- The Dutch tax authorities have offered players a settlement agreement which if they sign can reclaim taxes paid on winnings.
- The agreement requires players to accept that they are liable for taxes on winnings made on PokerStars’ French poker room.
- The timing of the settlement is notable as the country is gearing up for a new regulation slated to go live on April 1.
This is a huge win for the Dutch poker community after years and years of litigation.
In the latest development set to bring relief to the Dutch poker community, hundreds of PokerStars players who paid gambling taxes over the past nine years are going to be reimbursed by the tax authorities.
First exclusively reported on Dutch news site CasinoNieuws.nl, the Dutch Tax and Customs Administration (Belastingdienst) has offered a settlement agreement with players ending the years-long dispute.
The Dutch tax authorities have offered players a settlement agreement which, if they sign, can reclaim taxes paid on winnings on PokerStars.EU from May 30, 2012, the local Dutch site reports.
However, the agreement requires players to accept that they are liable for taxes on winnings made on PokerStars’ French network (PokerStars.FR) that once accepted players from the rest of the world.
The timing of the settlement is notable: The country is gearing up for a new regulation that is slated to go live on April 1, with licensed operators expected to deal their first real money online poker hands in October.
“This is a huge win for the Dutch poker community after years and years of litigation,” said Frank Op de Woerd, Dutch Poker Hall of Fame member and Head of Content at CasinoNieuws, to PRO.
“I’m delighted that there’s now a workable deal on the table that’s advantageous for the majority of poker players involved. It brings clarity to an obfuscated and complicated situation where players from one part of the country had a different set of rules to live by than others,” Op de Woerd added.
