Plate ISheet 01 · general survey

W&H Tax Services

A Dutch business-tax practice that maps the terrain for founders arriving from abroad.

Tax in the Netherlands is not complicated so much as scattered: a rate on one government page, a deadline on another, a Dutch abbreviation in between. At W&H Tax Services we do one thing well — we gather the whole terrain onto a single map. Each tax a company meets — on its profit, its sales, the money it pays out, the people it hires and the borders it crosses — is charted below as a numbered plate you can read at a glance and then follow into detail.

Illustrated survey map of the Dutch business tax landscape for foreign founders — W&H Tax Services · field sheetscale 1 : 2026

Legend — the tax terrain

5 plates · one map

Referencethe fiscal year

A survey of the Dutch tax year

Every tax on this map keeps to a calendar. These are the fixed points a company steers by across a Dutch financial year, from the day the books open to the deadlines that carry a penalty if you drift past them.

01 JANBook year opensThe financial year of most Dutch companies runs with the calendar year.
EACH QUARTERVAT returnThe BTW-aangifte is filed and paid, usually quarterly, through the Belastingdienst portal.
BY 01 JUNCorporate returnThe vennootschapsbelasting return for the previous year is due, unless you request an extension.
ONGOINGProvisional assessmentA voorlopige aanslag lets you pay corporate tax in instalments through the year.
AT THE EDGEDeadlines & penaltiesA late or incorrect return draws a fine; the treaty network decides who taxes what.

Plate II19% → 25.8%

Corporate Income Tax

Corporate income tax, vennootschapsbelasting in Dutch, is the tax a BV pays on its profit. In 2026 the Netherlands charges 19 percent on the first 200,000 euro of taxable profit and 25.8 percent on everything above it. This plate maps how the brackets work, which costs are deductible, how losses carry forward, and what the participation exemption and innovation box mean for a foreign-owned company.

Marked on this plate

All 10 guides on corporate income tax ›

Plate III21% · 9% · 0%

VAT in the Netherlands

VAT, belasting over de toegevoegde waarde or BTW, is the tax you add to most goods and services in the Netherlands. The standard rate is 21 percent, with a 9 percent reduced rate for food, books and a few essentials, and 0 percent for many cross-border supplies. This plate charts registration, the quarterly return, the reverse-charge mechanism on EU trade and how to reclaim the input VAT your business pays.

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All 10 guides on vat in the netherlands ›

Plate IV15% · Box 2

Dividend Tax and the DGA

Paying yourself from a Dutch BV runs through two channels. Dividends carry 15 percent dividend withholding tax, credited against the shareholder's Box 2 income tax, while a director who is also a major shareholder, the DGA, must draw a customary salary the tax office treats as reasonable. This plate maps how salary, dividend and Box 2 interact, and where a tax treaty lowers the withholding rate for a foreign owner.

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All 10 guides on dividend tax and the dga ›

Plate V30% · 5 yr

The 30 Percent Ruling and Expat Tax

The 30 percent ruling lets an employer pay part of a qualifying employee's salary as a tax-free allowance for the extra costs of working abroad, historically up to 30 percent. It runs for up to five years, is tied to a minimum salary norm, and has been reshaped by recent Dutch tax plans. This plate maps who qualifies, how the application through the Belastingdienst works, and how the ruling sits alongside the rest of your tax position.

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All 10 guides on the 30 percent ruling and expat tax ›

Plate VI> 90 treaties

Treaties, Deadlines and Penalties

Tax does not stop at the border. The Netherlands holds more than ninety double-tax treaties that decide which country taxes what, alongside a strict calendar of filing deadlines and the penalties for missing them. This plate marks the outer edges of the atlas: how treaties allocate taxing rights, when corporate, VAT and payroll returns fall due, and what a late or incorrect Dutch filing actually costs.

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All 10 guides on treaties, deadlines and penalties ›

Appendixkey of terms

Reading the legend

Dutch tax arrives wrapped in Dutch vocabulary. Learn these seven and every letter from the Belastingdienst, your notary or your accountant starts to make sense.

Vpb: Vennootschapsbelasting: Dutch corporate income tax, charged on a company's profit.
BTW: Belasting over de toegevoegde waarde: value-added tax (VAT) added to most sales.
DGA: Directeur-grootaandeelhouder: a director who is also a major shareholder of a BV.
Box 2: The income-tax box for substantial shareholdings, where dividends and gains are taxed.
Belastingdienst: The Dutch Tax and Customs Administration, where returns are filed and assessed.
Aangifte: A tax return; each tax has its own filing on its own schedule.
Voorlopige aanslag: A provisional assessment that spreads a tax bill across the year in instalments.

Surveyor's note

Mapping the terrain, and crossing it

A map shows you the ground; it does not walk it for you. For founders who want the company formed and the filings handled remotely, W&H Tax Services works alongside Intercompany Solutions, a corporate service provider based at the World Trade Center in Rotterdam. They form Dutch companies and run the ongoing obligations charted on these plates — the corporate return, the quarterly BTW filing, the dividend and DGA position — without you setting foot in the Netherlands.

Where a plate raises a question about your own company, a licensed adviser can confirm the current figures and file on your behalf. The 50 guides on this map are written to help you brief that adviser precisely, and to read the Dutch tax terrain with confidence before you do.