Cassation in tax affairs for entire Kingdom

April 22, 2010 7:05 AM

ORANJESTAD — From now on, citizens of Aruba, Curaçao and St. Maarten may contest their tax court cases up to the Supreme Court. A vast majority in the Lower Chamber adopted the enactment from parliamentarian Andin Bikker (PDR) yesterday.

Bikker made use of the upcoming dismantlement of the Netherlands Antilles per October 10th, 2010 and the connecting amendments in National Laws to introduce this enactment. He reasoned one might as well adjust the Cassation regulation, while amendments are currently being made. Critical point in the current Cassation regulation regards the inequality in the rights of the Dutch, Arubans and Antilleans, as Dutch citizens may submit their tax courts cases to the Supreme Court, while their Caribbean fellow citizens do not have that right. Cassation is only possible for Aruban and Antilleans regarding civil cases and criminal cases.
This inequality was recently brought up during the National meetings on the reformations in the Kingdom. The Dutch CDA-party suggested giving citizens of Bonaire, Saba and St. Eustatius the same cassation rights as the Dutch citizens. A logical line of reasoning, as the three islands will soon become Dutch municipalities. Subsequently, Andin Bikker suggested realizing the same rights for the rest of the Kingdom. Bikker had frequently expressed himself in the past on the limited possibilities for citizens to appeal against one’s assessment, or receive their income tax refund on time. Other tax-advisors on Aruba had also labored for a cassation regulation regarding tax affairs.

The members of Parliament of the Netherlands, Aruba and the Netherlands Antilles had met in The Hague during the past week to discuss the amendment of the Statute and the consensus national laws required for the political changes in the Kingdom. These National Laws were adopted yesterday. This legislation regulates amongst others the financial supervision, the administration of law and judicial procedure, and the design of the police.

(Source: National newspaper Amigoe)

16 April 2010