Cash at home? The tax inspectorate wants to know

THE HAGUE — The Dutch desire to regulate everything becomes once more apparent from rules that apply to the amount of money citizens are allowed to have at home. The situation in St. Maarten is a lot more relaxed.

There is some good news though: currently there is no limit to the amount of money Dutch citizens can keep at home. And here is the bad news: above a certain level, this money must be reported to the tax inspectorate. The value of gift certificates also counts.

According to the Dutch government money kept at home falls under the household insurance (if you have such insurance of course).

Money saved at home must be reported on the annual tax return. Single citizens have to report if they have more than €653 ($712) in cash. People living with what the government calls a fiscal partner have to report amounts above €1,306 (1,424).

According to the National Budget Institute it makes sense to keep a small amount of cash at home for emergencies. Larger amounts of money are safer in a bank account.

According tofitnessmeester.nl Dutch citizens carry less and less cash, not because they don’t want it but because paying with a bank card is more convenient to them.

According to data provided by the Dutch National Bank around 20 percent of citizens exclusively pay for everything they buy with cash. The remaining 80 percent prefers using a bank card.

Some people are concerned that cash will eventually disappear but the government says that this is not going to happen “for the time being” (a conditional remark that has created at least some uncertainty about the future of cash).

The situation in St. Maarten is different. The tax return (a document of 23 pages) only asks citizens if they have more than 5,000 guilders ($2,793) in cash. The requested answer is simple: yes or no, and the tax inspectorate does not require that citizens report the specific amount of cash they have at home.

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Related article: Cashloze samenleving

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