Residing illegally in NL to be made a criminal offence

04 January 2013, by Carly Blair

(4)

Foreign nationals who reside illegally in the Netherlands will soon be considered guilty of a criminal offence and subject to a hefty fine, as recently announced by the Dutch Council of Ministers.

Those who are caught living here illegally will be given a set time limit to leave the country voluntarily. If they fail to leave within the time limit, they will be committing a criminal offence and will be subject to a fine (currently listed as 3.800 euros here).

Those who are fined may be imprisoned if they fail to pay, and those who are fined twice (or more) risk a severe entry ban. A severe entry ban may last for up to five years.

Though voluntary departure is preferred, forced deportation may be used if necessary. Departure is preferable to punishment, so illegal residence will not be criminalised in such a way that it delays or impedes departure.

The criminalisation applies exclusively to adult foreign nationals. If the foreign national still has a term for voluntary departure (at most 28 days), the criminalisation will not apply.

Assisting illegal foreign nationals for humanitarian reasons will not be an offence, but employers and landlords who work with illegal foreign nationals will remain liable to punishment and will be dealt with more severely.

In December 2012, the European Court of Justice determined in the Sagor judgment that EU Member States are permitted to criminalise illegal residence and to impose a fine as punishment.

Imprisonment for non-payment of a fine is also permitted, according to the Court, as long as it is guaranteed that this punishment is cancelled as soon as the foreign national can be removed.

The Council of Ministers' proposal is based on the Court of Justice's decision. The Council asserts that making illegal residence in the Netherlands a punishable offence will send a clear message to illegal residents and will deter additional people from attempting to live here illegally.

For expats of all colours, shapes & sizes Forum Blog Find house

Find a job NEW

Integration stagnating in the Netherlands

20 February 2013, by Mark McDaid

(4)

There has been no increase in contact between Dutch natives and non-Western immigrants over the past 15 years, with casual contacts remaining stagnant and inter-ethnic visits becoming less frequent.

Almost half of the Turkish-Dutch population will never visit an indigenous citizen, whereas at the beginning of the century this figure was one in three. There has been no trend towards increased inter-ethnic contact in terms of friendships, home visits or relationships, with one in ten Moroccan and Dutch natives marrying a native Dutchman or woman - a similar figure to ten years previously.

This research, published in Trouw by two researchers from the Sociaal en Cultureel Planbureau, comes as a surprise given the assumption that migrant communities should become further integrated as more generations of migrant families benefit from exposure to the Dutch education system and language. However, the paper posts four reasons for the stagnation in integration: increased segregation of migrant communities, the economic climate, cultural differences and the social climate of the host country.

The tendency of immigrants to settle within cities and in particular neighborhoods has caused an increase in so-called "black neighborhoods" and "black schools" - thus segregating communities and diminishing the potential for inter-ethnic contact.

The current economic crisis is also used to explain the lack of progress, with the weak economy affecting migrant groups disproportionately and therefore giving them less chance of a solid, full-time paid job - a great advantage for anyone seeking to make more leisure contacts.

Cultural distance on specific issues, such as medical roles, homosexuality and gender roles, are also seen as key in relations between the groups.

Photo by Flickr user FaceMePLS

Highly educated Turks or Moroccans have, on average, more traditional views on these matters than the less-educated Dutch native.

The article does qualify these first three issues with it's final reasoning, pointing the finger at Dutch natives too by stating that it "takes two to tango". Views on migration and integration are usually negative, and a significant portion of the indigenous Dutch population opposes contact with migrants, whether it be as a friend, partner or with their children.

There is an element of patience required in this situation following the argument that it takes two or three generations before the fruit of integration can be harvested. Yet, in the short term at least, it seems that little progress is being made in the integration of non-Western immigrants into Dutch society.

Source: Trouw
Thumb photo by Flickr user FaceMePLS

Massive Open Online Courses

TU Delft to offer free Massive Open Online Courses

25 February 2013, by Mark McDaid

(2)

The Delft University of Technology is to offer a range of courses online via edX, a non-profit platform for online education. The oldest public technical university in the country will join educational heavyweights such as Harvard and MIT in offering free courses to anyone with an internet connection.

The courses, known as "Massive Open Online Courses" (MOOCs), do not require an applicant to have any prior education or to take an entry examination.

The first courses to be offered on the platform this year will be on Water Treatment Engineering, Solar Energy and Introduction to Aerospace Engineering, and they will be taught like any other course followed by on-campus students.

The courses will last for eight weeks and all of the course material, including video recordings and trial examinations, will be posted on edX. Students will also have the opportunity to interact with their fellow participants.

Though the university has already published over one hundred courses on another platform, OpenCourseWare, this new initiative ties participants into the campus rhythm of following a course over an eight week period.

The 30 Percent Rule (NL)

The 30 Percent Rule

The 30 Percent Rule is a personal income tax reduction for select employees in the Netherlands. It applies to specialized foreign employees who are brought to the Netherlands because their skills are scarce in the Dutch marketplace. The scarcity of work force with particular skills is reviewed annually "The 30% rule".
The purpose of the 30 Percent Rule to compensate employees for the extra costs of their temporary stay in the Netherlands. The effect is to make the Netherlands competitive in the international marketplace for skilled labour, since normal Dutch income tax rates are high (in comparison with other countries) and may discourage some employees from accepting assignments in the Netherlands.
However, there are consequences for possible future unemployment aid, tax deduction for a mortgage and other benefits.
The 30 Percent Rule allows an employer to exempt from income tax up to 30% of the employee's annual remuneration (the "Basis") and used to be applicable for the first 10 years of their stay in the Netherlands Inkomstenbelasting Wet 2001.
New legislation, is in force from 1 January 2012. By new legislation, period is shorted from 10 years to 8 years, with 5 year transition period. Also, foreign students acquiring PhD in the Netherlands are eligible for 30% ruling, even though they were not hired from abroad "Changes in 30% rule".
The Dutch tax authority allows for two options:

• 30% tax-free is reimbursed based on registered receipts for extraterritorial costs (e.g. maintenance of an own house in the country of origin, travel expenses, relocation costs, language courses, long-distance telephone calls)
• the Dutch tax office can upon an approved application of an employee grant 30% tax exemption on the employees remuneration.

In addition, the employer may provide a tax-free reimbursement of the fees paid for the employee's children to attend an international school.
The Dutch income tax law does not, however, specify, how will the benefit of the 30% rule be divided between the employee and his/her employer. Some employers (e.g. Shell B.V.) have stipulated in their general working conditions that the 30% rule benefit is solely for the benefit of the company arguing that salaries of their local workers would not be on par with their foreign work force.
A similar rule also applies to compensate Dutch employees who are assigned to work in designated developing countries or to the Dutch nationals returning to the Netherlands after a substantial period of living abroad.
Note that it typically takes two to three months from the application for the rule to be granted. The excess tax paid in the meantime is repaid to the applicant once the rule is granted.

See also

• Corporate Tax in the Netherlands
• Taxation in the Netherlands
•  

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Income_tax_in_the_Netherlands

Educación Cívico-Tributaria

¿Por qué preocuparse de una Educación Cívico-Tributaria?

En ocasiones se considera la fiscalidad como un hecho que afecta solamente a los adultos. Por tanto, los jóvenes no tendrían que preocuparse por la fiscalidad ya que serían totalmente ajenos al hecho fiscal hasta que se incorporaran a la actividad económica y estuvieran obligados al cumplimiento de las obligaciones tributarias. La Educación Cívico-Tributaria de los ciudadanos más jóvenes carecería, por tanto, de sentido desde esta perspectiva. Ahora bien, ¿es cierto que los jóvenes no ejercen actividad económica alguna?, ¿puede decirse que los jóvenes son totalmente ajenos al hecho fiscal?
En sociedades que han alcanzado un cierto grado de desarrollo y bienestar, los jóvenes empiezan muy pronto a tomar decisiones económicas como consumidores de bienes y servicios. Por tanto, desde la vertiente de los ingresos públicos, su consumo está generando ingresos tributarios. Desde la vertiente de los gastos públicos, la fiscalidad está posibilitando la igualdad de oportunidades en múltiples aspectos, entre los que destacan la sanidad y la educación, por ser los más visibles en estos estratos de edad. Sin esa inversión de solidaridad, que se efectúa desde el esfuerzo tributario aportado por los ciudadanos y que se gestiona a través de las diferentes administraciones públicas, la vida cotidiana y las perspectivas de futuro de los jóvenes serían muy distintas. Por ello, resulta preciso hacerles conscientes de esta realidad.
En la actualidad, la conducta fiscal es una pauta que han de incorporar los individuos en su etapa adulta, sin que se les haya socializado adecuadamente en este aspecto desde edades tempranas. Así suele reducirse el complejo tema de la fiscalidad al pago material de los impuestos, e incluso, a cuánto se paga a Hacienda, cuando el mero pago es una parte importante pero no agota el significado de las obligaciones tributarias.
No cabe duda de que la conducta fiscal adulta sería distinta si se educara adecuadamente a los niños y jóvenes de la sociedad española en el hecho fiscal, como se viene haciendo en otros países (entre otros, Reino Unido, Suecia, Noruega y Estados Unidos). Incorporarían las pautas de conducta propias de individuos que de adultos van a vivir en una cultura democrática que hace de la solidaridad tributaria uno de los pilares básicos del modo de organizar su convivencia social.

¿Qué se entiende por Educación Cívico-Tributaria?

La Educación Cívico-Tributaria no pretende reducirse a la enseñanza de unas prácticas que capaciten para abordar los requerimientos del sistema fiscal. Tampoco ha de limitarse a ser una exposición académica del sentido y la finalidad de los impuestos en una sociedad democrática.
La Educación Cívico-Tributaria tiene como objetivo primordial transmitir valores y actitudes favorables a la responsabilidad fiscal y contrarios a las conductas defraudadoras. Por ello, su finalidad no es tanto facilitar contenidos académicos cuanto contenidos cívicos.
La Educación Cívico-Tributaria ha de tratarse como un tema de responsabilidad ciudadana que se traduce en asumir las obligaciones tributarias, primero porque lo manda la ley y, después, porque se trata de un deber cívico, poniendo de relieve qué efectos tiene el incumplimiento de estas obligaciones sobre el individuo y sobre la sociedad.
De este modo, la Educación Cívico-Tributaria debe convertirse en un tema para:

• Identificar los distintos bienes y servicios públicos.
• Conocer el valor económico y la repercusión social de los bienes y servicios públicos.
• Reconocer las diversas fuentes de financiación de los bienes y servicios públicos, especialmente las tributarias.
• Establecer los derechos y responsabilidades a que da lugar la provisión pública de bienes y servicios.
• Interiorizar las actitudes de respeto por lo que es público y, por tanto, financiado con el esfuerzo de todos y utilizado en beneficio común.
• Asimilar la responsabilidad fiscal como uno de los valores sobre los que se organiza la convivencia social en una cultura democrática, identificando el cumplimiento de las obligaciones tributarias con un deber cívico.
• Comprender que la fiscalidad, en su doble vertiente de ingresos y gastos públicos, es uno de los ámbitos donde se hacen operativos los valores de justicia, equidad y solidaridad en una sociedad democrática.

La Educación Cívico-Tributaria pretende, por tanto, proporcionar a los ciudadanos más jóvenes unos esquemas conceptuales sobre la responsabilidad fiscal que les ayuden a incorporarse a su rol de contribuyentes con una conciencia clara de lo que es un comportamiento lógico y racional en una sociedad democrática. La formación de una verdadera conciencia fiscal consiste en asumir que, por encima de opciones y modelos fiscales concretos, cambiantes como es previsible en toda sociedad dinámica, existe una serie de criterios justificativos de la financiación solidaria de las necesidades públicas y comunes. El principal de tales criterios es el de ciudadanía, que implica asumir las responsabilidades sociales como una contrapartida necesaria al ejercicio de los derechos cívicos.






Portal de educación Cívico-Tributaria