25 years ago almost to the day, the ‘new’ tax dispute resolution legislation was enacted with the acts of 15 and 27 March 1999. It was a major reform. It put a definitive end to the jurisdictional function of the objection stage.

We need to talk about withholding tax. As natural persons, we all pay taxes on our professional income. The personal income tax is settled for each calendar year. You declare your income in the middle of the calendar year following the one in which you received that income

Didactics dictates that before discussing a superlative form, the basic form should first be explained. The best thing, therefore, is to start with the concept of ‘legistic negationism’, which is not included in the Oxford dictionary. ‘Negationism’, which is included, stands for the denial or extreme minimisation of generally accepted historical events. In Dutch, the term ‘formal legistics’ is synonymous with ‘legislative technique’.

Thirty years ago, when I came to the bar as an intern, I was able to experience it. The judiciary was not gentle with the executive at the time. This was even the case in tax matters. If the tax administration violated a procedural rule, that would be disastrous. A tax assessment that was not established according to the rules of the law  ̶  and art  ̶  was invariably annulled. But things also went further than that