Mediation

The Dutch Tax Authorities and the judiciary are more and more frequently organising mediation. Since 2005, mediation has been used with the aim of resolving a dispute by mutual agreement between the parties. Our lawyers are frequently involved in tax mediations.

What is mediation?

Mediation is negotiation under the guidance of an independent third party: the mediator.

When does mediation come into consideration?

Mediation can play a role in conflicts among parties who wish to resolve their disagreement other than through a decision by a judge or other dispute resolution body, such as an arbitrator or a disputes committee.

Why mediation?

A dispute decision-maker gives a binding judgment in the dispute presented. But often that dispute is part of a wider conflict, for example a disrupted personal and/or business relationship. With the termination of the dispute, the conflict is not out of the world and the next dispute lurks. Mediation aims to end the entire conflict. The mediator tries to recognise the conflict issues that lie beneath the acute dispute and address them between the parties.

Advantages of mediation

• Mediation gives parties control over their conflict; they do not hand it over (in part) to a third-party decision-maker (judge or arbitrator).
• If possible, mediation restores the relationship between the warring parties and aims to resolve the conflict that exists between them. Judicial procedure is based on a battle model, where the judge’s decision determines the outcome of the battle.
• Compared to average court proceedings, mediation is shorter in duration and lower in cost.

Disadvantages of mediation

• Because mediation takes place on a voluntary basis, it is not certain that a solution will be reached. If a dispute is decided by a judge or arbitrator, there will be a decision in the dispute presented.
• An unsuccessful mediation prolongs the duration of the dispute, because a court or arbitration procedure will start afterwards.
• Mediation has a low success rate in very highly escalated conflicts.

What is special about tax mediation?

In a deadlocked dispute with the Dutch Tax Authorities, either the Dutch Tax Authorities employee or the citizen (or his authorised representative) can propose mediation. The Dutch Tax Authorities itself employs mediators, who can intervene in the conflict with a certain independence. However, the citizen may also prefer to engage an independent mediator. He can then make this known to the Dutch Tax Authorities employee. A mediation with the Dutch Tax Authorities often aims to improve the relationship between the citizen and the Dutch Tax Authorities in order to reach a (partial) resolution of the existing conflict. If the parties find each other, a settlement agreement sets out what they have agreed on. The Dutch Tax Authorities by a settlement agreement.

Confidentiality well assured

The Dutch Tax Authorities also abides by the confidentiality required in mediation. This is important because the information you provide during mediation may not be used in, for example, a criminal case that is also ongoing. For the Dutch Tax Authorities, confidentiality is also important because it allows room to look at agreements that are beyond the usual.