No, you can't make it any easier!

We can't make it more fun, but we can make it easier.

No, you can't make it any easier. Please find another marketing agency. This is the statement that I can now proclaim with certainty, after another small adventure with the Tax and Customs Administration. Because if there's one place you can't go for customer friendliness and efficiency, it's there. Where you think it's all going well, it's just beginning. What about the tax authorities? It doesn't make it any easier.

Procedure? Just don't do it.

What was it about again? Dasha brought her Ukrainian car to the Netherlands and wanted to arrange things nicely: Dutch license plate on it, requesting a BPM postponement, that sort of thing. All according to instructions on the website of the tax authorities. Nothing special. Or is it? Get the car inspected first. Check it out. Then apply for the BPM exemption. Check it out. And then file the BPM return. Well, that was a lot harder., But let's go, we did it. But then suddenly you get a letter from the tax authorities saying: “Oh, by the way, we're missing something.”

Call again? Yes, of course.

So I'll call the IRS at 12:06. Ask them what's wrong, what they need. Of course, if you thought you'd ever be helped quickly, you were wrong. After a few minutes on the phone, Ms A I told the tax authorities that I should call the RDW. Because they apparently did not pass on the CO2 emissions of the car. Alright, fine.

So I'm calling the RDW, Ms B answers. And yes, they don't have that data either. But don't worry, I just need to get a document from a BMW dealer. Okay, that sounds like something I can arrange. But no, the BMW dealer is not a miracle doctor either. Mr C tells me that he can only issue that document for cars that have been in their own stock. And this car was once brought to Ukraine from the USA in better times.  Never seen a local BMW dealer. So I really need to call BMW Netherlands right now. Let's see if they know.

BMW Netherlands: ‘No, not at all.’

So I'm calling BMW Netherlands. And what says Mr D over there? “Well, we can do that, but only for cars that were not produced for the US, Saudi or Russian markets. So that means you have to be at BMW USA for this Ukrainian car. These guests are unlikely to want to help you, as they only serve their own customers”. Well, let's call the tax authorities again.

The real goal: What does Dasha not have to pay?

I'll call back to the IRS. And yes, I know, you can't imagine how desperate I was at the time. But honestly, I was about to set everything on fire. Ms E She tells me she can't help me, she doesn't have the skills and connects me to someone else. Ms F comes on the line, puts me neatly on hold, and after what feels like an eternity (I had made coffee, peed and fed the dog in the meantime), she tells me that she doesn't know either. But don't worry, the back office will call me back in two days.

It was now 13:56 and I had a conversation with a potential customer at 14:00. So what do I do? I hang up with a bow, because I already had enough. One hour and 54 minutes on the phone with six different people to finally hear: “We don’t know, we’ll call you back.” That's the pinnacle of customer service, isn't it? What efficiency!

CO2 emissions: Not a secret, but apparently a mystery.

And why all of them? Because the IRS is desperately trying to calculate how much Dasha Don't have to pay. Because she has an exemption! What a circus. And then there are the CO2 emissions from the car. A document that apparently contains a very secret formula. But a simple Google search will give you the answer in five seconds: 12 to 14 grams of CO2 emissions. How hard can it be to just put this in the system so Dasha can finally use her car legally again?

Conclusion: Better to search.

So, here we are. We already knew we didn't have to pay, the tax authorities still don't know how much they No need to pay. The only thing I know for sure is that the tax authorities cannot make this easier. If it ever gets easier, I'm going to cheer hard. Until then?

Tax Department, please find another marketing agency. You really don't make it any easier...

I sincerely believe that everyone I have spoken to has done her/his best and wanted to help. But still...