In a press release of 26 January 2007, the Netherlands Ministry of Finance announced that the Netherlands patent box is to become effective retroactively from 1 January 2007. As a result, the royalties derived from a self-developed intangible asset developed after 31 December 2006 are subject to an effective tax rate of 10% instead of 25.5%. The press release refers to the recent Communication from the European Commission of 22 November 2006 on the more effective use of research and development (R&D) tax incentives so as to encourage R&D investments and enhance job creation and economic growth in the European...