Dutch IRS victorious over Scientology

William Rea · Oct 24, 2015

Peter King said:
Like in the US, churches and religious foundations/organizations that do good works, are exempt from taxation.

Scientology in the Netherlands has been fighting the Dutch belastingdienst (IRS) to also be granted tax exempt status, it has lead to a lengthy trial that even went up to our version of the supreme court and sent back again.

Yesterday, in a very critical ruling, the court has decided that Scientology is not entitled to tax exempt status.

Our supreme court sent the case back to a lower court because it ordered a substantial investigation into the bookkeeping of the Scientology organization in the Netherlands.

That investigation concluded that Scientology was not a charitable/organization that does good works and needed to be tax exempt because they received a lot of donations, etc. Instead, the investigation showed that Scientology's own money had been largely earned by services provided by the church for which it had been asking (on average) about 588 dollars an hour from the people taking those courses/services.

Scientology uses considerable (in monetary value) and fixed rates and mostly acts and charges like a commercial enterprise and not like a church/religious organization for the common good.

The Scientology church had been complaining that it was entitled to get the tax exempt status because refusing them that tax exempt status would be a sign of discrimination and denial of freedom of religion (on the part of the Dutch IRS).

In Europe the church is being investigated in some countries for being a criminal organization (Belgium) and in France it was found guilty of fraud. In the Netherlands top legal experts say that they hope that law enforcement is keeping an eye on Scientology due to the aggressive donation practices Scientology levies on it's members.

Peter, I have read that the Dutch ANBI tax rules are actually quite open to non-profits so it strikes me that if the $cumologists could not get this status in the Netherlands then how is it getting it elsewhere?

'One of the key requirements of the regime is that the objectives and activities of the organisation should be for 90% or more aimed at and pursued for serving the public benefit (statutory and actually). An ANBI may have no profit motive and is not allowed to 'hoard up' equity, which means that the equity of the ANBI should not excessively exceed the amount of equity reasonably necessary for the ANBI to ensure the continuation of its activities.'

Peter King · Oct 24, 2015

joG said:
Do religious organizations have any privilege in Holland, I was wondering.

They do have some (some are for some religious people):

1. ritualistic killing of animals for Jewish and Muslim citizens, they are allowed to kill their animals (in an abatoir/slaughterhouse) according to their religious laws

2. churches and places of worship like churches are free from property taxation

3. schools based on a religious or other philosophy get just as much state funding as non-religious schools (as long as they comply with all the minimum rules and regulations that non-religious public schools have to comply with)

4. If it comes to war and soldiers have to be billeted, places of worship are protected if this billeting prohibits their ability to hold worship services

5. food in prisons, army, navy, air force, etc. etc. have to be either kosher or halal for Jews or Muslims (if possible)

6. just like it is illegal to incite hatred/violence towards Moroccans (like with Geert Wilders), religious groups and faiths are also protected under the same law(s).

etc.etc.

There are protections and privileges but they have to comply with the laws regarding neutrality (to not favor one faith over another) and equality.

Peter King · Oct 24, 2015

William Rea said:
Peter, I have read that the Dutch ANBI tax rules are actually quite open to non-profits so it strikes me that if the $cumologists could not get this status in the Netherlands then how is it getting it elsewhere?

'One of the key requirements of the regime is that the objectives and activities of the organisation should be for 90% or more aimed at and pursued for serving the public benefit (statutory and actually). An ANBI may have no profit motive and is not allowed to 'hoard up' equity, which means that the equity of the ANBI should not excessively exceed the amount of equity reasonably necessary for the ANBI to ensure the continuation of its activities.'

This is from the Dutch IRS website about ANBI/PBO:

An institution can be qualified as a Public Benefit Organisation (PBO) solely when at least 90% of the institutions efforts are focused on the general good. As a result, sports associations, staff associations and commercial organisations do not generally qualify as PBOs.

Institutions must meet the following conditions to be designated as a Public Benefit Organisation (PBO).

The institution is not a company with capital divided into shares, a cooperative, a mutual insurance society or another body that may issue participation certificates.
- At least 90% of the institutions efforts must be focused on the general good. This is referred to as the 90% requirement.
- The institution and the persons directly involved in the institution must comply with the integrity requirements.
- A director or person determining the policy may not treat the institutions assets as personal assets. The assets must be segregated.
- A PBO may not retain more assets than reasonably required for the institutions work. For this reason the institutions assets must remain limited.
- The directors’ remuneration must be restricted to an expense allowance or a minimum attendance fee.
- A PBO must possess an up-to-date policy plan.
- The PBOs costs must be in reasonable proportion to its expenditure.
- Funds remaining after the dissolution of the institution must be allocated to a general good objective identical to the institutions objective.
- A PBO is governed by specific administrative obligations.

I assume/think that Scientology, when asking 588 dollars an hour for their services means they do not comply with the rules, the assets of the institution will grow by asking such ridiculously high sums from their "students" and or followers.

Peter King · Oct 24, 2015

CaptainCourtesy said:
There's a difference. $cientology is not a religion, and $cientologists aren't being persecuted... in fact, it's $cientologists who persecute folks who denounce their "religion".

And people who escape from their religion, they are being persecuted and members still in the organization have to shun family not/no longer in the "church".