Amsterdam - The United States has agreed to take the Netherlands off its list of so-called "tax havens," the Dutch Finance Ministry announced Tuesday.

"The White House has informed the Dutch embassy in Washington the Netherlands does not belong on the list of international tax havens, nor does it belong in the category of countries with particularly low taxes," Finance Ministry spokesman Marcel Homan said.

The announcement follows intensive talks between Dutch diplomats and the White House late Monday after the US government published a list of international tax havens used by multinational companies such as Goldman Sachs, Pfizer and Procter & Gamble to evade US taxes.

The list included the Netherlands, placing it in the same category as the Cayman Islands, Bermuda and Ireland.

The list was published in the wake of US President Barack Obama's proposal to curb offshore tax havens.

Dutch Finance Minister Wouter Bos and his deputy Jan Kees de Jager, the latter responsible for the Netherlands' tax authority, responded with surprise.

"Presenting the Netherlands as a tax paradise creates a faulty image. I am not happy about this," Bos said in Brussels, adding he feared for the good reputation of his country.

"This has caught us by surprise," he said.

De Jager said he would not "adjust Dutch tax laws with the publication of this US tax haven list."

Bos and de Jager said the US had probably included the Dutch on their tax paradise list because of the high number of Dutch companies located in the Netherlands.

"But tax laws are not the only reason these corporations settle in the Netherlands, de Jager said. They come here for a basket of benefits, such as a great connection with Schiphol Airport, the Dutch foreign language skills, their high education level.

Also, the Dutch tax authority is prepared to make agreements with corporations ahead of the tax year."

De Jager acknowledged that certain US companies profited from registering themselves in the Netherlands only formally, because that would exempt them paying taxes on royalties and interest.

Albert Hollander, chairman of Tax Justice NL, an organization that strives for just international tax laws, said "tens of thousands" of foreign companies are registered in the Netherlands only to profit from its relatively advantageous tax laws.

He said US and Canadian corporations contribute around 18 per cent of Dutch trust companies' turnover.

Corporate taxes in the Netherlands are 25 per cent, compared with a maximum of 35 per cent in the US.

The US' criticism comes at a particularly bad moment for the Dutch who are are traditionally among the strongest European lobbyists against bank secrecy in countries like Switzerland, Belgium and Lichtenstein.

The lobby claims bank secrecy has resulted in many Dutch nationals avoiding the 1.2 per cent tax on Dutch bank account balances by depositing their money in offshore accounts.

In the wake of the global financial crisis, the Dutch have stepped up their campaign to force locals to declare accounts held in countries that have bank secrecy - or, if caught, receive enormous fines and face criminal charges. (dpa)