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‘You have not made it as a tax consultant until you have been discussed by Rens Pieterse’

In 2021, Assistant Professor Tax Law Rens Pieterse published a biography about former professor in tax law H.J. Hofstra. Dutch magazine ‘Het Register’ did an extensive spread on Pieterse, his writing and other activities.

Rens Pieterse

After graduating, Pieterse worked at a renowned tax consultancy firm. Following that he worked for the Research Department of the Supreme Council for an extended period of time. ‘I did not mind doing the work,’ Pieterse said in ‘Het Register’(pdf in Dutch) about his time as tax consultant. ‘It was great fun to be able to play with the standard terms and conditions of the tax entity corporation tax. I knew them by heart, incidentally. But when I was given the chance to chose academia at the Research Department of the Supreme Council a few years later, I did not have to think very long about it.’

In the end, Pieterse chose academia and has since worked for the Vrije Universiteit, the Nyenrode Business University and Leiden University among others. In addition, Pieterse likes to write about renowned tax consultants. ‘You have not made it as a tax consultant until you have been discussed by Rens Pieterse,’ Het Register wrote. 

Love and great attention to detail

In the book ‘Over H.J. Hofstra (1904-1999)’ he shines a light on the career of Hofstra, who worked as an inspector for the tax authority, tax consultant, and Minister of Finances. Pieterse addresses his contribution to the tax research and calls Hofstra possible the biggest tax consultant of the 20th century. 

‘Pieterse writes with love and great attention to detail about the ones he is portraying’, Het Register writes. ‘And also when a book is in the stores, it still is not done. I would go so far as to say: it is never done. He recently drove to the city of Grave in the province of North Brabant on a Sunday afternoon to photograph the former home of Hofstra. As collector, Hofstra was considered to be one of the dignitaries there according to Pieterse. And it goes on and on. We are interested to see if this article will have unearthed any new information.’ 

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