The amount of illicit savings held in foreign bank accounts which has now been declared to the tax office has reached €500m, the finance ministry said on Friday.

Since 2002, the government has operated an amnesty for people with secret accounts. If they admit to having money stashed abroad they have to pay an extra tax surcharge but no fine and will not face criminal prosecution.
Earlier this year, junior finance minister Jan Kees de Jager said the fine for people found to have secret bank accounts abroad is to be tripled to 300% of the non-declared savings.
Last month, the tax office set up a special information phone line to provide advice to people who had questions about how to move money hidden abroad back to the Netherlands.