Key ODA figures

 

USD 3.8 billion Bilateral ODA (2021)

25.9% Share of bilateral ODA country programmable (2021)

USD 8.7 million ODA to DRM (2021 disbursements)[1] » More ODA data for the Netherlands

Policy on Tax Exemptions on ODA

• Exemptions never/rarely requested

Since the beginning of 2016, the Netherlands refrains from asking for tax exemptions for import levies or custom duties and Value Added Tax (VAT) on goods and services provided under all new government-to-government ODA projects and programmes, provided locally through missions, as well as private sector instruments. FMO, the Dutch Entrepreneurial Development Bank, also stopped requesting such tax exemptions. This measure does not apply to emergency and humanitarian aid or income tax. In case of serious deficiencies in the tax structures of the recipient countries, tax exemption from import duties are permissible. Where the Netherlands participate in multi-donor trust funds or co-funding through multilateral organisations, the rules of the trust fund or multilateral organisation apply.

 

Planned or Previous Reviews

• Most recent review: 2021

The Dutch government conducted a policy evaluation on its policies and activities contributing to strengthening tax systems in developing countries, including the treatment of ODA taxation. Further information on the policy evaluation can be found in the “Further Information” section below.

 

Legal Instruments

 

The Netherlands has concluded technical or economic co-operation agreements with a number of partner countries. These agreements establish that the goods and services provided as part of a bilateral project are exempt from customs duties and VAT. Additional administrative agreements are often necessary to arrange the actual exemption for each project.

 

Further Information

• OECD Development Co-operation Peer Reviews: Netherlands 2017
  
  
• OECD Development Co-operation Profiles: Netherlands

• Evaluation of Dutch government policies and activities in contributing to strengthening tax systems in developing countries, published October 2021

 

¹ Data from OECD Development Co-operation Profiles and OECD Creditor Reporting System.
Bilateral ODA is the volume of development assistance provided to developing countries in the last year in which data are available. Country programmable aid is the portion of bilateral aid that is programmed for individual countries or regions, and is a closer proxy of aid that is likely to be affected by any tax exemptions on ODA. The level of ODA to domestic resource mobilisation (DRM) is the amount of ODA that is recorded as supporting DRM in developing countries.