Police organisation
Fiscale Inlichtingen- en Opsporingsdienst
The criminal investigation service of the Dutch Ministry of Finance, investigating fraud rather than carrying out general policing.
At a glance
- Official name
- Fiscale Inlichtingen- en Opsporingsdienst (FIOD)
- Commonly rendered in English as
- Fiscal Intelligence and Investigation Service — a rendering in common use, not the organisation’s own name.
- System
- Netherlands
- Level of government
- National
- Kind of body
- Specialist national service
- Status
- Currently operating
- Official website
- https://www.fiod.nl/ — confirmed against the organisation’s own pages on 17 September 2026.
- Facts last checked against sources
- 17 September 2026
What it is
The FIOD states plainly that it is the investigation service of the Ministry of Finance, and that it opens investigations from fraud signals in order to gather evidence and bring suspects before a court. It matters for reading the Dutch system correctly: criminal investigation in the Netherlands is not carried out solely by the Politie. A specialist service attached to a finance ministry, with its own investigators, sits alongside the national police and works on a defined class of offence.
What it covers
The Netherlands, defined by subject matter — fiscal, financial and economic crime and fraud — rather than by territory.
Broad responsibilities
- Criminal investigation of fraud
- Investigation of fiscal and financial offences
- Gathering evidence for prosecution
Who it answers to
The service states that it belongs to the Ministry of Finance.
Elsewhere on this site
- Who polices what — how Netherlands is structured, against other systems
Other organisations to compare
- Politie — Netherlands
- Koninklijke Marechaussee — Netherlands
Where this connects
Roles: Detective / investigator.
Sources
Fiscale Inlichtingen- en Opsporingsdienst · Institutional (self-description) · link verified 2026-09-17
SCOPE: the FIOD only. The service's own 'what does the FIOD do' page in Dutch, read directly. Supports the official Dutch name behind the abbreviation, the service's own statement that it is the investigation service of the Ministry of Finance, and that it investigates fraud signals in order to gather evidence and bring suspects before a court. The page carries its own publication and last-update stamps. Establishes nothing about the Dutch national police.