Screen time | The Tax Authority can’t make it more fun, but they can make it more sovereign

The Dutch Tax and Customs Administration, previously planning to migrate its office environment to Microsoft 365, has reversed its decision to prioritize digital sovereignty. State Secretary for Finance Eelco Eerenberg announced that the agency will now host its office environment internally, utilizing its own servers or controlled data centers. This move follows criticism regarding the risks of placing highly sensitive taxpayer data in an American-controlled cloud environment, particularly given potential geopolitical tensions. Increasing data center capacity made this shift in strategy possible, aligning with the new administration's goal of making the tax authority a leader in digital autonomy. Expert observers, including tech consultant Bert Hubert, have praised the change, noting that the agency holds some of the most private information of Dutch citizens, making domestic management essential for national security and data integrity. This marks a significant policy pivot from the previous administration, which had deemed independent hosting unfeasible just one year prior.