Dutch ministers set for crunch tax talks

The Dutch Council of Ministers is facing a race against time to reach a consensus on a tax rate for remote operators in the country, with the final meeting before the summer recess set to take place this Friday.

The country’s ruling coalition remains split over the operation of a dual tax rate for gambling operators with the Social Democratic party wishing to raise the tax on online gambling operators from the proposed 20% to 29%, in line with the rate levied on land-based gambling products.

Jan Suyver, chairman of the Dutch Gambling Authority, confirmed to eGR that should no agreement be reached a delay of up to two months can be expected and added that the authority was “crossing its fingers” for a conclusion to the debate.

An agreement was expected to have been reached last week, however a source familiar with the matter told eGaming Review this morning that the tax issue ““ which first arose late last month ““ remained a divisive issue.

It had been hoped that the newly regulated market would be ready to launch on 1 January 2015, however, this date is increasingly being seen as optimistic.

However, should an agreement be reached this week and the Bill passed by the Council of Ministers on Friday, the next step would be for it to be discussed by the country’s parliament when it returns from a summer recess on 1 September.

An increased rate of tax would come as a blow to remote operators, particularly with Unibet CEO Henrik Tjärnström having recently called for the 20% rate to be lowered to 10% to prevent grey market growth.

eGR does, however, understand taxation is the only element of the Bill subject to debate, with a consensus reached on all other parts.