HVG Law and EY Tax* have assisted Dip­lomeds – The Coun­cil for Medi­ter­ranean Dip­lomacy (Dip­lomeds) with the incor­por­a­tion of Dip­lomeds as a Dutch found­a­tion (sticht­ing).

About Dip­lomeds

Dip­lomeds is a policy group, com­mit­ted to improve the rela­tions between coun­tries in the Medi­ter­ranean, by means of – among oth­ers – pro­mot­ing region­al cooper­a­tion, increas­ing inclus­iv­ity, resolv­ing con­flicts and pro­mot­ing peace.

Dip­lomeds con­venes and facil­it­ates policy dia­logues and back-chan­nel talks, and offers con­sultancy, prob­lem-solv­ing and policy for­mu­la­tion sup­port to gov­ern­ments, region­al and mul­ti­lat­er­al insti­tu­tions, and non-gov­ern­ment­al organ­iz­a­tions.

Dip­lomeds’ pro bono request

Dip­lomeds was not yet estab­lished as a (Dutch) leg­al entity. Dip­lomeds reques­ted – via Pro Bono Con­nect – HVG Law to provide Dutch leg­al assist­ance with regard to choos­ing the appro­pri­ate Dutch leg­al form and sub­sequently the incor­por­a­tion of Dip­lomeds as a Dutch found­a­tion (sticht­ing). In this pro­cess, EY Tax assisted Dip­lomeds on the Dutch tax char­ac­ter­ist­ics and bene­fits of a Dutch found­a­tion, such as payroll tax, cor­por­ate income tax, VAT and gift and inher­it­ance tax (e.g. the pos­sib­il­ity to obtain the status of a pub­lic bene­fit organ­isa­tion (algemeen nut beo­gende instelling; ANBI) includ­ing the (dis)advantages there­of). With the mul­tidiscip­lin­ary col­lab­or­a­tion between HVG Law and EY Tax, Dip­lomeds has now been estab­lished as a Dutch found­a­tion.

About the col­lab­or­a­tion with HVG Law and EY Tax, Dr. Nim­rod Goren (Co-founder and Exec­ut­ive Board mem­ber of the found­a­tion) notes the fol­low­ing:

“We are grate­ful for the invalu­able sup­port and expert­ise provided by HVG Law and EY Tax in help­ing us estab­lish Dip­lomeds as a non-profit leg­al entity in the Neth­er­lands. Their com­mit­ment to our cause, high-qual­ity assist­ance and seam­less col­lab­or­a­tion has allowed us to nav­ig­ate the com­plex leg­al and tax land­scape and ensured that Dip­lomeds is now well-posi­tioned to ful­fill its mis­sion effect­ively, for the bene­fit of the Medi­ter­ranean region, as well as its coun­tries and people.”

About the pro bono activ­it­ies of HVG Law

HVG Law is a found­ing mem­ber of Pro Bono Con­nect. Pro Bono Con­nect medi­ates between civil soci­ety organ­iz­a­tions that need leg­al help and lead­ing law firms that want to provide free leg­al advice. With­in HVG Law, eight law­yers form the pro bono com­mit­tee. They assess applic­a­tions from Pro Bono Con­nect and – when an applic­a­tion is accep­ted – advise civil soci­ety organ­iz­a­tions on their spe­cif­ic request for help. Where neces­sary, the pro bono com­mit­tee involves oth­er experts (e.g. not­ari­al and tax experts).

 

 

* HVG Law LLP (HVG Law) has a stra­tegic alli­ance with Ernst & Young Belastingad­viseurs LLP (EY Tax) and is part of the glob­al EY Law net­work