6 ms·
IIRC you can't buy a house anonymously in Netherlands, no matter if you pay with cash or not, you'd be required to register the transfer of ownership in the cad
by PeterisP 4y ago
IIRC you can't buy a house anonymously in Netherlands, no matter if you pay with cash or not, you'd be required to register the transfer of ownership in the cadastral system, and any real estate deals must be with a written contract that identifies both parties.
And I believe the NL tax reporting for large gifts also requires you to identify the donor.
In essence, the limitation is not on the method of payment but on the core activity, that any significant income from contracts, deals, trades, barters, transfers, gifts, settlements etc need to be non-anonymous in order to be legitimate, so if the method of payment does not identify the payer (i.e. cash) then simply it's your duty to identify who you're dealing with, from whom you are earning money.
- wolongong942 4y agoI doubt you could buy a house anonymously anywhere in the west. Typically all large transactions get auto reported to the financial intelligence unit, with the tax man getting access to the data set as well. If paid via crypto they'd find out when the recipient cashes out, forcing him/her to do source of funds.
- akimball 4y agoThis is accomplished every day in every country in the western hemisphere by means of shell companies.
- PeterisP 4y agoCurrent EU AML laws are full of requirements for explicit registration of the true beneficiaries for all these companies (including chains of companies); anonymous ownership of companies is becoming illegal in the last couple years.
- Scoundreller 4y agoLooks like the Dutch are just now catching up on that other structure to hide assets: trusts: https://www.loyensloeff.com/insights/news--events/news/bill-for-the-dutch-implementation-of-the-trust-register-approved-by-senate-/ https://www.loyensloeff.com/insights/news--events/news/bill-...
- chimeracoder 4y ago> I doubt you could buy a house anonymously anywhere in the west. In New York, properties are commonly held by LLCs. Transferring ownership of the LLC can be done without any public or auditable record of the transaction.
- sidewndr46 4y agoAt least in the US, house purchases are by default anonymous. The only reason I know the sellers of my house is because they put in their trust name their full legal names. Last time I sold a house, the only reason I met with the buyer directly was because I didn't use an agent for the sale.
- tsimionescu 4y agoAre you staying that the state/county doesn't know that you are the person owning that house, or doesn't know who the previous owner was? This thread is not about privacy from other private citizens/companies, but privacy from the state authorities. For example, my bank account is private in the first sense (even my parents couldn't find out how much money I have unless I tell them), but it's not private in the second sense (financial authorities have the right to ask my bank how much money I have).
- trebbble 4y ago> At least in the US, house purchases are by default anonymous. The only reason I know the sellers of my house is because they put in their trust name their full legal names. But most homeowners don't have the house in a trust. That's mostly a rich-people thing. The default is that it's your personal name(s) on the documents, including in e.g. county tax records.
- closewith 4y agoWhat about 1099-S reporting?
- sidewndr46 4y agoHome sales do not universally count as income. Also, it is important to realize that 1099-S reporting applies to individuals like a licensed realtor. Which I am not.
- djbusby 4y agoIf it's anon, how does the government get their property taxes?
- bathory 4y agoWrong. Germany for example is known [0] for money laundering through properties, because big cash purchases hardly ever get reported. [0] https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2022-06-15/germany-to-stop-property-deals-in-cash-to-fight-money-laundering https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2022-06-15/germany-t...