Mission and vision

Publication date 27-02-2025, 13:14 | Last update 02-04-2025, 13:18

Our mission

FIOD: the investigation service for financial and tax crime

The FIOD is the investigation service for tackling financial and tax crime. We are part of the Ministry of Finance and work for this and other ministries under the authority of the Public Prosecution Service and the National Office for Serious Fraud, Environmental Crime and Asset Confiscation.

Through the Special Investigative Services Act, our mission lies broadly in dealing with financial and tax crime. We deliberately use the term ‘crime’ because our work has long since moved beyond just investigating tax fraud cases.

We act in investigations at the place where the underworld and everyday world meet, and this goes beyond so-called "white collar" fraud.

The FIOD has its origins in the tax investigation department of the Netherlands Tax Authority. Our origins provide the basis for our specific knowledge and expertise regarding the detection of tax fraud, the analysis of accounting records and the understanding of tax and accounting structures.

In addition to the transfer of activities from the Customs Investigation Service and the ECD (Economic Investigation Service), the FIOD's range of tasks has expanded further over the years. And on the basis of our financial and fiscal knowledge and expertise, we form part of the government-wide approach to non-fiscal topics such as money laundering, corruption and subversive crime.

Our unique ability lies in the knowledge and skills in the field of tax and financial investigations, our ability to get inside complex financial structures, and dig into them with persistence. Our goal is to recover criminal assets and disrupt the activities of criminal organisations. We find and follow financial flows internationally and nationally and unravel complex financial structures, which certainly present a challenge internationally. We are special because we have a unique combination of tasks and legal powers, which allows us to bring together many sources of information and data.

In addition, we are the only investigation service in the Netherlands to have direct access to the tax data and systems of the Netherlands Tax Authority and have the knowledge and expertise to interpret and use this tax data in our work. In our national and international partnerships, we look for opportunities to improve our access to information and data, and effectively contribute to and strengthen the resilience of our society.

Our vision

Working together innovatively to build a resilient society and combat financial and tax crime

The FIOD's vision is to work together innovatively to combat financial and tax crime and create a resilient society.

We explicitly name the concept of innovation here. To us, being innovative not only means that we invest in and seek technologically and technically innovative solutions, but also that we pursue social innovation and innovative ways of working both within the FIOD and with external cooperation partners.

We stress the importance of working together within our own organisation and with other organisations such as the Netherlands Tax Authority and other regulators, the police and investigation services and private partners to achieve common results on a shared objective. As far as we are concerned, this does not require us to merge with each other, or form partnerships or new institutions. Working together starts small and with direct contact between close colleagues and goes as far as seeking connection and cooperation with external partners: public, private, national and international.

This vision means that we cooperate nationally and internationally with public and private partners to stop financial crime and fraud in society. In doing so, we rely on innovation, substantive (fiscal) expertise and the creativity of our people and our organisation to identify, investigate and tackle financial and tax crime and fraud.

To realise our vision, all staff within our organisation work together from different disciplines, workflows and competences. Outside our organisation, we operate nationally and internationally in a network of public and private partners. We work together on innovative and effective solutions to achieve a common goal.

From our experience and the knowledge and expertise gained from our investigative activities, we pass on our findings and advice to regulators and policymakers.

This is how we contribute to the resilience of our society. We rely on, and invest in our expertise and the support from technology and digital opportunities.