Corona reserve: reduction in (provisional) tax assessment

If your business is liable to corporate income tax and you expect to suffer losses in 2020 due to the corona crisis, the corona reserve will let you utilise the expected loss for 2020 against your profit for 2019. This may give you a liquidity gain.

Old situation

If your business is a private or public limited liability company (Dutch acronym: B.V. or N.V.), you can utilise your losses for 2020 against earlier profits. This is referred to as carry-back. An example: you suffer a loss for 2020 and want to utilise this loss against your profit for 2019. You can apply this carry-back in your corporate income tax return for 2020, which you will not file until 2021 at the earliest. Your related refund will not be paid until 2021 either.

New situation

Because of the corona crisis, the Dutch government does not want businesses to wait for their tax refunds until next year. That is why you now have the option to deduct your expected loss for 2020 in your (provisional) corporate income tax return for 2019 in the form of a corona reserve for tax purposes. If you have already paid tax for 2019, you will be refunded some or all of it in 2020.

Cap

Please remember that the corona reserve should be capped at the expected loss for 2020. The reserve cannot cause the profit for 2019 to become a loss either.

Tax return filed earlier?

If you have already filed your corporate income tax return for 2019, you can have your tax return adjusted and still make use of the corona reserve. Your accon■avm adviser would be happy to guide you through this process.

Tip: more new measures

In addition to this measure, the Dutch government has also announced an Emergency Package 2.0, which outlines the follow-up measures for the period from June to October.

We are here for you

Please do not hesitate to contact us if you need help in applying the corona reserve or if you have other corona-related questions. At accon■avm, we have put together a special team that closely monitors any developments in coronavirus-related issues. This allows us to provide a wide range of advisory services. To get in touch, you can send us an email at international@acconavm.nl or use the contact form below.