Whereas,
the Kingdom of the Netherlands
and
the United States of America,
(each, a “Party,” and together, the “Parties”) have a longstanding and close relationship with respect to mutual assistance in tax matters in respect of the United States and the Netherlands and desire to conclude an agreement to improve international tax compliance by further building on that relationship;
Whereas, Article 30 of the Convention between the United States of America and the Kingdom of the Netherlands for the Avoidance of Double Taxation and the Prevention of Fiscal Evasion with Respect to Taxes on Income, signed at Washington on 18 December 1992, as amended in 1993 and 2004 (“the Double Tax Convention”) and the Convention on Mutual Administrative Assistance in Tax Matters, done at Strasbourg on 25 January 1988 (the “Mutual Assistance Convention”) authorize exchange of information for tax purposes, including on an automatic basis (hereinafter the “Conventions” refers to the Double Tax Convention and the Mutual Assistance Convention and any amendments to those conventions that are in force for both Parties);
Whereas, the United States of America enacted provisions commonly known as the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (“FATCA”), which introduce a reporting regime for financial institutions with respect to certain accounts;
Whereas, the Government of the Netherlands is supportive of the underlying policy goal of FATCA to improve tax compliance;
Whereas, FATCA has raised a number of issues, including that Netherlands financial institutions may not be able to comply with certain aspects of FATCA due to domestic legal impediments;
Whereas, the Government of the United States of America collects information regarding certain accounts maintained by U.S. financial institutions held by residents of the Netherlands and is committed to exchanging such information with the Government of the Netherlands and pursuing equivalent levels of exchange;
Whereas, the Governments of the United States and the Netherlands are committed to working together over the longer term towards achieving common reporting and due diligence standards for financial institutions;
Whereas, the Government of the United States of America acknowledges the need to coordinate the reporting obligations under FATCA with other U.S. tax reporting obligations of Netherlands financial institutions to avoid duplicative reporting;
Whereas, an intergovernmental approach to FATCA implementation would address legal impediments and reduce burdens for Netherlands financial institutions;
Whereas, the Governments of the Parties desire to conclude an agreement to improve international tax compliance and provide for the implementation of FATCA based on domestic reporting and reciprocal automatic exchange pursuant to the Conventions and subject to the confidentiality and other protections provided for therein, including the provisions limiting the use of the information exchanged under the Conventions;
Now, therefore, the Parties have agreed as follows:
