What to do if you receive the letter

1. Note the dates

Note the date of the letter, the date you received it and the date of the inspection (schouw). Keep the envelope. These dates will later show how long your car was off the road.

2. Keep your file complete

Keep your declaration, the BPM payment receipt, the valuation report with photos, the purchase invoice, the foreign registration papers and all correspondence from the Belastingdienst (Dutch Tax Administration). Take dated photos of the car as it is now, so your valuation can still be tested later.

3. Ask in writing for the reasons

The letter does not say which damage item is supposedly incorrect, which damage DRZ did find or which value the inspector considers correct. The DRZ survey record is not enclosed. So ask the Belastingdienst in writing for:

• the DRZ survey record and photos;
• for each damage item, what is wrong according to the inspector;
• the value the inspector considers correct, and how it was calculated.

Source: collection of "Onjuiste aangifte bpm" letters held by Stichting ROTA.

4. Ask for a decision you can object to

If the Belastingdienst believes you paid too little BPM, the law provides for an additional assessment (naheffingsaanslag), open to objection and appeal to the court. Ask the inspector in writing to issue that assessment if the inspector maintains that position, and to grant the fiscaal akkoord (tax clearance) in the meantime.

Source: art. 20 Algemene wet inzake rijksbelastingen.

5. Have your appraiser respond

Show the letter to the appraiser who made the report, or to another appraiser. Ask for a written response to the findings. Add it to your file.

6. Filing a new declaration? Do it deliberately

According to the letter you can file a new declaration, but only using the flat-rate table (forfaitaire tabel) or a price guide (koerslijst). Your valuation, and with it your counter-evidence, then falls away. If you choose this in order to use the car, state in a letter to the Belastingdienst that you are doing so only to get the kenteken and that you disagree with the higher BPM. You can object to BPM you pay on a declaration within six weeks.

Source: collection of "Onjuiste aangifte bpm" letters held by Stichting ROTA; art. 6:7 Algemene wet bestuursrecht.

7. Keep the ceiling in view

The BPM on your imported used car may not exceed the lowest residual amount of BPM in similar cars already registered in the Netherlands. So also keep details of comparable cars already on the road in the Netherlands, if you have them.

Source: HvJ 19-12-2013, C-437/12 (X), ECLI:EU:C:2013:857, paras 42 and 44.

8. Report your case

Every report counts in the counter on the homepage. With a copy of the letter, your report counts as verified once the administrator has checked it. Report your case