United Expats Fight Fund
Donation protected
Help us fund the effort to fight and reverse the decison by the Dutch Governement to make changes to the %30 ruling effective for current expats resideing in the Netherlands. Afspraak is Afspraak. A Deal is a Deal.
Expat life is not simple. It means moving your entire life to a new country and starting over again. It often means uprooting families, leaving the comfort of ‘home’, leaving friends behind.
But, we do it. Considered highly-skilled migrants, we have opted to start over again in the Netherlands. We have brought our skills and talents to a country we now call home. And, during our time here, we have made significant financial and emotional commitments to contribute to our home away from home.
The decision to become an expat is not always easy, nor is it affordable. As expats, we incur a dramatic number of expenses that others do not. To help offset these costs, our salary packages include a tax rule known as the 30% tax rule. When the necessary conditions are met, the policy allows the employer to grant a tax free allowance equivalent to 30% of the gross salary that is subject to Dutch payroll tax. This ruling is guaranteed for a maximum of 8 years. Until now.
The Dutch government has recently proposed to change the term-length of this policy from 8 years to 5 years. Unexpectedly, the change is set to apply to CURRENT EXPATS as well – thus negatively impacting thousands of expats in the Netherlands who have built their financial lives around the expectation that the Dutch government would honour their commitment. Simply put: the government is breaking its deal with us.
This is not what we signed up for.
So now what?
Thus far, we have built a community of highly skilled expats with a common goal of asking the Dutch government to stand by its deal. We have filed complaints with the Ministry of Finance and Rijksoverheid and we have spoken with our employers to ensure they understand the severity of the situation. But this is not enough. We need to ensure our voice and actions are impossible to ignore.
This will cost money. We need to develop a website so that our voice is accessible and transparent. We need to seek out legal support to ensure that all of our activities are fully compliant with Dutch law. We need to hire experts to help us formulate and maximize the success of our strategy. We need to plan events. We need to amplify our voices and combine our talents. Your contribution will help us in this fight.
Our stance is clear: We support the authority of the Dutch Government to change their policy towards the %30 ruling for future expats as they see fit. However, these changes should not impact CURRENT expats already residing here in the Netherlands. As was done in the past when amendments to the law were made, transitional regulation should be included in the legislation so that current recipients of the 30% ruling are not affected. As they say in Dutch, ‘afspraak is afspraak’ (a deal is a deal).
To comply with GoFundme rules, please note the below:
- The United Expats of The Netherlands is run by a group of 6 expats living in the Netherlands: Mike, Jessica, Ashley, Pavithra, Engelbert, and Massimiliano.
- The funds are being raised to cover our costs to persuade the Finance Committee to honor the %30 ruling granted to expats currenlty living in the Netherlands. Those costs include but are not limited to Legal Advice, Lobbying, Marketing Materials, Video Production, Social Media advertising, and costs associated with organizing a rally in May and September/October.
-To withdraw the funds we plan to set up a "Stichting" in the Netherlands, a Dutch limited liability organization that is typically associated with a specific purpose. We will set up an bank account under this Stichting to withdraw these funds to, and then pay our service providers and various invoices from that account.
- Any unused funds will be donated to a Dutch-based charity helping expats, immigrants, or refugees by Feb 2019.
- Financial transparency will be practiced. All purchases will be shared with those who donated via a monthly statement starting in June. If no statement is received, no purchases were made.
Interested to learn more or to join the movement? Please visit www.adealisadeal.nl, the United Expats of Netherlands Facebook page, and sign our Petition at Change.org .
#aDEALisaDEAL #afspraakISafspraak
Expat life is not simple. It means moving your entire life to a new country and starting over again. It often means uprooting families, leaving the comfort of ‘home’, leaving friends behind.
But, we do it. Considered highly-skilled migrants, we have opted to start over again in the Netherlands. We have brought our skills and talents to a country we now call home. And, during our time here, we have made significant financial and emotional commitments to contribute to our home away from home.
The decision to become an expat is not always easy, nor is it affordable. As expats, we incur a dramatic number of expenses that others do not. To help offset these costs, our salary packages include a tax rule known as the 30% tax rule. When the necessary conditions are met, the policy allows the employer to grant a tax free allowance equivalent to 30% of the gross salary that is subject to Dutch payroll tax. This ruling is guaranteed for a maximum of 8 years. Until now.
The Dutch government has recently proposed to change the term-length of this policy from 8 years to 5 years. Unexpectedly, the change is set to apply to CURRENT EXPATS as well – thus negatively impacting thousands of expats in the Netherlands who have built their financial lives around the expectation that the Dutch government would honour their commitment. Simply put: the government is breaking its deal with us.
This is not what we signed up for.
So now what?
Thus far, we have built a community of highly skilled expats with a common goal of asking the Dutch government to stand by its deal. We have filed complaints with the Ministry of Finance and Rijksoverheid and we have spoken with our employers to ensure they understand the severity of the situation. But this is not enough. We need to ensure our voice and actions are impossible to ignore.
This will cost money. We need to develop a website so that our voice is accessible and transparent. We need to seek out legal support to ensure that all of our activities are fully compliant with Dutch law. We need to hire experts to help us formulate and maximize the success of our strategy. We need to plan events. We need to amplify our voices and combine our talents. Your contribution will help us in this fight.
Our stance is clear: We support the authority of the Dutch Government to change their policy towards the %30 ruling for future expats as they see fit. However, these changes should not impact CURRENT expats already residing here in the Netherlands. As was done in the past when amendments to the law were made, transitional regulation should be included in the legislation so that current recipients of the 30% ruling are not affected. As they say in Dutch, ‘afspraak is afspraak’ (a deal is a deal).
To comply with GoFundme rules, please note the below:
- The United Expats of The Netherlands is run by a group of 6 expats living in the Netherlands: Mike, Jessica, Ashley, Pavithra, Engelbert, and Massimiliano.
- The funds are being raised to cover our costs to persuade the Finance Committee to honor the %30 ruling granted to expats currenlty living in the Netherlands. Those costs include but are not limited to Legal Advice, Lobbying, Marketing Materials, Video Production, Social Media advertising, and costs associated with organizing a rally in May and September/October.
-To withdraw the funds we plan to set up a "Stichting" in the Netherlands, a Dutch limited liability organization that is typically associated with a specific purpose. We will set up an bank account under this Stichting to withdraw these funds to, and then pay our service providers and various invoices from that account.
- Any unused funds will be donated to a Dutch-based charity helping expats, immigrants, or refugees by Feb 2019.
- Financial transparency will be practiced. All purchases will be shared with those who donated via a monthly statement starting in June. If no statement is received, no purchases were made.
Interested to learn more or to join the movement? Please visit www.adealisadeal.nl, the United Expats of Netherlands Facebook page, and sign our Petition at Change.org .
#aDEALisaDEAL #afspraakISafspraak
Organizer
Mike AW
Organizer
Breukelen (Utrecht), NL, 9