“Complexity is something tax law doesn’t need. Let’s keep it simple.”
Before my time at Archipel, I worked as a tax consultant for two large top-tier firms: at one my colleagues consisted of lawyers and civil-law notaries, at the other one of accountants. The resulting diversity of portfolios on which I have worked has given me a broad understanding of tax practice.
It has also made me realise that tax law is cluttered and complex, and therefore incomprehensible to the average taxpayer. This contributes to the fact that a large part of the rules results from a proliferation of directives, decisions and non-codified case law, and that the Belastingdienst (tax authorities) sometimes operates on the basis of internal memos that are not available to the public. As a tax advisor, I therefore try to remove precisely that complexity, by including the client in a way that suits a boutique like Archipel, where the client’s ultimate goal always comes first. For me, advising is a great pleasure when I bring everyone on the same page.
