The Netherlands is the host country of these embassies and international organisations, whose staff are entitled to various types of immunity and privileges, including tax privileges, under international agreements and national legislation. It is Team IFB that applies these tax privileges, and it has a very broad set of responsibilities. The process starts the moment a privileged person has the contents of their home shipped over to the Netherlands. Team IFB ensures that this can be done without incurring customs charges. In addition, during a privileged person’s stay in the Netherlands, Team IFB ensures that the tax privileges are applied fully, properly, and lawfully.
 
Team IFB makes sure the target group is well informed about tax matters, by way of letters and diplomatic notes (a highly formalised message, drafted in collaboration with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs). In addition to the annual conference, Team IFB also gives on-site presentations, most of which deal with the kinds of tax privileges that explicitly relate to the embassy or international organisation in question and its staff.
 
The event on 30 September was mainly intended to provide newcomers with information that is crucial for privileged persons residing in the Netherlands. For both Team IFB and for the target group of embassies and organisations, with which the team is already in contact in a variety of ways, it was a good opportunity to get better acquainted. Over 200 people, representatives of various international organisations, courts and embassies, were informed by Team IFB about the tax exemptions offered by the Netherlands to the diplomatic community.
 

Meet Team IFB
 
Jeroen Teschmacher, Technical specialist, Team IFB 
I’m proud of my contribution to this event. The preparations and the event itself were highly professional in nature, but there was also time for fun. Together with my colleagues we drafted a diplomatic note and gave a presentation tailored to our audience. I had the pleasure of giving part of the presentation myself. I also took part in the Q&A panel. During the Q&A session there was plenty of time for questions, and attendees took full advantage of this. In my opinion we more than achieved our goal of informing the target group, and that’s something we can be proud of.
 
I want to thank my colleagues from Team IFB and the foreign ministry for what was a great team effort. I’m already looking forward to our next project together.
 
Waleska Peterson, Technical specialist, Team IFB
As one of the speakers, I was closely involved in organising the event. In deciding on the topics we wanted to highlight, we not only considered the needs of the target group, we also asked our Team IFB colleagues for input about the types of irregularities they often encounter and about what overall message they wanted to get across. The aim was to increase compliance and clear up as many uncertainties as possible. This helps not only our colleagues who deal with requests but also the privileged persons themselves, since it means the requests take less time to process.

Debby Drinhuyzen, Technical specialist, Team IFB
It was wonderful to help organise the event with my colleagues and to work with them on our presentation. We made agreements with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs on the afternoon’s running order and what we’d look at . To inform the target group in advance about the event and the topics that would be covered, we drafted a diplomatic note.  Although it wasn’t my first time working on an event like this, I can definitely say that it was the most successful event I’ve been involved in so far! Afterwards I got a lot of positive feedback. And I’m grateful for my colleagues’ involvement. All their hard work and input made for a great afternoon!
 
Malika Essadiki, Head of Team IFB
Besides having a solid grounding in tax law, you also need to know about the world of diplomacy, and the relevant political relations and sensitivities. In addition, you have to possess the communication skills to approach Team IFB’s target group in the right way. It’s great to see how my staff can express themselves in excellent English to inform the target group, and how they can answer – or deftly deflect – diplomatic or politically sensitive questions. I can look back on the day with a real sense of pride. I’m glad the ministry was able to make this possible. We’re already looking forward to next year.

Angel La, Team IFB processing official
The event was a lively gathering of professionals, varying from embassy staff to representatives of international organisations, all of whom took part in an in-depth discussion of tax privileges. The attendees were clearly interested in the subject and asked a lot of questions, which only enriched the dialogue. This interaction underscored the shared passion for international cooperation. As one of the speakers I thought it was a great opportunity to share knowledge and network, which led to valuable discussions. I would like to offer my thanks to my colleagues for their support and to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs for organising this valuable event. This unforgettable experience was both instructive and enriching, and I look forward to taking part in similar meetings in the future.

If you have any questions about this event or about tax-related matters in general, please contact Team IFB at IFB.Diplomatieke.Privileges@belastingdienst.nl.