutory ruling may be issued.

Objection – following simplified proceedings without a hearing

Do you disagree with the judge’s ruling following the simplified proceedings dealing with your case? If so, you can lodge an objection against this ruling. You do this by sending a letter to the district court, referred to as the notice of objection [verzetschrift]. You must do this within 6 weeks. If the district court rules in favour of your notice of objection, another hearing will take place.

Disagreeing with the decision on your objection

If you disagree with the court’s decision on your objection, you can appeal (in Dutch) to the Supreme Court of the Netherlands. You must submit your appeal to the Supreme Court of the Netherlands within 6 weeks of the date of the decision on your objection.

Appealing to a higher court

Do you disagree with the judge’s decision on your objection? Then you can appeal (in Dutch) to the higher court specified in the decision. An appeal judge will then review your tax case. You must appeal to the higher court within 6 weeks of the court’s decision. The public authority can also appeal to a higher court.