How does a US company set up in the Netherlands?

Most US groups open a Dutch BV, a private limited company, owned by the US parent and formed through a civil-law notary who also registers it with the Chamber of Commerce. A tax treaty between the two countries has been in force since 1993. A separate route, the Dutch-American Friendship Treaty, exists for a US founder who wants to live here.

American companies arrive in the Netherlands with two advantages nobody else in this set has: a tax treaty that has been running for three decades, and a treaty right of establishment for founders themselves. They also arrive with a habit that costs time, which is assuming the Delaware playbook transfers. Some of it does. The entity, the notary and the register do not.

How old is the tax treaty, and has it changed?

According to the Dutch Ministry of Finance overview of treaties on direct taxes, the income tax treaty between the Netherlands and the United States was signed on 18 December 1992 and entered into force on 31 December 1993. Two protocols amended it: one signed on 13 October 1993, in force from 30 December 1993, and one signed on 8 March 2004, in force from 28 December 2004.

There is also a separate and much older instrument for estates and inheritances, signed on 15 July 1969 and in force since 3 February 1971. Founders sometimes discover it late, usually when a family shareholding is involved.

The practical point is that the American relationship is one of the most settled in the Dutch network, and the general mechanics are in does the Netherlands have a tax treaty with your country.

Source: Rijksoverheid, Verdragen op het gebied van directe belastingen per 1 juli 2026 (PDF, in Dutch)

What a US group usually sets up

A BV owned by the US parent. Business.gov.nl describes the BV as a business structure with legal personality, set up through a civil-law notary in person or online, with starting capital of at least EUR 0.01, and it notes that the notary registers the BV and all managing directors with the Chamber of Commerce.

That last detail is the one that surprises American founders most. You cannot file articles yourself and receive a certificate the same afternoon. A Dutch company is created by a notarial deed, and the notary writes the company, its directors and its ultimate beneficial owners into the register in a single movement. Registering separately at a Chamber of Commerce counter, with its own one-off fee of EUR 85.15, is the route for structures without legal personality, not for a BV.

The alternative is a branch. Business.gov.nl is blunt about it: a branch office is not a legal entity in itself, it is fully dependent on the head office, the foreign director in their home country is responsible for everything that happens here, and in practice it brings the same work and obligations as a BV. The full comparison is in branch or subsidiary in the Netherlands, and whether a holding company belongs above it is in what is a Dutch holding BV.

Sources:
Business.gov.nl, Private limited company (bv)
KVK, Registration fee

What is the Dutch-American Friendship Treaty for?

It is a residence route, not a tax route. The IND lets a US or Japanese national apply for a residence permit as a self-employed person on the basis of the treaty, on lighter terms than the ordinary self-employed route, and it is aimed at someone who trades between the two countries or develops and leads a business in the Netherlands.

The IND publishes the conditions it applies. The applicant invests substantial capital in the business, and for most business forms the IND requires a minimum investment of EUR 4,500. The permit is valid for a maximum of two years and the application costs EUR 423. For a first application made from outside the Netherlands, the IND states that the holder must register with the Chamber of Commerce and make the investment within six months of receiving the permit, or the permit may be revoked. At extension, the IND asks for annual accounts and a balance sheet or income statement, to check that the company has been active and that the invested capital stayed in it.

So it fits a founder who is moving, not a corporation that is expanding. A US company opening a Dutch subsidiary and sending an employee does not use this route at all. The route in detail is in how the Dutch-American Friendship Treaty works.

Source: IND, Residence permit for self-employed person

How do you bring staff who are not founders?

Through the ordinary routes, which are the same for an American employer as for any other. The highly skilled migrant permit needs a contract with an employer the IND has approved as a recognised sponsor. According to the IND's published amounts for 2026, the salary is EUR 5,942.00 gross a month for someone aged thirty or older and EUR 4,357.00 for someone younger.

Two alternatives come up in American groups more than in others. The intra-corporate transferee permit covers managers, specialists and trainees transferred to a branch of the same company in the Netherlands, and the IND states that a transfer within the European Union may not exceed three years, or one year for a trainee. The European Blue Card is the other, for employees with a higher education programme of at least three years.

Whichever route you use, the Dutch entity has to exist and be a recognised sponsor before the application, which is why the entity decision drives the hiring calendar rather than the other way round.

Sources:
IND, Required amounts income requirements
IND, Intra-corporate transferee residence permit

How many American companies are already here?

More than most founders assume. According to CBS, the Dutch statistics office, 3,685 companies in the Netherlands were under ultimate United States control in 2023, employing 292 thousand people.

That depth cuts both ways. Advisers, notaries and accountants here have done the American structure many times, so the questions are routine. It also means an investor will compare your company to the last American company they saw rather than to a category.

Source: CBS, Buitenlandse zeggenschap bedrijven in Nederland, table 85821NED

Where this fits in a move to Europe

One thing worth saying plainly: this page describes the Dutch side only. What a Dutch subsidiary does to a US group's own filings and elections belongs with a US adviser, and the two conversations need to happen in the same month rather than a year apart.

On the Dutch side the order is entity, payroll, then schemes, set out in the first ninety days in the Netherlands. How we work with companies landing from outside Europe is on the corridors pages, and why the equity-free stack usually comes before a round is in equity-free money first.

Sources

1. Rijksoverheid, Verdragen op het gebied van directe belastingen per 1 juli 2026 (PDF, in Dutch), checked 22 September 2026
2. IND, Residence permit for self-employed person, checked 22 September 2026
3. IND, Required amounts income requirements, checked 22 September 2026
4. Business.gov.nl, Private limited company (bv), checked 22 September 2026
5. Business.gov.nl, Setting up a Dutch branch office or subsidiary, checked 22 September 2026
6. CBS, Buitenlandse zeggenschap bedrijven in Nederland, table 85821NED (in Dutch), checked 22 September 2026

Checked on 22 September 2026. This page is general information, not legal, tax or investment advice. Rules change: check the official source, or ask an adviser, before you act on it.