In this post, we discuss our angle of the Free 15-Minute Tax Fix. A means for you to get Tax out of the way, and for us to make a good impression. Want to go straight to making an appointment? Scroll way down!
The 15-Minute Tax Fix
Tax is a vast and complex field [or at least an obscure one] that requires ample legwork to grasp and get familiar in. Yet, with tax-to-GDP-ratio’s in modern economies consistently going from 35% to 50%, you cannot avoid detailed run-ins at some point and you’ll inevitably come to deal with its intricacies as you venture and make moves. And as the global economy becomes more cross-border and digital while legislators struggle to keep up, it is only logical that its complexity will continue to increase for the foreseeable future.
We see that this complexity pushes businesses and people in inorganic directions or towards ‘ostrich tactics’. At no benefit to inspired folks and promising ventures, or tax authorities and policy makers. In economic theory, it is already an inefficiency to forego a business decision due to tax reasons, and it’s even more detrimental to do so for reasons of tax uncertainty or obscurity. The damaging effect of complexity.
Since we chose to get invested and nerdy in this field anyway, we consider it part of our CSR as well as a good business angle to offer a hotline. Introducing: our 15-Minute Tax Fix!
Why? Tax Complexity Discourages Entrepreneurship
Interestingly, a January ’24 paper by Daphne Armstrong and Stephen Glaeser of the University of North Caroline researchers whether tax complexity has indeed come to discourage entrepreneurship and, with that, creates inefficiencies that limit growth and innovation. Their synthesis:
We investigate claims that the complexity of the tax system discourages entrepreneurship. We use tax filing assistance centers, which help entrepreneurs file their taxes, as sources of plausibly exogenous variation in the tax complexity effectively facing potential entrepreneurs. We find that tax filing assistance centers significantly increase local entrepreneur entry and overall business income, suggesting that tax complexity significantly discourages entrepreneurship and small business creation.
Armstrong and Glaeser, ‘Does Tax Complexity Discourage Entrepreneurship?’
We can do our part to arrive at more business and innovation, and progress at that, by simply offering some time. Allowing us to do something uplifting as Tax Advisor. We’ll prove we’re not so bland! How do we figure?
Tax Assistance Centers can Help Fix That.
Armstrong and Glaeser refer to Tax Assistance Centers; offices of the American IRS that help taxpayers sort out tax bottlenecks per appointment. In the Netherlands, we have the Belastingtelefoon [Tax Phone] as a somewhat comparable institute. They do state clear limitations however:
‘The Tax Phone answers questions about taxes and benefits. And it can be contacted to make an appointment or discuss payment plans. Both individuals and business can use the Tax phone. However, the Tax Phone does not provide advice on the application of tax rules or systematics.‘
Belastingtelefoon Website
So: maybe not the best place to go when you have a more sophisticated matter on your plate.
Entering Archipel as your Dutch Tax Assistance Center
We want to fill this gap by offering our time to address the tax questions you may have. In other words: come ask us your Tax Question for fee. Especially when you’re just getting oriented or when you’re in an early phase, taxes can be daunting [and chatter can be loud!] and odds are that we have dealt with your query before. Meaning we can probably help you on your wau, and score some ‘disco points’ by sharing our fix, hack or best practice as we do so.
The process is simple: you book a 15-minute Video Call slot that fits your schedule and chase it with an email further detailing your case, and we will log in prepared and try to address your bottleneck as best we can. Either we fix it, or we conclude that you should make it a project – for which we can make offer if you like. Either way, you owe is nothing; this is free and on the house.
How does it work?
What’s the Disclaimer and Caveat, and what’s in it for Us?
Disclaimer: the disclaimer, boring and obvious but necessary, is that 15 minutes and some prep allow us to help you get un-stuck and to get you set out in the right direction, but that our chat obviously does not form official ‘advice’ that you should base a material decision off. So if you can accept that we have no liability and do no render official advice or opinions, but do offer a friendly get-going service, we’ve got a deal [and any 15-minute fixer is subject to this 😊].
Caveat: we are not here to discuss ‘run of the mill’ Personal Income Tax Return questions or other topics that the Belastingtelefoon is for – the fixer is meant to fill a gap where a more holistic view on taxes is required, and not for ‘too lazy to Google’ or ‘too busy to wait’ topics.
What’s in it for us: multiple things! We consider offering realistic batches of our time for some ‘road side assictance’ or ‘topic primers’ part of our duty as Tax Advisors. Also: we expect to get in touch with like-minded folks who want to venture, and we like to be on the radar for that. If we can fix your issue in 15 minutes, we hope you’ll be impressed and remember us for any following tax events. And if your issue is too vast or complex for 15, we’ll have a front row seat to making you an offer. Which you by no means have to accept – but we do hope to make it soo good that you will.
What Topics can we Discuss?
An array of things really! Here’s some examples:
