Court Denies Tax Deduction for Family Business Succession Advisory Costs as Private Expenses

A BV cannot deduct VAT related to costs for tax advice on family business succession, as ruled by the Zeeland-West-Brabant court.
The advice costs are considered private expenses of shareholders, not business expenses.
From 2015 to 2019, the BV incurred costs for tax advice on family business succession, with VAT charged by service providers.
The inspector classified €160,255.49 for 2015-2018 and €32,796 for 2018-2019 as private advice costs.
The court case focused on whether the VAT assessments and interest charges were correctly imposed on the BV.
The court ruled that the VAT assessments were justified, as the advice costs were private expenses.
The BV claimed to be the recipient of the advice services and argued the costs were part of its taxable economic activity.
The inspector argued there was no direct link between the advice services and the BV’s taxable activities.

Note that this post was (partially) written with the help of AI. It is always useful to review the original source material, and where needed to obtain (local) advice from a specialist.