Filing an M form: 3 considerations
15 June 2021
Of course you want your tax affairs to be in order. You are not looking forward to a high assessment or a correction afterwards, but you want to know where you stand. That is why it is important that your M form is completed correctly. Outsourcing the M declaration to an international tax expert is therefore often worth the money. These three considerations can help with your decision:
1. Save yourself time and frustration
The M form is in Dutch and can only be completed on paper if you complete it yourself. A tax advisor is authorized to submit it digitally. (Update: per June 1st, 2021 you can also submit the M form digitally yourself). Completing the M form yourself is really a complicated job, as many experiences show:
“Completing the M form looks pretty overwhelming.”
“I always do my tax affairs myself, but this M form is a bit too complicated for me.”
“I have already received an M-form declaration, but it seems to be quite a task to complete it,”
2. Avoid costly mistakes
When completing the m form, a mistake is easily made. However, this error can have annoying financial consequences that appear later and can have a long aftermath. Like in this example:
After his emigration back to his homeland, an expat submitted the M-form himself. The tax authorities responded with a provisional substantial refund and subsequently confirmed this with a final nil assessment.
A year later, the tax authorities come back on this and still want to have about € 10,000 in return with interest because the tax return had been filed incorrectly which the taxpayer should have known (called: kenbare fout).
However, the taxpayer was in ‘good faith’ and the tax authorities had made mistakes. The result is a long ongoing discussion. Despite a final assessment, the tax issues of the emigrated taxpayer are still not settled three years later and there is an increasing debt to the tax authorities.
Outsourcing the M declaration to an experienced tax adviser could have prevented this error.
3. Quality is more important than price
Thirdly, another important tip. If you are looking for an advisor to fill in your M form, you may first look at the price. However, we advise you to pay more attention to quality. In order to complete an M form correctly and fiscally as favorably as possible, your entire tax situation must be carefully considered. A quickly completed M declaration at a low price can ultimately cost you money. Even a nice refund that is achieved quickly can possibly be reclaimed years later. Or possibly you would be entitled to a much higher refund. The ‘penny wise, pound foolish’ principle applies very much to saving costs for preparation of the M-form.
Mail us a brief overview of your personal situation and we will indicate what we can do for you with an estimate of the costs.
