{"id":3481,"date":"2019-01-10T15:30:44","date_gmt":"2019-01-10T15:30:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.top10pokersites.net\/news\/?p=3481"},"modified":"2019-01-10T15:30:44","modified_gmt":"2019-01-10T15:30:44","slug":"netherlands-court-rules-pokerstars-eu-winnings-not-liable-to-tax","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.top10pokersites.net\/news\/netherlands-court-rules-pokerstars-eu-winnings-not-liable-to-tax","title":{"rendered":"PokerStars Winnings Not Liable to Tax, Dutch Court Rules"},"content":{"rendered":"
Online poker players in Netherlands will be happy to know that a Dutch Court has ruled that players who play and win on PokerStars.eu<\/a> should not be taxed. <\/p>\n This is the ruling by the Court of Appeals in Den Bosch<\/strong> which means that local gamblers who earned winnings through the Malta-licensed PokerStars site are temporarily off the hook.<\/p>\n For years, the Dutch tax office (Belastingdienst) held that local players were subject to a 29 percent tax on their winnings on PokerStars.eu<\/strong>. Speaking on behalf of the 100 players involved in the case, lawyer Pepjin le Heux<\/strong> said some of his clients would have to pay accumulated taxes going as high as \u20ac500,000 if Belastingdienst\u2019s claims were upheld.<\/p>\n The two parties disputed on the location where the winnings were held and where the random generator was based. Dutch players argued that they should not be required to pay taxes in accordance with European Union (EU) rules which state that gambling winnings obtained from EU countries are not liable to taxation. PokerStars.eu was granted license in Malta \u2013 an EU member state.<\/p>\n However, Belastingdienst insisted that Rational Group, PokerStars\u2019 parent company, was based on the Isle of Man \u2013 an independent jurisdiction that is not part of the EU. In its judgement, the Den Bosch court said that the company licensed in Malta is the rightful holder of PokerStars.eu\u2019s online gambling offerings and therefore players should not have any obligation to pay taxes to the local tax office. Belastingdienst was ordered to pay \u20ac4,233 in legal costs as part of the ruling.<\/p>\nAppeal Could Be Filed In Supreme Court<\/h2>\n